What Is The Difference Between Public And Private Clouds?

Whenever talking about cloud computing systems, often you will hear mentions to private and public clouds, and also debates about the comparative merits of each. For the cloud computing novice, this entire private cloud vs. public cloud argument can often sound like it is being debated in a foreign dialect. The following article analyzes the contrasts between private and public cloud services, and describes their key dissimilarities in everyday vocabulary.

Defining Private Cloud Computing

The simplest way to think about private cloud computing is as a service that offers specialized infrastructure to one customer. In this kind of arrangement, the service provider controls the system but enables the client to handle data storage, as well as the way in which it's transferred. For potential customers who may be concerned with the safety of their data files, the increased control offered by private cloud technology makes it an ideal solution.

The Main Advantages of Private Cloud Systems

As you may assume, more customer control equals fewer security worries for private cloud end users. By moving its old IT system over to the cloud, the customer is still able to enjoy the benefits of scalability, flexibility and higher productivity, but will be able to do so without sacrificing any of the accountability for data security that may sometimes be related to public cloud computing .

Downsides of Private Cloud Solutions

Possibly the greatest critique of private cloud solutions is that they still require the customer to purchase, configure and maintain the system. While the public cloud end user will be able to essentially buy a cheap, ready-made system to be employed right away, the private user needs to spend considerable capital initially to acquire a system that will often be hosted in-house, and then still handle its management moving forward. This, unfortunately, is the exchange that must be made for the exceptional security available from the private solution.

Understanding Public Cloud Computing

Whereas the private cloud is really a closed network to all except the client, public cloud systems are (as their name suggests) offered to anyone. As a result , all users of the service manage their data, and use platforms and software from a common network server. Your cloud computing vendor deals with all online security and management of data and software programs.

Benefits of Public Cloud Solutions

In terms of scalability, versatility, simplicity of use, and price, public cloud computing beats private cloud options each day of the week. The chance to make use of all services, including infrastructure, on a pay-per-use basis, and be free of the problems connected to their daily management represents what most enterprise customers denote as the most significant benefit of cloud technology.

The Drawbacks to Public Cloud Solutions

As alluded to in the previous section, weaker security is the main comparative disadvantage in public cloud computing. This is not to say that public services don't have any security - most of them have excellent measures in place - but for customers who process large amounts of highly-delicate personal information (e.g. financial businesses), the notion of trusting this information to a third party is often intolerable.

You Decide Which is Better! Public or Private Cloud Computing Systems?

The response to this question undoubtedly depends upon the customer's type of business. As an example, despite the clear advantages presented by public cloud solutions in a multitude of areas, clients who take on a lot of personal data will often be not able to approve the trade-off of turning security onto a third party.

To put this particular round of the argument to rest, if your firm doesn't need a high amount of data security, the public cloud option will probably best fill your needs. Should your company work with sensitive customer data, however, private cloud computing systems can still reward you with tremendously improved flexibility, scalability and convenience, but you will end up paying a bit more in order to maintain better security.