Monday 24 June 2013

Which is better: public or private cloud services?

There is now access to the public and private cloud services for the average consumer. The problem is that most users don’t know how to compare these two in deciding. The lack of information in a simplified and easily accessible manner leads to increased levels of confusion amongst the public. This makes them likelier to end up with a wrong decision and later regretting it. Here, we analyze these two solutions to help you choose.

One, what are the costs of these solutions? Private cloud solution is charged at premium rates. These rates are proportional to actual use and are levied on a monthly or yearly basis. The model used is pay per use which enables the user to determine how much they intend to use within a set time. There is a common misconception that public cloud services are free. While there are no external subscription fees charged to the users, there are indirect costs of using these solutions. Limitations in functionality, scalability, and reliability can be viewed as indirect costs. On the subject of costs, public cloud solutions are better for individual use while private clouds are better for businesses.

Two, what are the limitations of the solutions? Public cloud services are extremely limited in terms of the functionality, access, scalability, reliability provided to the user. Functionality is usually reduced to basic and generic functions to make them cheaper to deploy. Access is limited by the whims of the service provider since there is no contractual obligation to provide service. Scalability and reliability are limited by the lowered rate of investment in the cloud infrastructure. Private cloud services have their limitations provided by the contract. This means that the user can reduce them as per their perceived need.

Three, which solution is easier to use? The ease of use of cloud solutions has been a crucial decision point in recent times. Public cloud services are the easiest to use. Their public deployment means that developers need to make systems which can be used by anyone. However, the real reason they are easy to use is that they are simple in terms of the service they offer. The generic and low levels of cloud services are easier to use. Private cloud solutions can be complex; however, this has been addressed through the use of managed hosting.

When making a decision between either solution, the underlying factor for you must be based on what you need the cloud solution for.

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