Infrastructure & Cloud

Public cloud refers to cloud services delivered over the internet by third‑party providers using shared, virtualised infrastructure. Compute, storage and networking resources are hosted in provider‑run datacentres and offered to customers on a pay‑as‑you‑go or subscription basis. Public cloud platforms are generally those available to everyone to consume on a shared platform model.

Private cloud is a cloud environment dedicated entirely to a single organisation. Unlike public cloud, the underlying infrastructure is not shared running on isolated hardware and often hosted in a company’s own datacentre or a provider’s private facility. Private cloud offers enhanced control, security and customisation while still delivering cloud‑like benefits such as virtualisation, automation and flexible resource allocation. It’s commonly used when organisations require strict data control, regulatory compliance or predictable performance.

On‑premise infrastructure refers to physical servers, storage, networking and other hardware located within a company’s own building or internal datacentre. Equipment is typically owned, managed and operated by the organisation or IT partner. Often considered a more traditional operation many businesses still use on-premise infrastructure for workloads that need to stay close to users or where cloud adoption isn’t suitable such as where low latency is necessary or where large data sets are in use.

Hybrid cloud is a model that combines on‑premise infrastructure with public and/or private cloud services to create a flexible, unified environment. It allows businesses to run some workloads in the cloud while keeping others on dedicated or local infrastructure, depending on performance, security or compliance needs. Hybrid cloud is often seen as the best of both worlds and is growing rapidly in popularity.