Public, Private, and Hybrid Cloud Deployment Models Explained: Examples and Differences

After years of foot-dragging and reluctance to abandon traditional computing, most businesses today are now switching to cloud computing with gusto. And the reasons for the rapid movement are quite obvious.

The decline in economic activity caused by the Covid-19 pandemic has led organizations to seize cost-cutting strategies. As it turns out, the most remarkable benefit of cloud computing is the considerable savings that the organization gets in the IT department.

Unlike in the traditional computing architecture, cloud computing eliminates the expenses of purchasing extra hardware, hiring staff, and conducting regular maintenance and upgrades. Since cloud computing is subscription-based, you only pay a monthly subscription fee for the services you’re using.

Cloud computing also offers the solution to the mounting pressure for organizations to devise ways to beat cybercriminals. When coupled with cloud native security best practices, cloud computing provides comprehensive security solutions that organizations need to carry out business globally.

Cloud Storage and Cloud Computing

Cloud storage is an essential component that fulfills cloud computing as a whole. Cloud computing relies on cloud storage to store data and retrieve it using an internet-enabled device wherever and whenever necessary.

Technically, cloud storages, such as Google Drive and Dropbox, are virtual data centers (or virtual hard drives) that can be scaled to meet the demands of end-users’ and applications.

3 Different Types of Cloud Deployment Models

Cloud computing can be deployed on any of the 3 major categories of cloud storage:

• Public
• Private
• Hybrid

The goal of this article is to help you understand what each of the services comprises. We’ll also highlight each cloud's benefits, so you know which model best suits your company’s needs.

Public Cloud

This is the most popular cloud computing model. It refers to computing services where the third party vendors make the resources available to everyone and all businesses through the internet. These resources may be anything from virtual machines to storage capabilities, infrastructure, and servers.

In a public cloud, multiple companies share single hardware that is owned and operated by the vendor. The third-party provider is also responsible for availing the resources to the users according to their needs. A few of the well-known public cloud service providers include Microsoft Azure, Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud, Google AppEngine, Blue Cloud (IBM), and Sun Cloud.

Benefits of Public Cloud Computing Services

• Flexible pricing structure- most third-party, public service providers offer a pay-by-the-hour payment plan. This is a cost-effective pricing strategy where the business pays for the services it needs instead of paying a fixed cost upfront. This flexibility is especially beneficial to small and medium-sized enterprises as it allows tight budget control.
• Advanced cybersecurity- despite it being public, you can be assured that the data stored in a public cloud is safe. Besides having the money for the best security tools, most public cloud service providers also attract experienced cybercrime engineers to protect the infrastructure.
• No maintenance responsibility for the users- the other benefit of a public cloud is that the service provider is responsible for maintaining the hardware, software, and networks. This further reduces the operational cost for the end-users. It also saves the IT team precious time that can be funneled to other tasks boosting its overall efficiency.

Private Cloud

A private cloud is also known as a corporate or internal cloud. Unlike in a public cloud where the services are readily available to anyone who wants to use them, a private cloud creates an environment that is solely engineered for the end-user. That’s to say that the underlying IT infrastructure is exclusively designed for a single customer, and it's isolated from other potential users.

Private cloud computing services come in two flavors from a management point of view. If you have the resources, you may choose to staff, manage, and maintain the underlying infrastructure. However, if the IT department is understaffed or underskilled, there's an option to have your private cloud managed by a third party.

A private cloud approach may be the solution for an IT team that wants to make the available resources on-demand but is reluctant to move to the public cloud due to compliance regulations and established policies. Businesses in the healthcare and banking industry, for instance, combine private cloud deployment with firewalls and encryption protocols to enhance their data security strategies.

Examples of private cloud in cloud computing include Ubuntu, Microsoft, HP Data Centers, and Elastra-private cloud.

Benefits of Private Cloud Technology

• Compliance to security regulations- businesses in heavily regulated industries, such as healthcare and finance, benefit from an additional safety level because sensitive data is held on private hardware that outsiders can't access easily.
• Control- because private cloud infrastructures are located on-site or at a third-party data center provider, it's easy for the IT team to access and make any necessary changes. They can also scale the resources according to the organization's needs and even predict or detect downtime and bottlenecks early enough.
• Customization- taking a private cloud approach also allows the business to customize the platform to its needs. The organization can consider its scalability, availability, and security policies and configure the cloud's underlying infrastructure to suit these needs.

Hybrid Cloud

A hybrid cloud is a computing approach that mixes public and private cloud services with on-premises infrastructure to create a single working environment. Such an IT environment also requires orchestration software for effective communication between the services.

In a hybrid cloud model approach, the IT team deploys its workloads in a public or private cloud and uses the orchestration tool to switch between the 2 work areas depending on cost and computing needs.

Hybrid and multi-cloud environments should not be confused. The most significant difference between these 2 is that a multi-cloud working area combines several public cloud services but does not involve on-premises or private cloud services.

Benefits of Hybrid Cloud

• Flexibility- in a hybrid environment, enterprises can switch from traditional systems to modern cloud technology when necessary.
• Agility- an organization can offer more resource options when using a hybrid cloud model than when using a physical data center.
• Effective cost management- thanks to this model's flexibility attribute, hybrid cloud users can control cost management by going with the cheapest option between running their workloads on-premises infrastructure or in private and public clouds.