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What is Cloud?#

Cloud is Empowerment#

There are many ways to use the term "cloud". We don't want to repeat everything - but here's what we think:

  • Cloud is all about self-service. Whether you need a Public Cloud or a Private Cloud, the main idea is that it enables you (a developer/user/owner/tenant) to perform the actions you need without interacting with some administrator who does the work for you.
  • Cloud means that you don't have to worry about the technology behind the service you are consuming. It should just work. Always.
  • Cloud is not a one-size-fits-all replacement for traditional data centers - but it represents a great opportunity to get out of some legacy challenges, save money and improve quality.

In combination, cloud is a matter of empowering people to deliver functional solutions at lower costs with fewer limitations.

Most organizations of a certain size will likely need a combination of two types of cloud offerings. That's what we call Hybrid Cloud:

Public Cloud#

Often referred to as just "cloud", the Public Cloud offerings are available to everyone. This is the most efficient way to share resources - but it also means that cloud consumers are at the mercy of the provider when it comes to the availability of offerings, the capacity, and in the end, privacy and security depends very much on the public cloud provider's abilities and intents.

Cheap, fast, and reliable are typical public cloud features. Public Cloud offers on-demand, pay-as-you-go and extreme scalability.

Private Cloud#

As an alternative to the public offerings, Private Cloud can be set up for an individual organization. From a technological perspective it looks very much like traditional on-premises infrastructure - but a private cloud should still allow for its consumers to self-service most of the work.

The offerings in the private cloud arena are not nearly as mature or advanced as public cloud offerings - but they offer more control when it comes to capabilities, capacity, security, and privacy.

Complex, slow-moving and initially expensive are attributes that describe many private cloud setups. But for those who end up mastering the disciplines, private cloud also unlocks a world of control and independence from the main actors on the internet.