Once you’ve decided that you want to run all or a portion of your business on the cloud, the question quickly becomes, “Which cloud should I go with?” Right now, there are three cloud computing options available — public, private and hybrid. The one you choose will largely depend on how you plan to use your cloud, what your security needs are, and how much you want to spend. Here’s how all of the options stack up:
PRIVATE VS PUBLIC VS HYBRID CLOUD
Public Cloud
Think of the public cloud as a utility, like electricity or water — you only pay for what you want and it’s available on demand. In a public cloud, multiple customers have virtual servers that are connected to one physical server that is typically located off site. These virtual servers are completely isolated and separate, but the underlying hardware, and sometimes the storage, is shared.
However, probably the best thing about the public cloud is how flexible it is. “The beauty of cloud computing, and the elasticity and the scalability that we talk about, is that I no longer have to go out and buy a bunch of machines and just have them sit idle for most of the year,” explains Darryl Sicker, UDT’s Cloud Solutions Manager (and resident “cloud guy”). “When I need them, I rent them, and I scale them up. When I’m done with them, I let them go.”
Private Cloud
In the private cloud, you aren’t sharing the underlying hardware with anyone, so it’s more secure than a public cloud. You can still add virtual servers to your physical server, but it isn’t as flexible as a public cloud. With a private cloud, you also own the hardware and the service, so you’ll need someone with a high level of cloud expertise to manage it.
Hybrid Cloud
With a hybrid cloud, you get the best of both worlds. You can run Salesforce or Microsoft 365 from the public cloud and store all of your data on your private cloud to keep it secure. The two clouds are still separate, but they can connect and talk to each other.
“Ultimately the world is moving toward hybrid because customers need ability to run either public, private or both, “ said Sicker.
Ready to make your move to the cloud? UDT is here to help you every step of the way. Contact us — we’d be happy to discuss your cloud computing options and put together a personalized cloud strategy for your business.