Public vs. Private Cloud: Which model suits your organization best?
When it comes to maximizing the potential of the cloud, every IT department must make critical decisions about the right cloud infrastructure for their organization’s data and application workloads. With numerous different providers, solutions and models on offer, many IT teams find it difficult to make informed decisions and identify the one solution that works best for their organization. Factors like cost, capacity, scalability and security all play a role, and even choosing between public and private cloud can be a difficult first hurdle.
Managing Director at Leaseweb UK.
Spot the difference
When it comes to the public cloud, there are several key benefits, not the least of which is scalability. You can increase or decrease your resources as needed, and when you need additional compute, storage, or networking, it’s there. In comparison, private cloud platforms are limited to the available hardware within the environment.
Public clouds also offer increased reliability with consistent, reliable services and minimal downtime (SLAs that guarantee 99.99% uptime are not uncommon). At the same time, they typically improve compliance with various legal requirements related to data.
Cost is another factor that plays a role in decision making. From a public cloud perspective, they typically offer a flexible subscription model with hourly or monthly billing, eliminating the need for an expensive upfront investment in software licenses or hardware. Some studies have shown that public cloud delivers a 30% cost reduction compared to hyperscalers based on standardized workload benchmarks. Depending on your specific use case, that may vary.
On the other side of the question is the private cloud, which also offers a number of advantages. When it comes to security, private hosting obviously means that you are the sole tenant with exclusive access to the resources, with no other users present on the server. All data and applications reside within the boundaries of your business, minimizing the risk of malicious access and data breaches.
While the public cloud can help with some data compliance regulations, the private cloud approach actually improves regulatory compliance. That’s because it provides improved control over compliance requirements, meaning organizations subject to healthcare, government or financial regulations can enforce compliance more effectively.
Private clouds also offer a higher level of customization, allowing you to tailor hardware, software, and configurations to your specific needs. This control allows fine tuning to create optimal performance, resource usage and bandwidth capabilities. And when it comes to costs, private clouds offer long-term predictability. Instead of usage-based pricing, which can increase at the cloud provider’s discretion, private clouds bake all costs into a fixed infrastructure. This way you know exactly which resources are in use and how much they will cost over the years. This helps with budgeting and financial forecasting, making it easy to predict the life cycle costs of infrastructure.
Private clouds can also include integrated managed services and self-service tools, allowing authorized users to provision resources as needed. This versatility improves operational efficiency and reduces administrative overhead, while managed services can provide maintenance, monitoring and troubleshooting.
Public cloud use cases
Since scalability is the main benefit of the public approach, it is best suited for deploying web applications, APIs, and content delivery networks; setting up temporary environments for development, testing and prototyping; processing large data sets; and hosting collaboration tools, email exchanges, and productivity suites.
Private cloud use cases
When considering the private cloud, having an exclusive network, hardware and customization is crucial. This makes it ideal for storing sensitive data, confidential information and intellectual property; running older applications that do not work in a public environment; comply with industry-specific regulations; and performing HPC simulations and modeling.
The best of both worlds
The hybrid cloud approach is an alternative for businesses, combining the flexibility and scalability of the public cloud with the control and security of private infrastructure. This combination allows organizations to balance their need for flexibility with their data protection and regulatory compliance requirements.
The hybrid model also allows organizations to optimize costs by keeping routine workloads and sensitive data in the private cloud, while using the public cloud for less sensitive operations that require more computing power. When it comes to innovation, hybrid provides access to cutting-edge technologies such as AI, machine learning and big data analytics via the public cloud without the need for a huge upfront investment, while maintaining sensitive legacy applications on-site.
Whichever model suits you best, there’s no doubt that a touch of the cloud will boost your business. Now is the time to explore how cloud technologies can work best for you.
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