Cloud Computing. Which platform is right for you? Public, Private or Hybrid?

Cloud computing comes in three forms: Public Clouds, Private Clouds, and Hybrid Clouds. In order to know which one is right for you first you will need to assess your requirements. Depending on the type of data your organisation is working with, you will need to compare the three cloud computing options in terms of the different levels of security and management.

Private Cloud

A private cloud allows services and infrastructure to be maintained on a private network and offers the highest level of security and control. Here are some conditions that we see tend to drive a choice to private cloud:

1.    Applications requiring high SLAs. Organisations that require systems that are completely self-contained and capable of achieving 100% uptime.

2.    Applications with clearly defined compliance requirements. When your business is part of an industry that must conform to strict security and data privacy issues; a self-contained environment provides complete control.

3.    Back-office applications. If your organisation has applications that are optimised for very specific infrastructure stacks and are dependent on multiple services and databases.

4.    Customer facing applications. In this situation, the availability of the application takes priority over everything else.

5.    Noise. The noisy neighbour effect occurs when an application uses the majority of available resources and causes network performance issues. Organisations wanting to minimise this effect often choose a Private Cloud solution.

Public Cloud

These clouds offer the best level of efficiency in shared resources however are more vulnerable than a private option. Organisations appear to use a Public Cloud solution for slightly different and more definitive reasons:

1.    Testing and development. In this situation, a business is usually looking for an environment that can be quickly defined, altered and executed to meet actively changing criteria.

2.    Short-term applications. If you need the ability to add computer capacity at peak times; for example, seasonality is a popular factor when running ad campaigns.

3.    Applications with light compliance requirements. In contrast organisations looking for the exact opposite as above – your standardised workload for applications used by lots if people such as email.

4.    SaaS applications. If your organisation has Software as a Service applications from a vendor who has well-implemented security.

Hybrid Cloud

A Hybrid Cloud includes a variety of public and private options with multiple providers. This allows you to ensure each aspect of your business is being run in the most efficient environment possible.

1.    Flexibility and security for applications. Your organisation may want to use a SaaS application but are concerned about security – as a cloud provider we could create a Private Cloud just for your company inside your firewall.

2.    Flexibility and security for services. If your company offers services that are tailored to a vertical market you can use a Public Cloud to interact with clients but ensure that their data is secured within a Private Cloud, achieving the best of both.

To find out more about how Cloud Computing can make your business more efficient, get in touch with me or my team at SIRE Technology today.