A public cloud is a computing environment in which the computing resources are sold as a service to multiple organizations or users over the internet.
Unlike private clouds, where resources are exclusively dedicated to a single organization, public clouds leverage shared infrastructure to deliver on-demand services to a broad customer base. This model offers scalability and low upfront costs, making it attractive for organizations with variable workloads or seeking to offload data center responsibilities.
Public clouds are hosted and managed by third-party cloud service providers, and users typically pay based on their usage. This deployment model is conducive to rapid resource provisioning, thought it may pose challenges for organizations with specific security, compliance, or customization requirements.
Integrating elements of both a public cloud and private cloud is known as a hybrid cloud. This allows organizations to leverage the best-fit model for each of their unique data and applications.
What are the advantages of the public cloud?
Cloud service providers offer:
- World-class facilities and IT. Organizations can leverage state-of-the-art infrastructure, hardware, and software from cloud providers.
- Extreme agility. Incrementally scaling resources up or down based on demand is easy.
- No upfront costs. Usage-based pricing enables organizations to rapidly deploy services without any initial investment.
What are the disadvantages of the public cloud?
Common issues with the public cloud are:
- Security concerns. Organizations may be hesitant or unable to entrust their data to third-parties due to data privacy or regulatory compliance issues.
- Data sovereignty issues. Data may be stored in various regions with differing policies, potentially leading to compliance complexities, regulatory conflicts, or access limitations.
- No control. The data center infrastructure is owned and operated entirely by the cloud service provider, leaving customers without the ability to customize their infrastructure or security measures.
What are examples of companies that might benefit from a private cloud?
- Startups or small businesses with small budgets and rapidly changing needs.
- Large enterprises with distributed workforces that need to collaborate and share data in real-time or need to leverage cloud solutions for disaster recovery.
- Seasonal businesses that need to quickly increase resources to meet spikes in demand or other organizations with unpredictable workloads.
- Development and test environments that allow developers to rapidly build and shut down environments and focus on innovation.
Why are organizations migrating away from the public cloud?
Cloud repatriation, the shifting of workloads from a public cloud to a private cloud, is a new trend.
The main drivers behind the migration to on-premise infrastructure are:
- Cost savings. The rising costs of public cloud services are making it harder to justify their use.
- Performance and latency. The control and customizability of private clouds can boost performance and latency.
- Data governance and compliance. Organizations in highly regulated industries or regions with strict data sovereignty laws are seeking greater control over their data.
- Security concerns. Companies with strict security requirements can benefit from the complete control over security that private clouds offer.
If you are considering migrating workloads from the public cloud to a private cloud, getting the most out of your existing facilities and maintaining uptime are critical.
Data Center Infrastructure Management (DCIM) software is an important solution to help your cloud repatriation project be a success.
DCIM software:
- Identifies underutilized resources for migrated workloads
- Drives energy efficiency by helping you avoid overcooling, track energy KPIs like Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE), and optimize your virtual environment
- Continuously monitors your critical infrastructure so you can identify potential issues and proactively resolve them before they lead to downtime
Want to see how Sunbird’s world-leading DCIM software simplifies data center infrastructure management, no matter where it is? Get your free test drive now.