Cloud computing can be defined as the ability of companies to access computing resources in a simple, flexible and secure way via the Internet.
It is a form of ‘renting’ information technology rather than purchasing it, which means lower investment in certain resources and paying only for what is used, making resources more accessible to different profiles.
Before analysing the different types of cloud computing, let’s look at the advantages of this technology.
Benefits of cloud computing
Cloud computing offers a number of advantages that provide companies with the flexibility they need for their digital transformation processes and for launching new services or applications.
Let’s take a look at some of these benefits:
- Scalability and flexibility. Creating and adjusting resources depending on demand is a feature of cloud computing, through an infrastructure that can be dynamically adapted.
- Geography. Allowing users to access applications and data in different locations improves performance, reduces latency and optimises the user experience by ensuring global coverage. This is achieved by having data centres spread across different geographical regions.
- Efficiency and agility. One of the biggest advantages of cloud computing is agility, which sets it apart from traditional IT infrastructure provisioning processes. This allows processes and operations to be more agile, leading to greater productivity and operational efficiency.
- High availability. As they are designed with redundancies in their operational layers, cloud solutions reduce downtime and ensure the continuity of cloud applications.
Types of cloud computing
Depending on the location and services offered by each one, there are four types of cloud computing. Let’s take a look at what they are and their main characteristics.
Public cloud
In this type of cloud, the service is provided by a company (hyperscalers) and is usually multi-client.
With the right adaptation, it is more economical than a private cloud (whose particularities we will see below), as well as offering small businesses equally cheaper information technology (IT) environments.
The infrastructure belongs to an external provider, which is responsible for the storage and security of resources such as servers or storage, which are available on the Internet.
Private cloud
In this case, the infrastructure belongs to the organisation itself, which means greater data confidentiality, although it does require a greater investment.
The fact that it is an infrastructure dedicated to a single organisation does not mean that it has to be managed internally; this task can also be carried out by an external provider.
Hybrid cloud
Combining the two above, it is generally used by companies as it offers the best balance in terms of confidentiality, costs and system availability.
This combination of public and private clouds allows organisations to keep sensitive data in a private cloud while taking advantage of the scalability of the public cloud for other workloads.
Multicloud
Very similar to the hybrid cloud, but with the exception that several clouds are involved, whether private or public.
This use of multiple services from different cloud providers in a single architecture—both public and private, as we have already mentioned—increases resilience and avoids dependence on a single provider.
