The decision between Private Cloud vs. Public Cloud has become more crucial than ever as cloud technology transitions from being a novelty to a necessity. With the global cloud market projected to reach $832.1 billion by 2025, up from $371.4 billion in 2020, it’s evident that businesses are heavily investing in cloud technologies. The pivotal question arises: should your organization opt for a public or private cloud? Each has its unique merits and drawbacks.
So, what distinguishes the public from the private cloud?
A straightforward delineation is as follows:
Private Cloud: This is a cloud service utilized exclusively by a single organization. It is installed on the organization’s premises and is not exposed to the public, ensuring that only the organization has access to and can manage it.
Public Cloud: Conversely, this is a cloud service residing on the internet, meaning it is accessible to the public and can be used by anyone. Notable examples of public clouds include AWS and Azure.
In this post, we’ll delve into the nuanced differences between public and private clouds, comparing their features to assist you in determining the right fit for your organization. Additionally, we’ll unveil a third option that amalgamates the advantages of both realms.
While literature often cites hybrid cloud as the third type of cloud, essentially, a hybrid cloud is a blend of the two models, where some of your resources are hosted on-premise and the rest on a public cloud. However, we will not include the hybrid cloud discussion in this article.
Which model is more suitable for your organization?
This is another common question, and the answer is, in most cases, not a straightforward one. At best, you would be asked to look at the above table and decide for yourself.
But what if there is a third option? LEAN offers another flavor of private cloud, where you avail all the public cloud’s financial and technical flexibility and robustness, with the privacy and control you get with the traditional private cloud.
LEAN’s Private Cloud Services
LEAN’s Virtual Data Center (VDC) is a multi-tenant platform that uses private MPLS to link clients with their virtual data center resources. The platform has such a high degree of tenant separation that each tenant has total freedom to use whatever network topology and IP schema they wish without affecting the other tenants. It is, in the end, a totally virtualized Software-Defined Data Center, so the possibilities are endless.
Firewalls, load balancing, redundancy, disaster recovery, and even backup and data protection are provisioned within minutes. In addition, every aspect of the operation has monitoring and reporting capabilities.
As a result, clients can better understand their resource utilization, better control their VDC efficiency, and keep their costs under control.
We can safely say that LEAN VDC services combine the best of both worlds. So if your organization is in Kuwait, and you are looking for a solution that gives you all the control a private cloud provides but with the flexibility of the public cloud, then give us a call, and we’ll schedule a full-fledged demo for you.
Public Cloud Vs. Private Cloud Vs. LEAN!
The following table lists the differences between the Private and Public Cloud models as well as LEAN’s Private Cloud model.
| Private Cloud | Public Cloud | LEAN Private Cloud | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Data Center | Servers hosted inside the organization’s data center | No data center. Servers hosted by the service provider | No data center. Using LEAN’s Cloud Platform |
| Exposure | No exposure to the outside | Hosted on the open internet | No exposure to the outside |
| Management | Managed by the organization | Managed by a service provider | Can be managed by the organization or by LEAN as a Cloud Managed Service |
| Hardware | Owned and maintained by the organization | Owned and maintained by the service provide | Owned and maintained by LEAN |
| Tenancy | Single-tenant | Multi-tenant | Multi-tenant with total tenant separation |
| Security | Managed by the organization | Managed by the organization | Manged either by the organization and provided by LEAN’s platform |
| Costs | Upfront CAPEX and continuous OPEX for hosting and staffing | OPEX only – rental and pay as you go | OPEX only – pay as you grow |
| Control over compute, storage, and networking resources | The organization has granular control over the resources | The cloud provider controls the resources | The organization has granular control over the resources |
Frequently Asked Questions
Q. What is the core difference between public and private clouds?
A. Private clouds are exclusive to one organization, offering more control and security, whereas public clouds are accessible to anyone and are managed by third-party providers like AWS or Azure.
Q. Can you give a simple analogy for public and private clouds?
A. Think of public cloud as a rented apartment in a large building where resources are shared and private cloud as your own standalone house with your own resources.
Q. What is a hybrid cloud?
A. Hybrid cloud is a blend of both public and private clouds, allowing organizations to utilize on-premise resources alongside public cloud services.
Q. How does LEAN’s Virtual Data Center (VDC) differentiate from traditional private clouds?
A. LEAN’s VDC merges the financial and technical flexibility of public clouds with the privacy and control of private clouds, further enhanced by private MPLS linking clients to their resources.
Q. What benefits does LEAN’s private cloud offer over traditional cloud models?
A. LEAN’s private cloud provides multi-tenancy with total tenant separation, quick provisioning of essential services, and granular control over resources, offering a balanced blend of flexibility, control, and security.
Q. How does the cost structure of LEAN’s private cloud compare to traditional models?
A. Unlike the upfront CAPEX in traditional private clouds, LEAN’s private cloud follows an OPEX model, offering a pay-as-you-grow pricing structure that can be more financially manageable.
Q. How secure is the LEAN private cloud?
A. LEAN private cloud incorporates robust security measures, including built-in encryption firewalls, with the option for organizations to manage their own security protocols.
Q. How can I transition my organization to LEAN’s private cloud services?
A. Contacting LEAN for a full-fledged demo is a great start to understand how LEAN’s private cloud can cater to your organizational needs and what steps are needed for transition.
