Private Cloud

What is Private Cloud?

Establishing a private cloud means an organization engages a cloud computing infrastructure that is solely dedicated to company usage. A private cloud can be based on a company’s own data center, a colocation facility hosted by third-party vendors, or through a private cloud provider. The organization is usually responsible for managing the private cloud, acting as if it were a traditional on-premises infrastructure. This can include ongoing maintenance, upgrades, and application software management.

How does Private Cloud work?

One capability that private cloud offers a company that public cloud can’t is the ability to customize the IT infrastructure. Depending on their unique business needs, the organization can choose any custom assembly of servers, software, security, and other applications. Private clouds can span numerous server, storage, and network systems, which lets IT managers partition and distribute resources for multiple workloads on virtual machines or containers. This resource sharing allows for better efficiency and scalability, while new workloads can be automated and monitored through central dashboards.

Why is Private Cloud important?

Private cloud provides more secure cloud computing solutions than public cloud options. However, organizations must be proactive to establish effective security to enjoy all of the benefits private cloud offers. Private clouds, being limited to physical machines, means there is more control over the environment for the organization or the vendor providing the private cloud technology. Private clouds often operate behind perimeter firewalls and are typically only accessed through secure network links instead of the public Internet.

Benefits of Private Cloud

Private cloud infrastructure offers much of the same control and security as traditional on-premises networking. Here are extra benefits that can set the private cloud apart:

• Higher security – Private cloud security is robust as private cloud traffic is often limited to the organization’s in-house transactions and data operations. On the other hand, public cloud providers must simultaneously handle traffic and transactions from millions of users, creating more exposure to system and data vulnerabilities.
• More reliable performance – Based on dedicated hardware, private cloud lets organizational workloads be more predictable and unaffected by other organizations sharing infrastructure, bandwidth, or processing power.
• Cost savings – Setting up private cloud infrastructure can have a high upfront cost, making for greater long-term investments and returns. A private cloud can be much more cost-effective than paying monthly fees for public cloud access. 
• Regulatory and compliance management – Regulatory oversight can govern where data resides, and computing occurs. Private clouds might be required in regions where public clouds aren’t available or overly restrictive, and organizations may have sensitive data that they must keep complete control over.

The Common Scenarios for Private Cloud 

Private clouds provide a robust infrastructure for many organizations and enterprises, especially those that require strict regulatory and security oversight and control.

Private clouds are provided in virtual, hosted, or managed environments. A virtual deployment isolates a private cloud within a public cloud, with server space shared by—but inaccessible to—other organizations.

When private clouds are hosted, they don’t share network space with other organizations, and a third-party provider maintains hardware and software. Providers can also offer managed private solutions for organizations that lack IT personnel or aren’t focused on technology management.

Private application management will vary across organizations based on industry policy requirements and standards. A financial services institute, for example, could deploy a private cloud for additional on-premises security. On the other hand, healthcare providers can use private cloud solutions to store medical data that complies with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).

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