A private cloud is a flexible, secure, scalable infrastructure that you can use solely for your business. This gives you the chance to build up a reliable computer system without having to share your resources with other organisations. A private cloud can be either hosted internally by an organisation or it can be managed by an external third party, like our team at catalyst2. We specialise in hosting these sorts of computerised systems and can help you to build the ideal private cloud that your business needs to help improve visibility, systems, and production, allowing your business to flourish and grow.
What is Cloud Computing?
Before you really understand the benefits of a private cloud, you have to understand what cloud computing is in the first place. Fundamentally, cloud computing is the practice of hosting computational services on remote servers. These servers are then accessed via the internet, allowing anyone in your organisation to access them.
Why Use a Private Cloud?
Everyone’s heard of the cloud. It’s a really important part of our daily lives, particularly as a form of storage but also as a way of communicating and hosting important documents and websites. The public cloud has been used by many people for many years. They’re really popular because they’re easily scalable, allowing you to start with a little broadband access as necessary.
Even if you only start with a little bit of space, you can grow as necessary, allowing you to always have the space and the structure that you need. And the difference between a private cloud and a public cloud is that one can be accessed by everyone as they need it, while a private cloud is only accessed by you and those in your organisation.
Both use virtualisation and share similar characteristics, but a private one is just that, private. It can only be accessed by your organisation, giving you all the benefits of cloud technology with none of the security concerns.
Outlining Some of the Features and Benefits of the Private Cloud
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You can Utilise Resources Easier
Whether you’re a big business or a start-up, being able to properly utilise your resources is incredibly important. Under-utilised resources can lead to losses in your company’s finances and stifle any potential growth. Having a private cloud makes it easy for you to gain a bigger picture of what’s going on in your business as all of your information and company structure will be in the same place. As a result, you will be able to deploy your resources in a way that will benefit your business. We cannot tell you how important this proper utilisation can be to the growth of your business and we would highly recommend that you can sit at this a must-have as you meet the changing demands of your customer base.
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Helps you to Reduce Costs
No matter how much of a powerhouse your business is, you’ll always be looking for ways to cut costs without cutting the quality of your business. One of the ways you can do this is using a private cloud. Private clouds bring with them flexibility and improved resource utilisation, something that can help your budget. While you do have to pay the additional costs to have a private cloud, it will cost a lot less than traditional on-premises service and it will cost less than using the public cloud environment. This might sound unlikely but working with our team at catalyst2 is sure to work out cheaper in the long run. If you’re a small business, then this will be music to your ears.
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Receive Better Security
If there is one thing that you want to spend your money on, it’s your company’s security, particularly from cyber attacks. The security of your business takes precedence, particularly as one breach of security could be devastating for your company’s future. It’s important that you take the necessary steps to keep your customers protected and your business safe. There are many ways for you to do this but using a private cloud is one of the most advantageous. A private cloud can offer you far more security than you’ll find in a public cloud because they are designed to only be accessed by your organisation. This means that not only are they protected by firewalls and robust anti-virus software but the fact that a private cloud runs on only specific physical machines makes it easier for you to protect the server physically. Additionally, the fact that they can only be accessed through private and secure links rather than via the internet.
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Offers Much More Flexibility
Another benefit of a private cloud is the fact that it has been designed and deployed specifically for your organisation. While this might sound like a small detail it is actually incredibly important. If you’re looking to create a website, your choice is to pay for something or to get a free one. While a free one may function just fine, you can’t guarantee that the website will work for you. The functions may not be fit for purpose because they are not specifically designed for you. The same can be said of your cloud. While public storage might work fine, it won’t necessarily be fit for purpose because it hasn’t been specifically designed for your business. Additionally, a private cloud has been specifically designed for you allowing you to migrate your system to the cloud with no problems. For a better system that works the way that you need it to, you should consider using a private cloud.
What is a Hosted Private Cloud?
We mentioned earlier that some private clouds are internally hosted by organisations but if you’re not ready to host that in your business, then you can hire a third-party host for your private cloud. This means that your private cloud will be hosted off-site rather than on-site, with your cloud servers not physically located on the grounds of your business. This can be particularly useful to those moving to flexible working permanently or if your business does not have a building that is large enough to hold a cloud server. Another reason why this is particularly beneficial to some businesses is that a third party host will be able to own a provider’s support and maintenance to the servers and the cloud, so your business doesn’t have to worry about it themselves. This is another way for you to cost-save, particularly if you’re a smaller business.
If you’re looking for a high-quality third party host, then you found one with our team at catalyst2. With more than 20-years of experience behind us, our team can offer you the private cloud experience that you’ve been searching for. We can bring all of the benefits of a private cloud with none of the stress that you might be anticipating. We’re proud of the service that we can offer our customers, the service that has been named as one of the most trusted UK hosts.
If you’d like to find out more about our services, including our private cloud, then feel free to contact our team on 0800 107 7979. We would be delighted to answer any questions you might have and help to arrange any consultation that you might want relating to any of our services.
