Choosing a cloud service delivery form that suits your company or sector is no herculean task. According to Microsoft Azure, services delivered over the cloud or internet are cloud services and are provided to companies on demand. These services range from analytics, networking, software, database, storage, servers, and intelligence options.
The services offered are of lower costs as you can access cloud services without paying for upgrades or maintenance. Besides, these services are always on a monthly and annual package and you only pay for services you subscribe to. Also, you can activate and cancel subscriptions at any time.
Types of Cloud Computing Models Operated on Cloud Services
Software as a Service (SaaS) – SaaS is regarded as a turn-key application available for end-users. The cloud service providers are in charge of managing it. Therefore the end-user has no problem with how the underlying infrastructures are managed. There are numerous services offered, which include but not limited to tools for a project, email, and storage management. Examples of such software are slack, dropbox, Google suite, and a lot more.
Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)– this is a substitute for data centres. Numerous cloud service providers use these infrastructures to manage SaaS. Examples of IaaS Cloud service providers are Google Computing Engine, Microsoft Azure, and Amazon Web Services (AWS).
Platform(Hardware) as a Service (PaaS)– Most IaaS service providers also provide a platform as a service. PaaS is a web-based environment that has an operating system, database, and programming language. This helps app and software developers to develop cloud applications and software.
The above services are being run on Private or Public cloud services. It is important to note that a combination of private and public cloud services gives rise to hybrid cloud services.
Private Cloud Services:
Private cloud services also referred to as corporate or internal cloud services. Unlike public cloud services, its services are offered over the internet to a particular user or selected users rather than the public. Main sectors or companies that make use of Private Cloud services operate with sensitive data and in need of total control. such as the health and financial sectors. Therefore, they mostly make use of customized software, hardware, and infrastructures. Examples of private cloud service providers are Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), Oracle, Dell, VMware, IBM, Cisco, Redhat, Amazon Web Services, Mircosoft, NetApp, and a lot more. There are several Pros and few cons.
Pros
- It is self-operated by the user and cost-effective after a while.
- More efficient than public cloud services because of its customizable feature.
- Highly Scalable and elasticity- this is possible as a result of more control over the private cloud operations and also it has a customizable feature.
- Maximum security and privacy of data and operations- this is possible with internal hosting features and availability of the company firewall, this prevents access to information from third parties.
Cons
- High cost for acquiring customized cloud services at the initial stage.
- The company’s IT department is held accountable for the cost and management of cloud facilities.
Public Cloud Services?
These are computing services used by various users all over the globe. The services could be paid for and could be free. The services are offered by many third-party companies or providers and available for everyone who cares to make use of it. Pay per usage is cheaper compared to private cloud services. In recent times, public cloud services are seen to be less secure. However according to Mircosoft Azure, if appropriate security measures are followed by these public users, the operations and services would be as secure as that of private cloud services An example of this security system is the IDPS- Intrusion Detection and Prevention systems. Examples of these public cloud services third-party providers are: Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Red Hat, Google Cloud Platform, VMware, kamatera, IBM Cloud, Oracle Cloud, Verizon cloud, and lots more.
Pros:
- The upfront payment is less expensive compared to private cloud services– it’s is a pay per usage service, you either pay per bandwidth used by you or per storage and CPU cycle.
- The cloud service provider is responsible and accountable for upgrades and maintenance which gives fewer worries to the users.
- It’s highly scalable and fast in terms of operations when compared to data centres
- Disaster recovery options are available for IT systems.
- The infrastructures are flexible and reliable
Cons:
- There is no option for customizing and makes the services rendered limited for public infrastructures.
- It is less secure compared to private cloud services.
From all the pros and cons mentioned, it would be easy to choose a suitable cloud service solution. Budget available, types of data used and stored in the cloud, traffic demand, and necessity for customization are among the factors to consider. Hope you found the write-up helpful? Let’s hear your thought through the comment box.
Keywords: cloud services data centres
Suggested additional keywords if possible: computing services, private cloud services, cloud service providers, cloud service providers, and public cloud services. (If the SD is not high)
