There are three types of cloud computing deployment models: private cloud, public cloud, and hybrid cloud.
Private cloud provides a proprietary cloud environment dedicated to a single business entity, with physical components stored on-premises or at a vendor’s datacenter. Because the private cloud is only accessible to a single business, this model offers a high degree of control. Advantages include customized architecture, advanced security protocols, and the ability to extend computing resources in a virtualized environment as needed. In many cases, an organization maintains a private cloud infrastructure on-site while delivering cloud computing services to internal users via the intranet. In other instances, the organization contracts with a third-party cloud vendor to host and maintain exclusive servers off site.
Public cloud uses the internet to store and manage access to data and applications. It’s completely virtualized, providing an environment where shared resources are leveraged as needed. Because these resources are delivered over the web, the public cloud deployment model allows organizations to scale more easily—the ability to pay for cloud resources as needed is a huge advantage over local servers. In addition, public cloud service providers offer robust security measures to protect user data from being accessed by other tenants.
Hybrid cloud combines private and public cloud models, allowing organizations to leverage the benefits of shared resources while using existing IT infrastructure for critical security requirements. The hybrid cloud model allows companies to store confidential data internally and access it via applications running in the public cloud. To comply with privacy regulations, for example, an organization could store sensitive user data in a private cloud and perform resource-intensive computation in the public cloud.
In addition, businesses can choose to take a multi-cloud approach, which means they use more than one public cloud service. This approach can be used to distribute workloads across multiple cloud platforms, allowing organizations to optimize their environments for performance, flexibility, and cost savings.
