You have many options for your technology choices. Today, let’s take a look at two of your cloud choices: public versus private cloud.
Cloud Definitions
Both public and private cloud provide highly virtualized environments where virtual machines can be created on demand. The big difference between them is that the public cloud is owned by a cloud provider. They own the hardware, they manage the cloud resources, and the cloud environment is used by many customers in addition to you.
Private cloud offers the same dynamic environment, but the cloud resides on your premises and your IT team plays the role of the cloud provider. You own the hardware and manage the cloud resources, and only your business uses the cloud. Because private cloud is in your data center, you do have to make capital expenditures that don’t exist in public cloud, including spare capacity.
Choose Public Cloud
Public cloud can be a great choice when:
• You need the resources for a short time
If you have a short-term project, public cloud gives you all the technology resources you need without a major capital outlay. Once you’re done with the project, all the associated costs go away.
• You have limited technology staff
Many companies find it challenging to maintain an in-house technology staff to support their information technology. By moving your applications to the cloud, you get the benefit of the cloud provider’s technology staff.
• You want to encourage departmental initiatives
Centralized corporate data centers impose standards and control. In many cases this is good; however, some departments with special needs can find this restrictive and limiting. By using public cloud, departments can tailor their resources to their exact needs without placing a burden on the technology team.
• You’re experiencing a budget crunch
Even successful companies don’t have unlimited cash. When you need more technology than your budget can buy, it may be easier to access that technology through the pay-as-you-go public cloud model than any in-house model, including private cloud.
Choose Private Cloud
Private cloud may be the appropriate choice when:
• Your data is too sensitive for public cloud
Although public cloud is highly safe—often even safer than corporate data centers due to having more experience security staff—many businesses remain concerned about the risks of exposing data in public cloud. By building a private cloud in your data center, you gain the agility and scalability of cloud while potentially limiting security risks.
• You need to meet specific industry compliance standards
These days, you’re likely to find cloud providers offering environments certified to comply with the security standards of almost every industry. Nevertheless, in an industry where non-compliance fines are stiff, maintaining your environment on your own premises gives you a level of control that may be important to you.
• Your data center contains up-to-date hardware
If you’ve recently invested in modernizing your data center, it’s difficult to justify discarding it to move to public cloud. Repurposing the equipment and virtualizing your environment can provide some of the benefits of cloud even if you don’t implement all cloud capabilities.
• Your application is big
Although cloud is often recommended for big data projects, public cloud only makes sense for big data if those are short-term projects. Otherwise, for large applications, public cloud can become costly.
• You don’t want to commit to one vendor
While flexibility is one of the main benefits of public cloud, using public cloud restricts you to the capabilities of that single cloud provider and limits how you manage your environment. Private cloud avoids that vendor lock-in and gives you greater flexibility over the management of your cloud resource.
VAST IT Services has the skills and expertise to support you whichever cloud model you use. Whether you use public cloud, private cloud, multi-cloud, or hybrid cloud, our team designs, implements, and supports systems optimized to meet your business needs. Contact us to learn more about selecting and supporting the right cloud model for your business.
