Public cloud is a cloud computing service where third-party providers host computing resources — servers, storage, and applications — over the internet connection using a web browser on a pay-as-you-go basis.
The public cloud offers a shared environment, saving a lot of costs for companies and individuals. This new and revolutionary model has turned around how applications are applied and sensitive data are secured.
Because of its nature, the public cloud has become a compelling option for individuals, developers, startups, small-to-medium-sized businesses (SMBs), and even large corporations looking for scalable, cost-effective and agile solutions.
How A Public Cloud Works?
The answer to the question of “What is public cloud?” is that a public cloud is a platform run by a third party that offers on-demand access to resources, applications, and services to all customers, including remote workers, anywhere in the globe.
Virtual machines (VMs), containers, serverless computing, applications, and storage are frequently included in these resources. It is the first generation of cloud computing services.
Access
From a structural point of view, these systems operate as a distributed network, usually consisting of one or more linked data centers. Numerous cloud services are made available on this basis. Users can easily use the services offered by logging in with the cloud provider, entering their login credentials and billing details. Long-term services are usually eligible for special pricing discounts.
Pricing Model
Providers offer scalable, flexible, and affordable virtual cloud resources and bill customers on a pay-as-you-go basis. This means customers only pay for the resources they use without having to spend a lot of money on dedicated physical servers.
Multi-tenancy
Multi-tenancy is an essential feature of public clouds. The purpose of a public cloud is to support numerous users, not just one client. A virtual computer environment that is isolated from other users is necessary for any consumer. This is an essential prerequisite to ensure the intended performance and the other QoS (Quality of Service) characteristics agreed upon with users, as well as providing efficient user activity monitoring.
Private, Hybrid, Community Cloud and Sovereign Cloud
Associated with dedicated cloud environments to collaborative infrastructures, these cloud models cater to specific needs and help redefine how organizations manage their data, protect it, and comply with regulations.
Private Cloud
Private cloud compared to public cloud is used by one company only. As external users will not be able to access the cloud infrastructure, it offers greater security and control.
Even though private clouds can be hosted on-premises or hosted by a third-party, physical resources are accessed by one company only.
Companies dealing with sensitive data or those operating in regulated sectors where high levels of security are a must or they need to comply with regulations, favor this method over the public cloud.
Hybrid Cloud
Hybrid cloud is a computing service model that allows enterprises to use existing IT infrastructures, maintain sensitive information within their premises, and scale up or down the external resources. Security concerns are then only limited to the public portion of the cloud.
Hybrid cloud is a heterogeneous distributed system resulting from a private cloud including additional services or resources from one or more public clouds.
Community Cloud
The users of community cloud are governmental institutions, industries, or simple users but all are interested in the same issues in their communication with the cloud. From an architectural standpoint, a community cloud will be implemented over more than one administrative domain. This means that organizations such as government agencies, private organizations, research institutions, and even public virtual infrastructure providers all contribute their resources to create the cloud infrastructure.
Sovereign Cloud
A Sovereign Cloud is a cloud infrastructure designed to deliver data sovereignty by following local law, keeping data within national borders, and adhering to government regulations. It is typically run by local governments or cloud businesses in an effort to ensure total compliance with national law.
Advantages & Disadvantages of Public Cloud
The adoption of public cloud infrastructure comes with advantages and disadvantages. This gives a clear answer to the question of “What is public cloud”. Switching to cloud computing requires an in-depth evaluation by organizations, such as weighing on not relying heavily on physical servers or risks of giving up control over the traditional on-premises infrastructures.
Advantages of Public Cloud:
- Cost Savings and Cost Effective Operations: A major benefit of public cloud platforms is that they are cost-effective. Businesses get an only-pay model where the company pays just for the used resources.
- Scalability and Flexibility: Public cloud services give the platform the flexibility whether you need scaling up during peak times or scaling down for off times.
- Global Reach and Accessibility: Public cloud infrastructure is accessible anywhere through an internet connection.
- Maintenance-Free Management: Maintenance and update of the hardware are done by the cloud provider in the public cloud.
- Rapid Deployment and Innovation: The public cloud services provide businesses with rapid deployment of new applications and services.
- Strong Ecosystem of Services: Public cloud platforms have mature cloud computing services with IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS offerings.
Disadvantages of Public Cloud:
- Security: Virtualization technologies expose the existing system to new threats, which were earlier non-significant. With strict security measures adopted by cloud providers, the shared nature of the public cloud can be a concern for hosting sensitive data.
- Limited Customization: Public clouds are meant to support multiple customers, and this can limit options compared to private clouds.
- Dependence on the Internet: Since the public cloud services are provided over the internet, loss of the internet connection will affect the uptime.
- Risks of Vendor Lock-In: When the organization is over-dependent on the products and services of a single cloud vendor, this can become complex and costly to move to a different vendor in the future.
- Regulatory and Compliance Issues: Sometimes it is challenging for organizations to operate and meet regulatory compliance requirements in a public cloud infrastructure.
- Consistency of Performance: inconsistency in resource availability may affect some workloads in multi-tenant scenarios.
Public Cloud Use Cases
Utilizing the built-in scalability, cost effectiveness, and on-demand access of shared cloud environments, public cloud use cases cover a wide range of business applications.
Scalable Web Services for Website and App Hosting
Public cloud platforms enable businesses to launch apps and websites with previously unheard-of agility and scalability. Businesses can host complex applications and high-traffic web portals without being constrained by traditional hardware by utilizing virtualized compute and storage resources that can be provisioned on-demand.
Analytics & Big Data – Handling Massive Datasets
Public cloud infrastructures are the key to processing and analyzing large amounts of structured and unstructured data in the big data space.
AI & Machine Learning – Cloud-Based AI Models
Developing, training, and deploying AI and machine learning models can be carried out through public cloud services. High performance computational sources, such as specialized GPUs, Through the on-demand access offered by the cloud platforms users can enjoy the same level of capability.
Disaster Recovery & Backup – Secure Offsite Storage
The public cloud’s geographically distributed infrastructure offers a strong solution, providing a safe haven for essential data and applications. When data is replicated on multiple sites, they are protected from localized hardware failures or natural disasters and this allows organizations to continue services and recover from an interruption in service.
Remote Work & Collaboration – Cloud-Based Tools
Modern public cloud solutions are important practices in reengineering work definition and include all types of collaboration tools that are necessary and can transcend office boundaries. These applications offer real-time collaboration, secure document sharing, and communication for distributed teams.
Conclusion
Investigating the definition, advantages, and disadvantages of the public cloud and its use cases is a must in answering the fundamental question of “What is the public cloud?”
The public cloud has changed the way individuals or businesses access computing resources. It is cost-effective, scalable, and flexible compared to traditional on-premise infrastructure.
Real-world applications are vast and spread across different industries. Businesses are using public cloud services as scalable web hosting, even during heavy traffic. Because of its powerful computing capabilities, it is used in big data analytics, AI, and ML development to process and analyze voluminous datasets.
Public cloud usage also serves as disaster recovery and backup measures for organizations, making data security and business continuity possible.
Also, public cloud environments are home to collaboration and remote work tools where real-time communication and document sharing happen among globally distributed teams.
Security, compliance, and vendor lock-in pertain to the public cloud’s benefits; it has become a necessity for modern organizations that transform digitally because of its effectiveness, innovation, accessibility, and operational cost-savings.
The correct combination, which will feature the various elements of public, private, and hybrid clouds, would indeed be vital in ensuring that future businesses enjoy long-term sustainability.
