Figure 2. Cloud computing characteristics
The following are the basic characteristics that make up a Public Cloud solution:
- Customers pay for a Public Cloud service monthly and on a pay-as-you-go basis, based on the services consumed or committed for during the month.
- The Public Cloud infrastructure is entirely consumed over the Internet and is located within the Data Center facilities of the Public Cloud provider.
- The Public Cloud provider manages the hardware and software infrastructure, while the applications and data are generally the responsibility of the client. Although the Public Cloud provider has responsibility for the integrity of the shared multitenant infrastructure, the management and security of the data remains the responsibility of the user.
- The user can request additional capacity on demand as needed and can relinquish resources that have been in use but are no longer needed, making not just the usage of the service variable but also the amount of money spent. In practice, the Public Cloud providers offer to discount in exchange for some level of committed user capacity that is (whether it is used or not).
- A complete application development ecosystem is made available to users to allow the development of so-called “modern” applications, and many tools and frameworks and services can be selected as needed by developers. These are updated and tested by the Public Cloud provider to free the user from worrying about integration and management so they can focus on the process of developing software.
- New capacity is easily and quickly available at the click of a button, enabling rapid provisioning of new resources on an as-needed basis.
- Because the major Public Cloud providers are large organizations with facilities dispersed globally, customers benefit from the ability to access consistent resources from different geographies, and to roll out applications that can service users located anywhere.
- The Data Center facilities provided by Public Cloud providers are state-of-the-art and incorporate best-of-breed physical facilities and Data Center technologies, especially networking.
- Public Cloud providers have high-bandwidth access to the Internet and connections to major carriers to minimize network latency regardless of how the customer connects into the service.
The advantages of the Public Cloud
The Public Cloud providers do an excellent job of describing the features, capabilities, benefits, and advantages of running enterprise workloads exclusively in the Public Cloud, as opposed to using an on-premises infrastructure. Their focus is typically on running workloads solely on a Public Cloud without consideration of the type of application or the total cost to a business.
The following describes the Public Cloud providers’ point of view with respect to the potential advantages of running customer workloads in their environment:
- Trade upfront (capital) expense for a variable (operational) expense. This infers the elimination of complex and time-consuming budgeting and cost justification processes, along with associated resource-intensive procurement cycles.
- Stop spending money managing Data Centers and IT staff. Customers are encouraged to get out of the Data Center business and dispense with the associated tasks entirely, along with the reduction or elimination of administrative resources required to run that infrastructure, some of whom are difficult to hire and retain. The constant pressure to refresh aging infrastructure and stay current with the latest in technology is eliminated. The message to users is that IT is not core to the business and those responsibilities can be outsourced to the Public Cloud provider.
- Pay-on-demand and pay-as-you-go – only pay for what you need. To avoid overprovisioning infrastructure for workload that does not yet exist, or workload requirements that occur in a cyclical fashion, the user can consume as much or as little of the resource as is required at any point in time. In addition, at the beginning of a project when resource requirements are modest, large investments are not necessary, allowing new projects to begin with minimal commitments.
- Benefit from massive economies of scale. The scale and quality of the Public Cloud providers’ Data Centers are impressive. They possess facilities spread around the globe and use the latest in technology. Regardless of the increasing demands for infrastructure, the Public Cloud provider has sufficient resources available to satisfy almost any workload demand.
- Increase speed and agility – IT resources are only a click away. Provisioning new infrastructure is quick and painless – no waiting for an IT department to procure and implement new hardware in the Data Center. When new requirements require immediate action, the Public Cloud resource is available instantaneously, dramatically decreasing an organization’s time-to-market and time-to-value.
- Go global in minutes. Due to the distributed and global nature of the Public Cloud providers’ infrastructure, users can take advantage of capabilities not otherwise practical to implement in an on-premises fashion.
- Modern application development environment. A comprehensive suite of development tools, libraries, and frameworks are made available to programmers to support the development process.