Organizations big and small are now using
cloud services to facilitate their operations. According to RightScale's State
of the Cloud Report, 95% of Information Technology (IT) professionals use some
type of cloud service, up from 93% in 2015. As cloud technology improves by
becoming faster and more secure, this number will likely grow even higher in
the years to come.
But if you're thinking of adopting cloud
services in your organization, you should familiarize yourself with the three
different deployment models, including private, public and hybrid clouds. While
all cloud services are characterized by the use of remote servers to process
and store data, there are nuances between the different deployment models.
Public
Clouds
A public cloud is a cloud service that's
available to the public. Some public clouds are free, while others use a
traditional pay-as-you-go format. The Cloud Service Provider (CSP) hosts and
maintains the server and other associated hardware, which the customer accesses
over the internet.
The public cloud's defining
characteristics are public availability and multi-user environment. Any person
or organization can access and use a public cloud. As a result, each public
cloud typically has multiple users.
Some of the benefits of public clouds
include:
• No
local hardware to maintain
• No
long-term commitment (pay as you go)
• Easy
to scale
• Effective
testing environment
• Reliable
On the other hand, public clouds limit
customization and configuration while also posing a higher risk of cyber
intrusion.
Private
Clouds
Also known as an internal cloud, a private cloud differs in the sense that it's
operated by a single organization or entity. While public clouds are available
to everyone -- and many organizations use the same public cloud -- a private
cloud is only available to one organization.
Private clouds perform the same basic
functions as public clouds, allowing users to process and store data remotely.
Private clouds can be managed either
internally within an organization or externally by a third-party CSP. Because
they are restricted to a single organization, however, private clouds tend to
offer greater security than their private counterpart.
Some of the benefits of private clouds
include:
• No
long-term commitment (pay as you go)
• Lower
risk of cyber intrusion
• More
customization and configuration options
• Supports
virtually any application
• Easy
to scale
• Reliable
The only real downsides to a private cloud
are its high cost and complexity. For many organizations, however, the
unlimited freedom to configure their cloud according to their needs is well
worth the investment.
Hybrid
Clouds
The third type of cloud-computing
infrastructure is the hybrid cloud. As the name suggests, this includes two or
more separate clouds that are bound and deployed together. An organization, for
instance, may use a hybrid cloud to automatically shift processing demands from
a private to a public cloud during hours of peak usage. In doing so, the
organization avoids overages with its private cloud without any interruption of
service.
Another example of a hybrid cloud
application is when an organization uses a private cloud to host sensitive data
and a public cloud to host less sensitive data. Being that private clouds are
more secure, this protects the organization's sensitive data from cyber
threats.
Some of the benefits of hybrid clouds
include:
• No
long-term commitment (pay as you go)
• More
secure than a standalone public cloud
• Low
cost of set up
• Greater
flexibility of IT architecture
To recap, the three primary cloud
deployment models are public, private and hybrid. Public clouds are available
to the public; private clouds are restricted to a single organization; and
hybrid clouds use both public and private clouds.
For more information about this or other Bit by Bit solutions you can contact us at 877.860.5831
Robert Blake
