There are three common ways an organisation can build a cloud environment: public, private, hybrid (and multi-cloud, which is the combination of the three). A private cloud refers to cloud infrastructure (typically compute, storage, and network) provisioned for exclusive use by a single organisation serving a single internal consumer or multiple internal consumers.
A private cloud is usually managed and hosted on-premises in a customer’s data centre, and is mostly used by companies with a clearly defined group of users. A private cloud can also be called enterprise cloud or internal cloud. Private clouds are usually used when customers need to host highly sensitive data. This could include hosting mission-critical applications or complying with data regulations.
A true private cloud typically operates on the company’s internal infrastructure and local data centre, but some companies choose to use new, separate infrastructure provided by a third-party organisation to reduce the costs of maintaining their own datacentres and infrastructure. Often organisations look at Hosted Private Cloud as the first port of call on their journey to the cloud.
