What is Private Cloud? A Comprehensive Guide Into Private Cloud Computing

Despite the Covid-19 pandemic creating a massive disruption in the operation of every business, we can call 2020 the Year of the cloud. In 2020, most businesses had to put the ‘public vs private cloud’ argument aside, and focus on what was important; saving up on IT costs, scalability, and adjusting their businesses to fit the new context. Businesses were forced to adapt to the unavoidable norm; embracing the cloud as a key to their digital transformation blueprint.

It is almost impossible to imagine the mayhem that businesses would have to face in a world where cloud computing does not exist.

Thanks to the cloud, your favorite streaming services are up and running, you can work from home, and you can still launch the startup you have always been dreaming about.

However, despite this unexpected disruption, businesses need to stay enlightened on basic cloud concepts. Every business should have a clear understanding of what cloud type works for them, and how to get the best of it.

To get started, we are going to analyze the private cloud deployment model to its core.

Why private cloud? What is it? What does the future hold for it? How does it compare to other cloud deployment models? What cloud service provider is perfect for you?

These are just some of the questions we are yet to shed light upon.

Feeling psyched up already? Let’s Get started!

What is Private Cloud?

With 72% of enterprises describing their cloud strategy as private or hybrid first, private cloud has been a hotspot for many enterprises adopting the cloud for many years now.

So, why is the private cloud a magnet to many organizations?

First things first, let’s define private cloud, and the other deployment models (Public, Hybrid, and multi-cloud )

Private cloud refers to a cloud computing deployment model that has resources utilized by a single organization or isolates one organization’s infrastructure stack from another. Just like the public cloud, the private cloud offers the main benefits of cloud computing including cost-effectiveness and scalability.

However, In this case, the user is responsible for server maintenance and keeping up with their own needs.

Public Unlike the private cloud, the public cloud is typically made of cloud resources that are offered to users by vendors such as AWS, Microsoft, or IBM. In this case, the users play no role in activities such as capital investments, and backups.

Hybrid This deployment model is a blend between the public cloud and the private. For the two models to interact, high-levels of compatibility are required between their underlying software and the cloud infrastructure stack. Apart from providing enterprises with cost-flexibility, it helps them increase scalability.

If your daily routine includes big data processing and your workloads are model dynamic, then this is the perfect cloud for you.

Multicloud is sometimes confused with hybrid cloud. Despite their close similarity, the difference between them is that a multicloud may be made up of all the three deployment models (private, public, and hybrid).

The components in the multicloud also don’t work together, unlike in a hybrid cloud which requires some level of collaboration.

Many businesses choose multicloud because of its flexibility, reliable failover protocols, and ShadowIT support capabilities.

Public Vs Private Vs Hybrid Vs Multi-Cloud

That is a lot of information to throw at you. Here is something to ease things a little bit;

The table below shows a summary of the differences in terms of price, usability, data control, security and privacy, setup flexibility, and others.

Why go Private?

Am not here to demonize the public cloud. The public cloud has a lot of advantages and many at times (mainly budget-related) may be the perfect pick over the private cloud. However, for organizations who want flexibility, reliable regulatory and compliance protocols, scalability, and information security control; private cloud is the way to go.

Here are 4 main reasons to use the private cloud as a foundation for your cloud computing strategy.

1. Performance

Private clouds provide enterprises with the best computing capabilities since they don’t share resources with other users. This makes it perfect for businesses that have a dynamic codebase.

2. Reliability and stability

Private clouds are reliable, which makes them perfect for many enterprises. With public clouds, you can deploy automation mechanisms such as backups,monitoring, intrusion detection, etc, which improve productivity.

3. Security control, privacy, and compliance regulation

This is the main reason why many businesses opt for the private cloud. It gives you the ability to deploy your own security protocols and monitor compliance.

5. Easy customization and scalability

The proprietary nature of this deployment model makes them easy to customize. This enables firms to design their cloud strategies for scalability.

The Flipside of Private Cloud

Despite the numerous advantages that the private cloud has, it also has some drawbacks. Some of the main challenges that businesses may face by adopting the private cloud include:

1. Unmoderated automation and customization may bring complexity to the technology stack.
2. They may be expensive to manage, as in some circumstances, you may need to increase the IT staff to implement, and maintain the infrastructure. However, this may be countered by using managed IT services from providers such as ITGlobal.
3. A management mistake from the cloud service provider’s end may affect the users, hence bring about the same challenges faced by public cloud users.

Choosing a Private Cloud Provider That Works

AWS is the leader of the pack, but then Microsoft Azure is popular when it comes to C-executives with lasting long-term relationships with the vendor, while Google sits at the top of the open-source technologies throne. How therefore, in this chaos do you choose a private cloud vendor that can help you achieve your core objectives? We can’t address all the factors you need to put into consideration to make the right decision (Perhaps we will explore it on another post), but some factors you should have in mind include; data center locations, automation, backup, support and pricing.

Choosing the wrong private cloud service provider can be disastrous for your business in many ways. It is therefore advisable to seek professional help, mainly a Managed IT service provider, to help you with the private cloud adoption and management process. Not only does it give you a chance to concentrate on what you do best, but guarantees good results.

What The Future Holds For Private Cloud

Cloud computing adoption is on the rise, and it has become a pivotal component that enables us to move into a more advanced civilization. With many disruptions occurring in the tech world including the rapid rollout of 5G, self-driving cars, and many others, the future of the private cloud is bright. The increase in awareness of the need for cloud security will also increase the popularity of the private cloud in years to come. It is therefore important to make decisions on which deployment model to use based on the nature of your business. We also advise you to document your cloud strategy so you can keep track of its achievements and failures.