Since 2003, MythBusters has been a TV staple for curious minds everywhere (and more recently, it has graced memes across the interweb). But a lot has changed since 2003—and we're not just talking about the end of the MythBusters dynasty. Instead, we’re thinking about the explosion of the cloud computing market. In 2006, Amazon launched AWS, and not too long after, Microsoft came out with Azure.
It’s no surprise that when people think “cloud,” public cloud—often in the form of Amazon or Azure—comes to mind first. And as a result, there has been no shortage of myths and misconceptions surrounding the private cloud—leading many businesses to wonder, “can private cloud or public cloud really be enough?”
Let’s play Snopes and tackle 5 myths we’ve come across over the years and see if they hold up.
Private Cloud Isn’t Agile or Scalable
The origin of this myth is pretty simple: the public cloud is notorious for enabling users to make quick decisions regarding their work, simplifying internal operations and service delivery, and of course, scaling massive workloads. Therefore, many are left to assume that a private cloud can’t do any of those things.
A private cloud—like any architecture—will run best if its infrastructure is secure and simple. A hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) foundation is the best bet for the core of your private cloud, letting you run workloads across unlimited nodes, deploy your infrastructure in minutes, reduce your datacenter footprint, and then some.
Could you build your private cloud on legacy, multi-tiered infrastructure? Sure, but you’d be needlessly sacrificing the simplicity of HCI in favor of sticking to the status quo.
The verdict: myth (but HCI is the key).
Managing a Private Cloud is Complex and Costly
Actually, you have plenty of opportunities to automate your private cloud. And if you’re looking to migrate to a hybrid or multi-cloud model in the future, it’s a good idea to start investing in automation now. (But don’t take it from us. Here’s what GigaOm has to say.)
Automation lets you deliver a self-service model that gives your IT staff the freedom to quickly provision resources and simplifies and accelerates workflows that may otherwise consist of 50 manual steps or more. Oh, and you can set up automated security and compliance standards that identify and remediate security issues on the fly.
And as for costs, we’ll let IDC do the talking. On average, private cloud customers can reduce their TCO by 62%, up their ROI to 477% within 5 years and with a 9-month payback period, and slash cloud costs by 50% with continuous optimization.
The verdict: myth.
Private Cloud is Only for Small-to-Medium Businesses
This is another myth with easy-to-understand origins. In general, larger enterprises will likely have more workloads and applications that can (and do) run in a public cloud, which has unlimited capacity to handle these workloads. But in actuality, regardless of business size, at least 75% of all workloads fall under the “predictable” category—and these workloads run best in a private cloud (and cost about ½ as much as public cloud).
Not to mention, no two private clouds are identical. A private cloud is fully customizable, letting you address the priorities and challenges your business deems most important. From there, you can add on features as you go along, such as automation, self-service, and microsegmentation.
The bottom line? The size of your business doesn’t matter—you can build what you need and expand when you need.
The verdict: myth.
I Need to Build a Private Cloud Myself
A myth with some merit! You certainly can build a private cloud yourself, and many businesses choose to. This process starts by choosing your infrastructure, implementing automation, setting up a self-service catalog, and other steps. This is a totally viable option, but private clouds don’t have to be created in-house.
Third-party cloud providers such as Nutanix, HPE, and VMware, deliver the control and security that businesses expect from the private cloud—but without the work of having to build their own from scratch. Plus, some of these vendor-provided clouds come preloaded with automated services, so there’s less setup needed down the line.
The verdict: myth (but you can!)
I Can’t Have Access to Public or Hybrid Cloud if I Have a Private Cloud
Of course you can! After all, 85% of companies have cited hybrid cloud as their preferred cloud computing model. Unfortunately, not enough businesses know how to migrate workloads into a public while maintaining interoperability with their on-premises environment. That’s the rub—you can have both a private and public cloud environment, but you need to be able to move workloads back and forth on-demand.
Here’s a quick checklist of features you may need to make the move easier:
- Backup to cloud
- Desktop-as-a-service (DaaS)
- Application migration without retooling or reworking
At the end of the day, your infrastructure is your key to success no matter which cloud architecture you choose. Why make things harder than they need to be? Seriously. See how easy it is to run private cloud in this free Test Drive—no hardware or setup needed.
The verdict: myth.
Wait! What About…
Don’t worry. If you have more questions or concerns about private cloud, the Top 20 Private Cloud Questions Answered eBook is sure to cover them all.
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