What is public cloud?

Everything you need to

know
In this guide:
A public cloud is a third-party managed platform that uses the standard cloud computing
Introduction model to make resources and services available to remote users around the world.
How does the public cloud TechTarget's all-inclusive guide covers everything from the public cloud's history, to its
work? benefits and challenges, to the various public cloud services that are currently available.
Topics also include how it works, how it differs from private and hybrid clouds, how to
Public cloud architecture
reduce cloud expenses and cloud security best practices.
Benefits and challenges of
public cloud computing

Differences between
public clouds, private
clouds and hybrid clouds

Public cloud pricing

Public cloud security

Public cloud providers and

adoption

Public cloud history

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In this guide:

Introduction
What is public cloud? Everything you need to know
STEPHEN BIGELOW, SENIOR TECHNOLOGY EDITOR
How does the public cloud
work?
A public cloud is a third-party managed platform that uses the standard cloud computing
Public cloud architecture
model to make resources and services available to remote users around the world. Public
Benefits and challenges of cloud resources typically include conventional IT infrastructure elements such as virtual
public cloud computing machines, applications or storage.
Differences between
public clouds, private Services can include an array of workloads including databases, firewalls, load balancers,
clouds and hybrid clouds
management tools and other platform-as-a-service (PaaS) or software-as-a-service (SaaS)
Public cloud pricing elements. Users then assemble resources and services to build an infrastructure capable of
deploying and operating enterprise workloads. Public cloud services can be free or offered
Public cloud security
through a variety of subscription or on-demand pricing schemes, including pay-per-usage or
Public cloud providers and pay-as-you-go (PAYG) models.
adoption

Public cloud history The main benefits of the public cloud are as follows:

• a reduced need for organizations to invest in and maintain their own on-premises IT
resources;
• scalability to quickly meet workload and user demands; and
• fewer wasted resources, because customers only pay for what they use.

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HOW DOES THE PUBLIC CLOUD WORK?
Introduction
Public cloud is an alternative deployment approach to traditional on-premises IT
How does the public cloud
work? architectures. In the basic public cloud computing model, a third-party provider hosts
scalable, on-demand IT resources and delivers them to users over a network connection,
Public cloud architecture
either over the public internet or a dedicated network. Public cloud computing is often
Benefits and challenges of viewed as utility computing, where computing capabilities are delivered to users on demand,
public cloud computing
just as any other utility, such as water, gas and telecommunications.
Differences between
public clouds, private
The public cloud model encompasses many different technologies, capabilities and features.
clouds and hybrid clouds
At its core, however, a public cloud consists of the following key characteristics:
Public cloud pricing

Public cloud security • on-demand computing and self-service provisioning;

• resource pooling;
Public cloud providers and • scalability and rapid elasticity;
adoption • pay-per-use pricing;
• measured service;
Public cloud history
• resiliency and availability;
• security; and
• broad network access.

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The public cloud provider supplies the
Introduction
infrastructure needed to host and deploy
How does the public cloud workloads in the cloud. It also offers tools
work? and services to help customers manage
Public cloud architecture cloud applications, such as data storage,
security and various monitoring and
Benefits and challenges of
public cloud computing reporting capabilities.

Differences between
public clouds, private When selecting a cloud service provider,
clouds and hybrid clouds organizations can opt for a large, general-
Public cloud pricing use provider -- such as AWS, Microsoft
Azure or Google Cloud -- or a smaller
Public cloud security
provider. General cloud providers offer
Public cloud providers and broad availability and integration options
adoption
and are desirable for multipurpose cloud
Public cloud history needs. Niche providers offer more
customization or a focus on specific cloud
capabilities.

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MIGRATION TO THE PUBLIC CLOUD
Introduction Myriad factors drive businesses to migrate from on-premises facilities to the public cloud.
How does the public cloud For example, some organizations require support for more diverse workload types that data
work? centers can't provide. Cost considerations, less overhead, lower direct maintenance and

Public cloud architecture

readily available redundancy options are other common reasons.

Benefits and challenges of After choosing a provider, the IT team must select a cloud migration method to move data
public cloud computing
and workloads into the provider's cloud. Offline migration requires IT teams to copy local
Differences between data onto a portable device and physically transport that hardware to the cloud provider.
public clouds, private
clouds and hybrid clouds Online data migration occurs via network connection over the public internet or a cloud
provider's networking service.
Public cloud pricing

Public cloud security When the amount of data to transfer is significant, offline migration is typically faster and
less expensive. Online migration is a good fit for organizations that won't move high volumes
Public cloud providers and
adoption of data.

Public cloud history Organizations also onboard existing on-premises applications into the cloud, and there are a
few approaches to consider. A lift-and-shift method moves the application to the cloud as is,
without any redesign. This approach is fast but prone to complications -- the application
might not perform properly within cloud architecture and might cost more than if it
remained on premises. Alternatively, IT teams can refactor on-premises applications ahead

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of the migration. Refactoring takes more time and planning, but this method ensures that
Introduction
the application will function effectively in the cloud. Another option is to rebuild entirely as a
How does the public cloud cloud-native application.
work?

Public cloud architecture Whichever strategy you choose, there are a range of cloud-native and third-party migration
tools to help you manage the move to the public cloud.
Benefits and challenges of
public cloud computing
PUBLIC CLOUD ARCHITECTURE
Differences between
public clouds, private
clouds and hybrid clouds A public cloud is a fully virtualized environment that relies on high-bandwidth network
connectivity to access and exchange data. Providers have a multi-tenant architecture that
Public cloud pricing
enables users -- or tenants -- to run workloads on shared infrastructure and use the same
Public cloud security
computing resources. Each tenant's data and workloads in the public cloud are logically
Public cloud providers and separated and remain isolated from the data of other tenants.
adoption

Public cloud history

Providers operate cloud services in logically isolated locations within public cloud regions.
These locations, called availability zones, typically consist of two or more connected, highly
available physical data centers. The links below describe the dozens of regions and
availability zones worldwide for AWS, Azure and Google Cloud:

• AWS regions and availability zones

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• Azure regions and availability zones
Introduction • GCP regions and availability zones
How does the public cloud Organizations select availability zones based on compliance and proximity to end users.
work?
Cloud resources can be replicated across multiple availability zones for redundancy and
Public cloud architecture protection against outages.
Benefits and challenges of
public cloud computing Public cloud architecture can be further categorized by service model. These are the three
Differences between most common service models:
public clouds, private
clouds and hybrid clouds • IaaS. A third-party provider hosts infrastructure components, such as servers and
storage, as well as a virtualization layer. The IaaS provider offers virtualized computing
Public cloud pricing
resources, such as VMs, over the internet or through dedicated connections.
Public cloud security • PaaS. A third-party provider delivers hardware and software tools -- usually those
needed for application development, including OSes -- to its users as a service.
Public cloud providers and • SaaS. A third-party provider hosts applications and makes them available to customers
adoption over the internet.
Public cloud history The service model determines how much control the user has over certain aspects of the
cloud. For example, in IaaS deployments, cloud customers create VMs, install OSes and
manage cloud networking configurations. But in PaaS and SaaS models, the cloud
networking architecture is fully managed by the provider.

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Introduction

How does the public cloud

work?

Public cloud architecture

Benefits and challenges of

public cloud computing

Differences between
public clouds, private
clouds and hybrid clouds

Public cloud pricing

Public cloud security

Public cloud providers and In addition to the three main service models, a function-as-a-service (FaaS) model further
adoption abstracts cloud infrastructure and resources. This is particularly useful for customers that
Public cloud history create microservices. It is based on serverless computing, a mechanism that breaks
workloads into small, event-driven resource components and runs the code without the
need to deliberately create and manage VMs. This enables organizations to execute code-
based tasks on demand when trigged; the components exist only for as long as the assigned
task runs. As with all other cloud models, the provider handles the underlying cloud server
maintenance.

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Organizations can also opt for a storage-as-a-service provider in the public cloud. The
Introduction
provider delivers a storage platform with offerings such as bare-metal storage capacity,
How does the public cloud object storage, file storage, block storage and storage applications like backup and archiving.
work?

Public cloud architecture BENEFITS AND CHALLENGES OF PUBLIC CLOUD COMPUTING

Benefits and challenges of

public cloud computing Enterprises must weigh the advantages and drawbacks of public cloud adoption to
determine whether it's the right fit.
Differences between
public clouds, private
clouds and hybrid clouds BENEFITS
The cloud has many advantages over on-premises IT:
Public cloud pricing

Public cloud security • Access to new technologies. Organizations that use large cloud providers get early
and instant access to the IT industry's latest technologies, ranging from automatically
Public cloud providers and updated applications to machine learning and AI. Many cloud customers lack the
adoption resources to obtain such access on their own, typically because the business might not
Public cloud history
have enough money or expertise to implement such capabilities in-house.
• Virtually unlimited scalability. Cloud capacity and resources rapidly expand to meet
user demands and traffic spikes. Public cloud users also achieve greater redundancy
and high availability due to the providers' various, logically separated cloud locations.
In addition to redundancy and availability, public cloud users receive faster
connectivity between cloud services and end users through their provider's network
interfaces -- though bandwidth and latency issues are still common.

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• Flexibility. The flexible and scalable nature of public cloud resources enables users to
Introduction store high volumes of data and access them easily for computing or retrieval. Many
organizations rely on the cloud for disaster recovery -- to back up data and
How does the public cloud
applications in case of emergency or outage. It's tempting to store all data indefinitely,
work?
but users should set up a data retention policy that regularly deletes old data from
Public cloud architecture storage to avoid long-term storage costs and to maintain privacy.
• Analytics. Organizations should gather useful metrics on the data they store and
Benefits and challenges of resources they use. Doing so presents another benefit: cloud data analytics. Public
public cloud computing cloud services can perform analytics on resource and service usage to determine
utilization and cost trends for better business insights.
Differences between
public clouds, private
clouds and hybrid clouds Other public cloud benefits include access to the provider's reliable infrastructure and the
abstraction of overhead management tasks. These enable IT staff to focus on tasks that are
Public cloud pricing
more important to the business, such as writing code for applications.
Public cloud security
CHALLENGES

Public cloud providers and While the public cloud presents many advantages, organizations must separate cloud
adoption computing myths from realities and also face a range of challenges:
Public cloud history
• Runaway costs. Increasingly complex cloud costs and pricing models make it difficult
for organizations to keep track of IT spending. The cloud is often cheaper than on-
premises options, but organizations sometimes end up paying more for cloud. Pricey
data egress fees make staying on a cloud budget even more challenging.
• Scarce cloud expertise. Another challenge is the skills gap among IT professionals in
the cloud computing industry. Companies struggle to hire and retain staff with

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expertise in building and managing modern cloud applications. Without this expertise,
Introduction organizations are ill-equipped to handle the complexities of modern IT demands. IT
professionals that hope to fill these roles can better prepare for career opportunities
How does the public cloud
by fine-tuning their cloud skills in areas such as architecture/engineering, operations
work?
and coding.
Public cloud architecture • Limited transparency and controls. Public cloud users also face the tradeoff of limited
control over their IT stack since the provider can decide when and how to manage
Benefits and challenges of configurations. Other public cloud challenges include data separation problems due to
public cloud computing multi-tenancy, latency issues for remote end users and adherence to industry- and
country-specific regulations.
Differences between
public clouds, private • Vendor lock-in. Although each public cloud can offer similar resources and services,
clouds and hybrid clouds the controls and delivery of those assets can vary between providers, making it
difficult for one data set or application to migrate easily between providers. This poses
Public cloud pricing the risk of vendor dependency, which can raise costs and limit capabilities for business
users.
Public cloud security
Cloud management tools and strategies can help organizations address some of these public
Public cloud providers and
adoption cloud challenges and optimize their use of cloud resources and costs. As a start, even a
general understanding of cloud basics is helpful. Test your cloud knowledge to see what gaps
Public cloud history
you might need to fill.

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Introduction

How does the public cloud

work?

Public cloud architecture

Benefits and challenges of

public cloud computing

Differences between
public clouds, private
clouds and hybrid clouds

Public cloud pricing

Public cloud security

Public cloud providers and

adoption

Public cloud history

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DIFFERENCES BETWEEN PUBLIC CLOUDS, PRIVATE CLOUDS AND HYBRID CLOUDS
Introduction
The term public cloud arose to differentiate between the standard cloud computing model
How does the public cloud
work? and private cloud, which is a proprietary cloud computing architecture dedicated to a single
organization. A standard private cloud extends a company's existing data center resources
Public cloud architecture
and is accessible only by that company.
Benefits and challenges of
public cloud computing
Public and private clouds offer similar services -- such as compute, storage and networking --
Differences between and capabilities such as scalability. However, the two models have significant differences in
public clouds, private
how they operate and provide those services.
clouds and hybrid clouds

Public cloud pricing Public cloud resources run on multi-tenant, shared infrastructure and are available globally
Public cloud security to users over the internet. Conversely, private cloud consists of single-tenant architecture
that runs on privately owned infrastructure. Essentially, a private cloud builds on an
Public cloud providers and
adoption
organization's traditional local data center infrastructure by adding layers of virtualization,
cloud-type services -- such as resource pooling and on-demand provisioning -- and
Public cloud history
management.

Beyond architectural differences, public and private cloud models differ in price,
performance, security, compliance and more. Private cloud requires large upfront
investment for cloud infrastructure, as opposed to the public cloud's PAYG model. In terms
of performance, public cloud can be subject to network bandwidth and connectivity issues,

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since it largely relies on the public internet. Private cloud can offer more consistent
Introduction
performance and reliability, since it is a localized site.
How does the public cloud
work?

Public cloud architecture

Benefits and challenges of

public cloud computing

Differences between
public clouds, private
clouds and hybrid clouds

Public cloud pricing

Public cloud security

Public cloud providers and

adoption

Public cloud history

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Both public and private cloud models provide extensive security offerings. However, the
Introduction
private cloud offers more fine-grained control over configurations and physical isolation.
How does the public cloud Private cloud also poses fewer compliance issues, since data does not leave the on-premises
work? facility. Organizations with strict compliance needs and cloud aspirations often choose
Public cloud architecture private cloud.

Benefits and challenges of

public cloud computing
These differences apply to the standard on-premises private cloud. However, alternative
private cloud models blur the lines between public and private computing. Cloud providers
Differences between
now offer on-premises versions of their public cloud services. Examples include AWS
public clouds, private
clouds and hybrid clouds Outposts, Azure Stack and Google Anthos, which bring physical hardware or bundled
software services into an enterprise's internal data center. These distributed deployments
Public cloud pricing
act as isolated private clouds, but they are tied to the provider's cloud and form a type of
Public cloud security hybrid cloud implementation.
Public cloud providers and
adoption HYBRID AND MULTI-CLOUD SERVICES
A third model, hybrid cloud, is a combination of public and private cloud services, maintained
Public cloud history
by both internal and external providers and with orchestration between the two. This model
enables organizations to tap into the benefits of the public cloud for certain workloads, such
as to accommodate demand spikes, but also maintain their own private cloud for sensitive,
critical or highly regulated data and applications. There are a number of hybrid cloud

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benefits, including flexible deployment options, greater cost control and the ability to move
Introduction
between environments.
How does the public cloud
work? A related option is a multi-cloud architecture, in which an enterprise uses more than one
Public cloud architecture cloud. Most often it refers to the use of multiple public clouds. Depending on its needs, a
business might choose to use both the hybrid and multi-cloud models.
Benefits and challenges of
public cloud computing
The choice of local computing, a public cloud, a hybrid cloud and even multi-cloud
Differences between implementations are not mutually exclusive. Such infrastructure choices simply offer tools
public clouds, private
clouds and hybrid clouds that enable a business to host and operate various workloads. It's possible to adopt any mix
of infrastructure to meet workload needs and business goals. However, some alternatives --
Public cloud pricing
including hybrid and multi-cloud options -- can be extremely complex and demand high
Public cloud security levels of engineering and management expertise on the part of the business.

Public cloud providers and

adoption
PUBLIC CLOUD PRICING
Public cloud history
Public cloud pricing is typically billed on a pay-per-use or PAYG structure, in which cloud
users pay only for the resources they consume. In many cases, this helps reduce IT expenses,
since an organization no longer needs to purchase and maintain physical infrastructure for
those parts of its business it deploys to a public cloud IaaS. Also, a company can account for
public cloud expenditures as operational or variable costs rather than capital or fixed costs.

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This can provide more flexibility to the business, as these operational spending decisions
Introduction
typically require less-intensive reviews or budget planning.
How does the public cloud
work? However, it's easy to overspend in the cloud and erase those benefits because it can be
Public cloud architecture difficult to accurately track cloud service usage in the self-service model. Common public
cloud cost pitfalls include over-provisioning resources, failure to decommission idle
Benefits and challenges of
public cloud computing
workloads and unnecessary data egress fees. In addition to these cost challenges, public
cloud providers have complex pricing models with rates that vary by region and service.
Differences between
Failure to understand a provider's pricing model can cause hidden costs to drive up the bill.
public clouds, private
clouds and hybrid clouds
Organizations must factor in all the components that make up their cloud computing spend.
Public cloud pricing
This includes costs for application migration, data transfer, storage and resource
Public cloud security consumption, along with the products to manage and maintain the environment.

Public cloud providers and

adoption Ironically, the principal challenge here is self-service. Since every cloud user is free to
establish public cloud accounts, there is a natural lack of oversight and centralization to
Public cloud history
organize and track costs -- one department might not know what another department is
doing in the cloud, for example. This leads to redundancy and waste. Recent initiatives such
as FinOps are emerging to help organizations oversee and centralize public cloud use across
the business to maximize its benefits.

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COST OPTIMIZATION STRATEGIES
Introduction To rein in cloud costs, adopt tools and strategies that estimate costs and identify spending
How does the public cloud patterns. Cloud providers offer pricing calculators and cost monitoring tools, such as AWS
work? Cost Explorer, Azure Pricing Calculator and Google Cloud Cost Management. Gain a solid

Public cloud architecture

understanding of your chosen cloud environment to help rightsize resources and pay only for
what you need.
Benefits and challenges of
public cloud computing
Also, explore providers' discount programs, such as cheaper alternatives to on-demand
Differences between resources. For example, AWS and Azure offer reserved instances at a lower price, in
public clouds, private
clouds and hybrid clouds exchange for commitment to use a certain amount of capacity within a specified time
period.
Public cloud pricing

Public cloud security Autoscaling is another way to keep costs down. Autoscaling features adjust application scale
to meet demand, which avoids paying for unnecessary capacity. Proper visibility into the
Public cloud providers and
adoption cloud environment also helps IT teams identify and shut down idle workloads to avoid paying
for unused resources and prevent cloud sprawl.
Public cloud history

Enterprises should consistently monitor their cloud bill and reevaluate deployment models
to ensure the most cost-efficient approach. For example, an organization with high data
egress fees can work on limiting data transfers. This requires close collaboration between
cloud users, such as department managers, or a centralized FinOps group in the business.

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Introduction

How does the public cloud

work?

Public cloud architecture

Benefits and challenges of

public cloud computing

Differences between
public clouds, private
clouds and hybrid clouds

Public cloud pricing

Public cloud security

Public cloud providers and

adoption

Public cloud history

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PUBLIC CLOUD SECURITY
Introduction
Security is a concern for many enterprises because of the multi-tenant nature of public
How does the public cloud
work? cloud. Organizations host sensitive data and critical workloads in the cloud, so protecting the
environment is a top priority. Public cloud providers offer various security services and
Public cloud architecture
technologies, but security in the cloud requires diligence from both provider and customer.
Benefits and challenges of
public cloud computing SHARED RESPONSIBILITY

Differences between Public cloud security duties are split between the provider and cloud user, outlined in a
public clouds, private shared responsibility model. This framework designates the particular aspects of security --
clouds and hybrid clouds
and accountability -- for the provider and the user. The specifics tasks in a security
Public cloud pricing agreement differ depending on the chosen provider and public cloud model. For example,

Public cloud security

the AWS shared responsibility model states that AWS is responsible for securing the
infrastructure that supports the cloud environment, which includes hardware, software,
Public cloud providers and
network, storage and on-premises facilities used to run AWS cloud services. Meanwhile, the
adoption
cloud user is responsible for securing anything that runs in the cloud -- namely, applications
Public cloud history and customer data.

For example, a cloud provider is expected to secure the infrastructure, but it's up to the user
to employ security tools, such as identity and access management (IAM) and firewalls, to
establish and maintain proper security for data and workloads. In simpler terms, you might

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rent a home and rely on the landlord to keep the property running properly, but it's up to
Introduction
you to lock the doors and close the windows.
How does the public cloud
work? PUBLIC CLOUD SECURITY CHALLENGES
Organizations must understand numerous challenges related to cloud security to protect
Public cloud architecture
cloud-hosted applications. Public cloud requires protection against external threats, such as
Benefits and challenges of malicious attacks and data breaches, as well as internal security risks, including
public cloud computing
misconfigured resources and access management policies.
Differences between
public clouds, private Hybrid cloud security presents an additional set of challenges. Complexities such as securing
clouds and hybrid clouds
data in transit over the public internet and networking components for disparate
Public cloud pricing environments require additional protections, such as encryption.
Public cloud security
SECURITY TOOLS AND PRACTICES
Public cloud providers and Cloud providers' security services and technologies include encryption and IAM tools. A
adoption
comprehensive security strategy relies on a combination of these.
Public cloud history
Cloud security monitoring is a crucial piece of the security strategy to provide threat
detection. Security monitoring tools scan and observe the services and resources in your
cloud environment and generate alerts when a potential security issue arises. Access control
is also critical to public cloud security. Set up strong IAM policies that allot only the necessary
level of permissions, such as zero-trust policies. Consistently update IAM policies and

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remove access for users that no longer require certain permissions. Use multifactor
Introduction
authentication to bolster user verification.
How does the public cloud
work? In addition to security tools and policies, a well-trained IT staff is integral to ensure a safe
Public cloud architecture cloud environment. Many vulnerabilities are the product of resource misconfigurations due
to human error. Make sure your IT staff is up to date on security policies and proper
Benefits and challenges of
public cloud computing
configuration practices. Document established security policies and ensure that IT staff are
capable of monitoring and maintaining local and cloud configurations against those policies.
Differences between
public clouds, private
clouds and hybrid clouds PUBLIC CLOUD PROVIDERS AND ADOPTION
Public cloud pricing
Estimates of public cloud usage vary widely across different countries, but most market
Public cloud security
research and analyst firms expect continued growth in worldwide adoption and cloud
Public cloud providers and revenues. Data from Synergy Research Group shows that Q4 2021 enterprise spending on
adoption cloud infrastructure services exceeded $50 billion, 36% above spending in the fourth quarter
Public cloud history of 2020.

Today, there are three main public cloud providers: AWS, Microsoft and Google. These
providers deliver their services over the internet or through dedicated connections, and they
use a fundamental pay-per-use approach. Each provider offers a range of products oriented
toward different workloads and enterprise needs.

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• AWS. The leading public cloud vendor with the largest customer base, AWS was one of
Introduction the earliest companies to provide scalable, PAYG cloud services. The company initially
launched its cloud services platform to support the resource demands of Amazon's
How does the public cloud
retail business. It has since expanded to provide cloud services to users worldwide.
work?
AWS offers more than 200 products for compute, databases and infrastructure
Public cloud architecture management, as well as more advanced application development services for machine
learning, AI and IoT.
Benefits and challenges of • Microsoft Azure. The second largest public cloud provider, Azure offers the same
public cloud computing types of computing services as its main competitor, AWS. Azure has a well-established
PaaS portfolio that attracts many of its users. The platform's suite of PaaS offerings is
Differences between
public clouds, private grouped in the Azure App Service.
clouds and hybrid clouds • Google Cloud. GCP has a less extensive list of cloud offerings than the two other
industry leaders, but it has a growing user base and continues to add services.
Public cloud pricing
Similar to the emergence of AWS from Amazon, Alibaba Cloud was created to support the
Public cloud security
Alibaba e-commerce parent company. Alibaba offers infrastructure, storage, networking and
Public cloud providers and other application services. The company operates in international regions but is primarily
adoption
focused on domestic Chinese and other Asian markets.
Public cloud history
IBM Cloud is another vendor option with IaaS and PaaS offerings. IBM acquired open source
software company Red Hat in 2019 to provide users with more flexible service options and
extended hybrid cloud capabilities.

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Oracle is primarily known for its database offerings, but it also provides public cloud services.
Introduction
The company's IaaS offering, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, is a good fit for organizations that
How does the public cloud require custom, high-performance computing and specialization.
work?
CATEGORIES OF AVAILABLE PUBLIC CLOUD SERVICES
Public cloud architecture
Each cloud provider offers a suite of tools and services across many service categories. A few
Benefits and challenges of of the core categories are compute, storage, container management and serverless. They
public cloud computing
generally work the same, but similar services are typically not interchangeable. As such,
Differences between users should be mindful of any unique requirements or dependencies. Below are some of
public clouds, private
clouds and hybrid clouds the product options from AWS, Azure and Google Cloud in each of these areas.

Public cloud pricing Compute. Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) is a cloud IaaS service that provides compute
Public cloud security capacity for AWS deployments on virtual servers, known as EC2 instances. There are various
EC2 instance types and sizes designed for different user needs, including memory, storage
Public cloud providers and
adoption and compute-optimized instances. Microsoft's primary compute service is Azure Virtual
Machines, which similarly varies for compute, memory and general use. Google Cloud's IaaS
Public cloud history
compute service is called Google Compute Engine.

Storage. Each provider offers various storage types, such as block, object and file. The
Amazon S3 object storage service is available in seven storage tiers -- S3 Standard, S3
Intelligent-Tiering, S3 Standard-Infrequent Access, S3 One Zone-Infrequent Access, S3 Glacier

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Instant Retrieval, S3 Glacier Flexible Retrieval and S3 Glacier Deep Archive -- that vary by
Introduction
access frequency. Other storage offerings on AWS include Amazon Elastic Block Store and
How does the public cloud Amazon Elastic File System. Microsoft storage offerings include Azure Blob Storage for object
work? storage, Azure Files for file storage and Azure Managed Disks for block storage. Google Cloud
Public cloud architecture offers Cloud Storage buckets for object storage; Filestore for file storage; and Zonal
persistent disk, Regional persistent disk and Local SSD for block storage.
Benefits and challenges of
public cloud computing
Containers. AWS offers four container management offerings: Amazon Elastic Container
Differences between
Service, Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service, Amazon Elastic Container Registry and AWS
public clouds, private
clouds and hybrid clouds Fargate. Users can also deploy containers manually on EC2 instances. Microsoft's container
management services include Azure Kubernetes Service, Azure Container Registry and Azure
Public cloud pricing
Container Instances. Google Cloud users can run containers on Google Kubernetes Engine,
Public cloud security Google Cloud Run or Google Compute Engine.
Public cloud providers and
adoption Serverless. The primary serverless products from the big three providers are AWS Lambda,
Azure Functions and Google Cloud Functions.
Public cloud history

Public cloud providers also offer various tools and services for networking, monitoring,
analytics, machine learning, IoT, big data support and human-machine interaction, such as
text-to-speech.

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PUBLIC CLOUD HISTORY
Introduction
While the concept of cloud computing has been around since the 1960s, it didn't reach
How does the public cloud
work? public popularity for enterprises until the 1990s. Salesforce, now a top SaaS provider,
entered the market in 1999 by delivering applications through a website. Browser-based
Public cloud architecture
applications that could be accessed by numerous users, such as G Suite, soon followed.
Benefits and challenges of
public cloud computing
In 2006, Amazon launched EC2, its IaaS platform, for public use. Under its cloud division,
Differences between AWS, enterprises could "rent" virtual computers but use their own systems and apps. Soon
public clouds, private
after, Google released Google App Engine, its PaaS service, for application development, and
clouds and hybrid clouds
Microsoft came out with Azure, also a PaaS offering. Over time, all three built IaaS, PaaS and
Public cloud pricing SaaS offerings. Legacy hardware vendors such as IBM and Oracle also entered the market.
Public cloud security
However, not all vendors that tried to compete succeeded. Verizon, Hewlett Packard
Public cloud providers and
adoption
Enterprise, Dell, VMware and others were forced to shut down their public clouds. Some
have refocused on hybrid cloud and cloud management.
Public cloud history

Public cloud adoption continues to rise as providers expand their portfolios of services and
support. Technology developments -- including AI, machine learning, IoT and edge
computing -- have all made their way into public cloud service portfolios. More diverse cloud
application development approaches have also emerged as organizations embrace
microservices, containers and serverless architectures.

26 WHAT IS PUBLIC CLOUD? EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW

In this guide:
In general, cloud experts expect the next wave of public cloud computing will involve more
Introduction
automation and specialization. Providers will offer more granular and interconnected
How does the public cloud services to meet broader user needs. Emerging technologies and IT developments -- for
work? example, quantum computing -- will shape the future of public cloud.
Public cloud architecture
For a high-level overview, check out FAQs about cloud computing. Think you know all there is
Benefits and challenges of
public cloud computing
to know about the cloud now? Take this cloud computing basics quiz to find out.

Differences between
public clouds, private
clouds and hybrid clouds ▼ CONTINUED READING

Public cloud pricing

Public cloud security 8 key characteristics of cloud computing

Public cloud providers and Top public cloud providers of 2023: A brief comparison
adoption
8 ways to reduce cloud costs
Public cloud history

27 WHAT IS PUBLIC CLOUD? EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW