The world of cloud computing is constantly evolving, with new technologies and approaches emerging every day. Once, it was easy to differentiate between public clouds, private clouds, hybrid clouds, and multiclouds based on location and ownership. However, the lines have become blurred, and it’s time to dive deeper into these types of cloud computing.
Public Clouds
Public clouds are cloud environments that are typically created using IT infrastructure not owned by the end user. Some of the biggest players in the public cloud market include Alibaba Cloud, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud, IBM Cloud, and Microsoft Azure.
In the past, public clouds were always off-premises. However, today’s public cloud providers offer cloud services not only on their own data centers but also on clients’ on-premise data centers. This has made location and ownership distinctions obsolete.
Public clouds can be accessed by multiple tenants, with the environments being partitioned and redistributed. Fee structures are no longer necessary characteristics of public clouds, as some providers even allow tenants to use their clouds for free. Additionally, the underlying IT infrastructure of public cloud providers can be abstracted and sold as Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) or developed into a cloud platform sold as Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS).
Private Clouds
Private clouds are cloud environments dedicated to a single end user or group, usually running behind their firewall. A private cloud is created when the underlying IT infrastructure is solely dedicated to a single customer with isolated access. However, private clouds are no longer limited to on-premise infrastructure.
These days, organizations are building private clouds on rented, vendor-owned data centers located off-premises, making location and ownership rules irrelevant. This shift has given rise to various subtypes of private clouds, including:
Managed Private Clouds
Managed private clouds are created and used by customers but are deployed, configured, and managed by third-party vendors. Enterprises with understaffed or underskilled IT teams can benefit from managed private clouds, as they provide better private cloud services and infrastructure.
Dedicated Clouds
A dedicated cloud is a cloud within another cloud. It can exist on a public cloud, such as Red Hat OpenShift® Dedicated, or on a private cloud. For example, an accounting department can have its dedicated cloud within the organization’s private cloud.
Hybrid Clouds
Hybrid clouds are IT environments created by connecting multiple environments through LANs, WANs, VPNs, and/or APIs. The characteristics and requirements of hybrid clouds can vary depending on whom you ask. A hybrid cloud might include:
- At least one private cloud and at least one public cloud
- Two or more private clouds
- Two or more public clouds
- A bare-metal or virtual environment connected to at least one public or private cloud
Any IT system becomes a hybrid cloud when applications can move between multiple separate yet connected environments. Consolidated IT resources that can scale on demand are sourced from some of these environments, and they are managed as a single environment using an integrated management and orchestration platform.
Multiclouds
Multiclouds are cloud approaches that involve using more than one cloud service from multiple cloud vendors, whether public or private. While all hybrid clouds are multiclouds, not all multiclouds are hybrid clouds. Multiclouds become hybrid clouds when multiple clouds are connected through integration or orchestration.
Multicloud environments can be intentionally created to improve security and performance or may arise accidentally due to shadow IT. Regardless, having multiple clouds is increasingly common among enterprises seeking to enhance security and performance through a diverse portfolio of environments.
In conclusion, the world of cloud computing is multi-faceted and constantly evolving. Public clouds, private clouds, hybrid clouds, and multiclouds offer different advantages and cater to various business needs. Understanding these types of cloud computing can help businesses make informed decisions about their IT infrastructure and cloud strategy.
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