Security Customization: Not the Only Reason to Choose Private Cloud Deployment

By Peter Scott
TMCnet Contributor

As businesses move to the cloud -- or once they move but grow so fast that need more flexibility and have more complexity  -- the question arises whether to choose a public, private or hybrid cloud architecture.

Often the question is positioned around security. Does the added security from a private cloud deployment warrant the additional cost and complexity?

While private cloud deployments do benefit from the customized security of operating on dedicated hardware that is not shared by other tenants, the reality is that security actually isn’t the biggest reason for choosing a private cloud option.

There are several reasons why a business might select a private cloud deployment aside from security, as a recent white paper by Intermedia (News - Alert) highlights. These include not just security, but also customization, integrations flexibility, control and data replication.

First, the private cloud offers more flexibility in terms of customization. With the public cloud, businesses must work with the policy and technology limitations of the public cloud provider. With the private cloud, however, they customize areas such as IPsec VPN connectivity, MPLS/peering available and co-located equipment or customized tape rotation in a way that fully meets business needs.

Second, private cloud deployments bring more integration latitude. As the Intermedia paper notes, businesses might need customized integration between Hosted Exchange and line-of-business applications, integrated mobile device management solutions, CRM or custom SharePoint installations, or better connectivity with unified messaging or content archiving solutions.

A third advantage of private cloud is an extra level of control. Product updates and deployment schedules are outside the control of a business when a public cloud is used, but with a private cloud solution a company has much greater control over the cloud roadmap.

Further, private cloud deployments offer better data replication options. Public cloud solutions only replicate to servers in the same data center without additional cost, but with the private cloud it is possible to establish more complex and robust replication scenarios such as continuous cross-site replication across different geographies.

There are downsides with choosing a private cloud, too, such as added cost, complexity and shifting internal IT mindsets; the private cloud is not for every business, especially smaller firms that want turnkey solutions.

For companies positioned for the private cloud, however, security is just one of several reasons for using a private or hybrid cloud solution.