- A public cloud is a cloud computing model where IT infrastructure resources such as servers, networking, and storage are provided as virtualised resources over the internet.
- Public cloud operation involves leasing computing services over the internet through a multi-tenant model, where resources are shared among multiple users.
It is widely acknowledged that Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a public cloud platform. It offers a comprehensive range of cloud computing services and solutions to individuals, businesses, and organisations on a pay-as-you-go basis over the internet.
What is a public cloud?
A public cloud is a cloud computing model where IT infrastructure resources such as servers, networking, and storage are provided as virtualised resources over the internet. Traditionally, organisations had to purchase and manage the infrastructure required to run applications themselves, incurring high setup and maintenance costs, and often lacking advanced computing capabilities. Public clouds address these challenges by offering IT resources as fully managed services.
Third-party providers maintain hardware, related software, and licenses in globally distributed data centre networks. You can access the required resources on-demand, at any scale, from any device of your choosing. Organisations use public clouds to access cutting-edge and emerging technologies such as AI services, blockchain, and the Internet of Things (IoT). This accelerates the pace of technological advancement and adoption, while improving service delivery and customer satisfaction.
Also read: AWS’s CEO Adam Selipsy to step down after 14 years
Also read: Knowing the power of AWS hybrid cloud solutions
How does the public cloud work?
Public cloud operation involves leasing computing services over the internet through a multi-tenant model, where resources are shared among multiple users. This setup utilises various technologies to simplify IT resource management, treating infrastructure as code. Public cloud providers maintain extensive global data centre networks that host hardware and software supporting services like servers, storage, and networking equipment. They employ virtualisation to maximise flexibility and scalability, dividing physical resources into multiple virtual instances for different users. Resource pooling allows providers to dynamically allocate resources like storage and processing power based on demand, with usage monitored and billed accordingly. APIs enable developers to integrate cloud functionalities seamlessly, facilitating tasks such as resource provisioning and usage metrics collection. Service Level Agreements (SLAs) ensure reliability and performance, outlining benchmarks for uptime and service quality. This structure grants businesses and individuals scalable, reliable, and cost-effective access to advanced computing resources without the burden of physical infrastructure management.
What are the benefits of the public cloud?
Public cloud providers offer numerous benefits to help meet diverse needs, from simple virtual hosting to complex machine learning applications. Leveraging the public cloud provides scalability advantages where resources can be rapidly scaled up or down based on demand without concerns about capacity limits. Services can be deployed closer to end-users via global data centres, ensuring optimal performance even during extensive scaling. Cost-effectiveness is achieved through pay-as-you-go models, eliminating upfront investments in hardware and infrastructure, thus saving costs. Different pricing options like free tiers and savings plans further optimise organisational expenditures. Time-to-market is significantly reduced as cloud providers manage infrastructure maintenance, updates, and patches, allowing IT teams to focus on value-added activities like experimentation and solution development. With pre-built services and tools, applications and services can be deployed much faster compared to traditional methods. Reliability is ensured by significant investments in infrastructure and global maintenance of data centres by third-party providers, guaranteeing access to the latest hardware and software updates, automatic backups, and disaster recovery solutions for data resilience. High availability and reliability are maintained through automatic redundancy, content delivery networks, and load balancers. Sustainability efforts are enhanced as public cloud providers optimise energy use through economies of scale and invest in renewable energy sources, focusing on energy efficiency from data centre design to hardware selection and performance modeling for continuous improvement. Businesses can reduce their carbon footprint by leveraging shared resources in the public cloud, while providers may offer tools to monitor and minimise environmental impact from cloud service usage.
How does AWS support your public cloud needs?
AWS offers over 200 fully featured services from global data centres. Millions of customers, including rapidly growing startups, large enterprises, and major government agencies, choose AWS to reduce costs, increase agility, and accelerate innovation. AWS continuously innovates in data centre design and systems to ensure secure protection against various challenges. As a public cloud provider, AWS delivers more services and functionality than any other cloud service provider. Its fully managed services span compute, storage, databases, analytics, AI and machine learning, IoT, and more, empowering you to build applications without limits. AWS provides a flexible and secure cloud computing environment designed to meet stringent security requirements for military, global banks, and other highly sensitive organisations.
