With cloud computing growing explosively in the short time frame that it has, there is some confusion around the primary cloud deployment models, especially for businesses that are just getting started. And understandably so. With so much buzz and emerging terminology, things can get confusing pretty quickly. It doesn’t help that some sources provide conflicting information.
To help businesses understand the differences between these models, we’ve created an infographic (found below) that provides a very simplified look at the 4 primary cloud deployment models. While the technical aspects of each of these models can be discussed in much greater detail, this infographic provides a much needed visual diagram for those trying to learn about the cloud.
Here are the official definitions of the 4 cloud deployment models, according to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST):
Public
The cloud infrastructure is provisioned for open use by the general public. It may be owned, managed, and operated by a business, academic, or government organization, or some combination of them. It exists on the premises of the cloud provider.
Private
The cloud infrastructure is provisioned for exclusive use by a single organization comprising multiple consumers (e.g., business units). It may be owned, managed, and operated by the organization, a third party, or some combination of them, and it may exist on or off premises.
Community
The cloud infrastructure is provisioned for exclusive use by a specific community of consumers from organizations that have shared concerns (e.g., mission, security requirements, policy, and compliance considerations). It may be owned, managed, and operated by one or more of the organizations in the community, a third party, or some combination of them, and it may exist on or off premises.
Hybrid
The cloud infrastructure is a composition of two or more distinct cloud infrastructures (private, community, or public) that remain unique entities, but are bound together by standardized or proprietary technology that enables data and application portability (e.g., cloud bursting for load balancing between clouds).
When evaluating the cloud, it’s important to remember that in a true on-premise (non-cloud) environment, the application data is delivered over an intranet, which unlike the internet, is closed off from the rest of the world and accessible only within that organization’s internal network, enabling greater security control and faster transfer speeds.
In addition to deployment model, organizations must also consider the 3 primary service models, and the 5 Essential Characteristics of cloud computing when planning their utilization of the cloud.
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