Cloud Deployment Models: Types of Models & Applications

What is Cloud Computing?

Cloud computing has emerged significantly over the past decade. The cloud deployment models essentially refer to how the servers are deployed and provisioned over the internet so that they can be accessed remotely by individuals and companies, without the need to configure them.

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Why is Cloud Computing Becoming Popular?

Utilizing cloud deployment models provides multiple benefits like boosting productivity and providing a competitive advantage to organizations. With the growing popularity of cloud computing models, organizations are coming up with a variety of cloud deployment strategies designed to address specific infrastructure challenges that organizations face and the cloud computing solutions that they desire.

The different deployment strategies offer different levels of flexibility, cost-control, and data management within enterprises. 

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Cloud computing service models make it possible for companies to deploy and render several services, classified according to the roles, service providers, and user companies.

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Read: Top Cloud Computing Models Explained

Why are there different models?

Different organizations tend to have very different performance requirements based on their business’ specific needs. The main reasons are the level of performance desired in terms of concurrency, costs, security, privacy, and control over the desired data.

 For example, one of the most prominent reasons for choosing a specific cloud computing service is where the data center is located. These data centers or cloud computing hubs have tens of thousands of high performance servers to serve fast computing and storage needs of businesses. Thus, the cloud computing deployment models and strategy are first and foremost classified according to the location. This gives rise to four major types of deployment models.

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4 Types of Cloud Deployment Models 

1. Private cloud

In the private cloud computing model, a proprietary environment is dedicated to your business. Computing and storage resources are extended via virtualized components, which may be on-premise or at the vendor’s data center. A private cloud provides superior levels of security and control to organizations because they can configure and manage the environment based on their specific business needs, 

2. Community cloud

A community cloud model is very similar to a private cloud setup. The only difference is that in a private cloud setup, the cloud computing infrastructure and servers are owned and managed by a single private entity. But in a community cloud model, several different organizations of similar size pool their resources together to share infrastructure costs, maintenance, operations, and deployment.

But for the community model to work properly, the participatory companies should have similar security, privacy, and performance requirements.   

3. Public Cloud

In a public cloud, computing and storage resources are provided to the customer over the internet. Public cloud offers immense cost benefits because organizations can do away with costly on-site hardware deployment and maintenance.

4. Hybrid Cloud

Hybrid cloud computing offers the best of both public and private worlds by straddling the two with a layer of proprietary software. With a hybrid model, it is possible to host the application in a secure environment while leveraging cost benefits and low time to market offered by the public cloud. 

Must Read: Scope of Cloud Computing

Classification of Cloud Deployment Models Based on Services

1. Infrastructure as a Service 

IaaS requires the customer to install traditional applications on servers offered by the cloud platform provider. The customer is expected to manage all aspects of the application software and hardware. The capabilities of the software are identical to the same software deployed using on-premises hardware.  

Benefits of IaaS Service Model

1. IaaS Service Model offers time and cost savings since more installation and maintenance of IT software/ hardware happens in-house. 
2. IaaS also offers better flexibility since the on-demand hardware resources can be more easily tailored to your specific needs. 
3. The IaaS model, with its complexity, time, and cost savings, is especially valuable for large enterprises, which have large in-house IT teams that can build and manage the platform by themselves without having to rely on an external partner. The IaaS offers the desired flexibility to mold the platform according to their specific needs. 

2. Platform as a Service

The hybrid approach of the PaaS allows for the cloud vendor to provide the hardware and the software as a cloud service, and the vendor manages the hardware deployment, software installation, and software configuration. The customer, on the other hand, is responsible for managing, tuning, and optimizing the software. 

Benefits of Platform as a Service

1. The PaaS model is very popular since it provides the best of both worlds. The vendor is responsible for deployment and installation of hardware and software, while the customer manages the optimization, fine-tuning, and installation of the software and hardware updates. 
2. PaaS provides flexibility as well as time savings for managing and deploying large development projects – managing the implementation of the platform and instant production.
3. Security – The customer is responsible for managing data security protocols and taking application backups.  

Also Read: Cloud Computing Ultimate Guide

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3. Software as a Service 

In SaaS, the cloud vendor provides all hardware and software, including all aspects of managing the hardware and software. This includes services such as software and hardware upgrades, security, availability, data safety, and performance optimizations. 

Benefits of SaaS

1. While being more costly than its IaaS and PaaS counterparts, SaaS provides immense benefits in terms of time saving and quick deployment. The customer does not need to be concerned with infrastructure and managing the software alignment. There is no need for installation or software maintenance.
2. The vendor provides all the necessary software and hardware upgrades, including security. 
3. Testing and deploying new software applications is quick and easy.

The SaaS model is the most popular, and it is responsible for the rapid growth in the adoption of cloud computing services today. 

An effective cloud deployment strategy needs to take into account the specific needs of the organization. Many organizations find it easy to deploy and use SaaS models that have low cost monthly subscription plans.

As they scale out and build deeper in house capabilities, these organizations can then develop and set up the advanced capabilities, manpower, and technology needed.

Moreover, the scalability and flexibility offered by cloud providers implies that organizations often work with multiple cloud vendors for provisioning and streamlining different workflows; this puts pressure on the vendors to provide superior performance and security because the competition is intense, and it is quite easy to cancel the cloud subscription and switch vendors within a cloud deployment strategy. 

Conclusion

Previously, organizations had expressed concerns with regards to data security and privacy for cloud deployment models, especially within a shared public cloud model. But these fears have not only been allayed, but the deeper pockets and technology expertise of major cloud vendors such as Amazon, Microsoft, Google, and IBM ensure the most advanced security protocols and layers to guarantee data safety and security.

With these advancements in technology as well as the huge success and willingness shown by organizations to adopt cloud computing solutions for success and speed covey that it is a very exciting time to look ahead for cloud computing. 

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