The cloud has quickly become the solution of choice for enterprises wanting to unify and process large quantities of data. With decision making reliant on analytical insights, the cloud provides the storage, processing power and scalability required and does so in the most cost-effective way, without the need for heavy capital investment in on-site infrastructure. Today, of course, there are several cloud options available to businesses: public and private cloud and a public-private hybrid. There’s also the option of multi-cloud solutions where separate vendors provide different types of cloud service. Perhaps the least understood of all these elements is the private cloud, and here, we’ll explain what it is and examine the advantages it offers to enterprises.
An overview of the private cloud
While public and private clouds use more or less the same type of advanced infrastructure, the key difference is in how those infrastructures are used. Essentially, in the public cloud, the vast data centre infrastructures are used to host the virtual servers of lots of clients in what is known as multi-tenancy hosting. With the private cloud, meanwhile, the hardware on which a virtual server is run is not shared. Instead, it is dedicated to a single organisation in what is known as single-tenancy hosting.
Improved compliance
By being solely for the use of one client, private cloud infrastructure can help enterprises comply with data privacy regulations. While exceptional levels of security are achievable in public cloud environments, it is the private cloud’s single tenancy that makes it highly suitable for enterprises that gather, store and process sensitive or personal data. Unlike in the public cloud, the system and the data it stores are isolated so they cannot be affected by threats that impact other users of the service provider’s infrastructure.
By being isolated, a private cloud customer also has greater freedom over how they deploy their cloud infrastructure. As a result, they can retain increased control over their data by ensuring deployment is fully aligned with company access-control and retention policies.
Cost-effective compared to on-site cloud
Though a private cloud is generally more expensive than the public cloud, the cost of deploying it is far less of a burden than creating a private cloud on-site. The significant capital investment required to create and operate an in-house, private cloud datacentre can be completely dispensed with in a hosted environment as the infrastructure is provided entirely by the service provider. This means enterprises only have to pay a monthly fee for the service which is more manageable and can be budgeted for in advance.
Greater control and freedom
Being the only user of the single tenancy infrastructure means private cloud customers have far greater control over it and over their data. As a result, they can independently monitor server performance and make use of their own tools to predict problems and take action to prevent downtime.
This improved control allows organisations to tailor their private cloud in a way that most effectively meets their needs; for example, they have greater freedom over the choice of infrastructure, networking and storage, enabling their IT setup to better meet the company’s goals.
Managed services
Just as with the public cloud, enterprises can also take advantage of managed private cloud services, letting the service provider carry out many of the server management tasks on their behalf. With vital services, like server and network monitoring, security, operating system updates and patching taken care of, this can significantly reduce the burden on IT staff.
If enterprises wish, it is also possible to develop a customised managed IT solution, with the service provider carrying out a wider and more hands-on role in the management of the client’s environment. Working in partnership with the enterprise’s IT teams, the service provider can take on not just the day-to-day management tasks but can also assist with more complex workloads while delivering bespoke technical support.
Recovery and continuity
Cloud environments are ideal for implementing disaster recovery and business continuity solutions. When a system uses a hosted private cloud, remote automated backups can take place on schedule and at speed. In this way, up-to-date backups of an enterprise’s entire system can be available so that, in the case of a disaster, a full recovery can happen within recovery time objectives. For reassurance, today’s backup solutions ensure that data is encrypted in transit and, if opted for, at rest and that integrity testing takes place to make sure that the backup has no corrupted data.
Geographical security
Regulations, like GDPR, require enterprises to store sensitive and personal data in countries where compliance is not compromised. This includes those nations where law enforcement agencies have been granted the power to access data stored within their borders for national security purposes.
The issue here is that some service providers manage their public clouds in such a way that virtual servers and their data are often relocated to other states. An additional benefit of the private cloud is that they are usually located in a single data centre and are not moved around. At Hyperslice, all our data centres are UK-based, so whether you use our public, private or hybrid cloud solutions, there is no risk of this form of non-compliance.
Conclusion
For enterprises that require the benefits of cloud IT but also need more robust security, enhanced compliance and greater control and freedom over their infrastructure and data, the private cloud offers the ultimate solution. Indeed, it also presents the opportunity to create a hybrid cloud where the public and private elements are deployed to carry out the workloads for which they are best suited. For more information, visit Hyperslice.com.
