Private Cloud vs. Public Cloud: The Right Cloud Deployment Model for You

Do not know whether to go for a private or public cloud? Find out the differences before making the final move.

No matter what is the size of your business, cloud computing is the right choice for you due to scalability, security, and cost-effectiveness. However, there are different types of cloud deployment models available, including private cloud and public cloud. 

In this article, we will discuss the differences between these two cloud models and their use cases. Thus, you will be able to choose the right model for your business.

What Is a Private Cloud?

The private cloud model is a category of cloud computing where a single user or organization utilizes the entire cloud infrastructure. Usually, this service is offered by private cloud hosting service providers. Nevertheless, it can be hosted at the data center of the organization or a colocation facility. 

It may or may not include traditional multi-tenant cloud infrastructure. Needless to say, companies get more control over their data and better security compared to the other cloud models. However, they need a much higher level of expertise in IT to manage a private cloud.

In the private cloud, the end user organization is responsible for the operation, just like a traditional on-premises infrastructure. Therefore, companies need to take care of continuous maintenance, OS patches, software management, middleware, and upgrades.

How Does Private Cloud Work?

A private cloud server is a single-tenant environment that makes it isolated and secure. It uses resources accumulated from multiple servers through virtualization. It is only available to choose organizations that are sufficiently isolated from each other.

A private cloud may or may not have an internet connection. Organizations can use their internal networks to connect to an on-site private cloud. In the case of an off-site private cloud, companies can connect using the public internet with a secure VPN connection or a private Ethernet connection.

Benefits of Private Cloud 

#1. Security and Data Privacy 

Since private clouds do not involve sharing with other tenants, these offer higher security. Organizations can implement custom security measures and protocols to protect sensitive data and critical workloads.

#2. Increased Control

By allowing companies to configure the infrastructure according to their specific needs, private clouds offer them complete control over their resources. Hence, organizations can integrate the private cloud with existing systems and applications.

#3. Legacy Systems

There are certain legacy systems or applications that are difficult to migrate to the public cloud. A private cloud allows companies to modernize their infrastructure while keeping legacy systems through a transitional approach.

#4. Compliance and Regulatory Requirements

The government, healthcare, and banking sectors have strict compliance and regulatory requirements. Using a private cloud, these agencies and organizations can maintain compliance and meet regulatory standards while avoiding potential penalties.

#5. Customized Service Levels

Unlike the public cloud, the private cloud allows organizations to define their own service level agreements (SLAs). Companies can include required uptime, performance, and response times in their SLAs and have those match critical business processes and user expectations.

#6. Increased Flexibility

The private cloud allows organizations to choose network architecture and hardware and software specifications tailored to meet their specific business requirements. Thus, it offers a greater scope for improved efficiency and performance of the organization.

What Is Public Cloud?

A public cloud is a computing model where public cloud service providers offer various computing services to organizations and individuals on demand over the public internet. The services include storage, computing, applications, and environments.

Some public cloud resources are free, while customers have to avail of other resources using different pricing models. The public cloud helps organizations leverage state-of-the-art technologies and achieve nearly infinite scalability.

How Does Public Cloud Work?

The public cloud model involves a third-party provider that hosts scalable and on-demand IT resources that users can deliver over a public or dedicated network connection. It is also known as utility computing, as the users get the resources on demand. 

Here, the service provider delivers the infrastructure an organization needs for cloud hosting and workload deployment. Usually, there are also storage, monitoring, security, and reporting services and applications offered with this model. 

Besides the big names in public cloud domains like AWS, Microsoft Azure, or Google Cloud, one can go for a smaller provider. While the popular providers offer availability and integration support, Niche providers let you customize the solution or focus on specific cloud capabilities.

Benefits of Public Cloud 

#1. Cost Efficiency

The reason most organizations prefer the public cloud is its cost-effectiveness. As it operates on a usage-based pricing model, companies can scale up or down the resources based on their requirements.

#2. Scalability

Choosing a public cloud means achieving virtually unlimited scalability in the shortest possible time. This flexibility lets companies handle increased traffic or usage without performance disruption. 

#3. Availability

Public cloud providers usually have data centers spread all over the world. Thus, organizations can deploy their applications and services closer to their users with minimum latency. This feature is also helpful for global operation expansion and disaster recovery.

#4. Reliability 

In a public cloud, you get built-in redundancy and fault tolerance mechanisms included in the infrastructure. These distribute data and applications in different data centers to ensure high availability and minimum downtime.

#5. Range of Services

In a public cloud, users get a range of built-in services and tools for computing, storage, databases, machine learning, and analytics. Integrating these into the existing applications, companies can ensure faster application development and innovation.

#6. Compliance

Public cloud providers employ better security measures than individual organizations and compliance certifications, often surpassing the capabilities. Besides high-level security protocols, data encryption, and advanced threat detection, they offer compliance certifications to meet industry-specific regulatory requirements.

#7. Save Time

The public cloud service provider is responsible for the management and maintenance of data centers. Thus, it saves the time of the end users they would have spent on product deployment, configuration, server assembling, connectivity, and product updates.

#8. Management

When an organization opts for the public cloud, they do not have to manage the infrastructure management tasks. Therefore, they can invest more effort in core business activities instead of IT infrastructure management. It also makes sure that companies have access to the latest features and updates without maintenance responsibilities.

Private Cloud Vs. Public Cloud

Security

A private cloud uses a private network for connection, making it highly secure. On the other hand, a public cloud can be connected using any network; hence it is vulnerable and less secure.

Scalability

To scale up in a private cloud, companies need to upgrade or expand their hardware. However, a public cloud offers practically unlimited scalability with nearly infinite resources.

Control

Private clouds let you own the infrastructure so that you can have complete control over it. On the contrary, users have very little control over the public clouds.

Performance

Private clouds offer high performance through private networks, while the public cloud offers moderate performance.

Cost

Private clouds are more expensive than public clouds as they offer you more security and services.

Infrastructure 

A private cloud serves one organization, and the infrastructure is shared with private organizations. However, public cloud infrastructure is shared with the public and supports multiple customers.

Server and Connection

In a private cloud, you get dedicated servers and a connection over the private network only. On the flip side, the public cloud runs on shared servers and uses the public internet.

Compliance and Regulations

A private cloud is suitable for organizations that need to maintain and adhere to strict compliance. On the other hand, meeting compliance requirements could be challenging using a public cloud.

Industry-Wise Use Cases of Private Cloud

Government

Government agencies need to deal with sensitive data that has to be managed with security and regulatory compliance. In the private cloud, government employees can collaborate and communicate in a compliant and secure ecosystem. Therefore, the private cloud is used to manage various government tasks.

Legal Services

Legal firms and professional service providers handle confidential client information. They use the private cloud for secure document management, collaboration, and client communication, meeting regulatory requirements, and maintaining data privacy at the same time.

Research and Education

Another sector in which private clouds are widely used in research and educational institutions. The private cloud supports collaborative research and offers secure access to educational resources. Moreover, institutes get a controlled environment on this platform where they can process sensitive research data.

Healthcare

The healthcare industry also depends on private clouds as they have to manage confidential patient data and comply with strict regulations. Using this cloud model, hospitals can securely store patient data, allow healthcare professionals to communicate, and enable medical research. 

Finance 

Since the finance and banking sectors also need to handle large volumes of sensitive financial and personal data, they rely on private clouds for a secure environment. Here, they get the necessary control and security measures for customer data management, financial application deployment, risk analysis, and compliance with regulatory standards such as PCI DSS. 

Enterprises

Enterprises with multi-faceted IT infrastructure requirements use the private cloud. With this model, enterprises can accumulate and centralize their resources, allocate and utilize their resource, improve data security, and streamline application deployment. It also offers the necessary flexibility and control to meet the unique needs of the environmental setup of an enterprise.

Industry-Wise Use Cases of Public Cloud

Software as a Service (SaaS)

The use of the public cloud is commonly seen in the SaaS industry. SaaS providers opt for public clouds to host and deliver their services (CRM, ERP, collaboration tools) to the end users. Companies prefer public cloud platforms to scale their services over time and offer their customers usage-based pricing.

Big Data Analytics

Companies working on big data analytics need cloud platforms with high-power computing resources and data storage. They can get both in the public cloud. These platforms can process large volumes of data and generate valuable insights. Above all, public cloud services also provide specialized services, such as data lakes and data warehousing.

Web and Mobile Applications

When it comes to software hosting and deployment, the public cloud is the first choice of web and mobile app developers. Utilizing its scalability and availability, developers can deliver a smooth user experience even when there is high traffic.

Gaming and Streaming

The public cloud is also used for hosting gaming and streaming. Public cloud features like scalability and high performance are suitable for managing multiplayer gaming and real-time processing. Also, these platforms can ensure an effortless streaming experience for the audience from all locations.

Disaster Recovery

Organizations that use cloud platforms for disaster recovery often choose the public cloud. It has a distributed infrastructure across geolocations and can be used for quick data recovery and business continuity during a system failure or natural disaster.

Is Hybrid Cloud Model the Answer You Are Looking for?

If you are still in doubt about the right cloud deployment model for your company, you have another option named the hybrid cloud model. This cloud computing model combines the use of both private and public clouds. 

People often use hybrid cloud as a solution to the public vs. private cloud debate as it offers the benefits of both these cloud models through a customizable approach by integrating both private and public cloud environments.

Through a hybrid cloud model deployment, organizations can achieve a balance between security, control, and scalability. They can enjoy the benefits of the public cloud, like flexibility and pay-as-you-go pricing, while having control over sensitive data and maintaining the compliance requirements of a private cloud.

Final Words

As seen in the above discussion, both private and public clouds have their own benefits and are suitable for different situations. Hence, understanding the differences between these two is crucial for making an informed decision aligned with the specific requirements of your organization and industry regulations. 

After going through the working process, use cases, and differences between private and public clouds, you should not have any trouble choosing the right mode for your company.  If interested, you can also read about virtual private cloud.