If you are debating the pros and cons of a public cloud versus a private cloud solution, the following sheds some light on the problem.
Here are the pros of a public cloud environment (and associated cons of a private cloud)
- There are still Capex costs associated with setting up a private cloud environment. You will also need staff to maintain that environment.
- If your applications experience numerous peaks during the year, you will still have to plan to ensure availability of enough compute and storage capacity. Besides, as this is your equipment, there are costs associated with the infrastructure even if your applications are not using that infrastructure.
- Unlike private clouds, public clouds provide unlimited elasticity without you worrying about reaching your limits. Resources are therefore available to your applications in a public environment on an on-demand basis.
- If you are planning to have diverse cloud services (Big Data, etc.), you will have to have a vast array of skills.
- You will have to plan for your own Disaster Recovery solutions. That may mean maintaining private cloud environments in different regions (assuming you operate in multiple geographical regions).
Here are the pros of a private cloud environment (and related cons of a public cloud environment)
An enterprise may consider the use of private cloud in the following situations:
- Although cloud providers have gotten very good in terms of securing their clients’ environments, it’s possible that due to regulatory and other reasons, the security provided by cloud environments is not sufficient for your needs and thus you want to completely isolate your environment. In those cases, a private cloud environment is the better way forward.
- You want to have more control over your environment. In many cases, this may not be an issue, as public cloud providers can provide you a lot of control of your environments.
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