What is public cloud?

A public cloud provides computing resources and services on demand over the internet. A cloud provider owns and operates the underlying infrastructure, including servers, storage, and networking, and makes those resources available to multiple customers. Services can range from basic infrastructure to complete software and applications. In addition to public clouds, customers choose a private cloud typically hosted on the customer’s infrastructure, as well as a hybrid cloud connected to an on-premises environment, or a multi-cloud strategy that may combine several clouds.

How does public cloud work?

Public cloud providers operate large data centers and use virtualization to share computing resources among customers while keeping each customer’s data and workloads isolated. Organizations can access resources when needed without owning or maintaining the underlying physical infrastructure.

Three common public cloud service models are:

• Infrastructure as a service (IaaS): Provides computing resources such as servers, storage, and networking.
• Platform as a service (PaaS): Provides an environment for developers to build, test, deploy applications without managing the underlying infrastructure.
• Software as a service (SaaS): Delivers complete applications over the internet, typically through a browser, while the provider manages the infrastructure and software.

Public cloud security generally follows a shared responsibility model. The provider secures the underlying cloud infrastructure, while the customer remains responsible for areas such as its data, identities, access, and configurations.

Why is public cloud important?

Public cloud has changed how organizations consume technology by shifting much of the responsibility for purchasing, maintaining, and upgrading physical infrastructure to cloud providers. It also gives businesses greater financial flexibility by allowing them to consume technology as an operating expense (OpEx) rather than making large upfront infrastructure investments as a capital expense (CapEx).

Benefits and use cases

The versatility of public cloud makes it suitable for a wide range of use cases, from simple web hosting to advanced AI and machine learning. Public cloud offers several key benefits, including:

• Scalability and flexibility: Add or reduce computing resources as business needs change.
• Cost optimization: Pay for resources based on consumption and reduce upfront infrastructure investments.
• Faster innovation: Gain access to new technologies and services without building underlying infrastructure.
• Business continuity: Use redundancy, high availability, backup, and disaster recovery capabilities to reduce downtime.
• Collaboration: Give employees secure access to cloud-based applications and data from virtually anywhere.

Does NexusTek help with public clouds?

Yes. NexusTek has nearly 30 years of experience delivering modern IT solutions, including partnerships with public cloud providers such as AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud. NexusTek Public Cloud offerings span the cloud lifecycle, from cloud migrations and projects to managed hybrid cloud services, with access to experienced cloud architects and engineers.