Cloud computing is available in the three models of public cloud, private cloud and hybrid cloud. Many of the businesses that wanted something more reliable and affordable than the traditional form of hosting are adopting one of the three models mentioned above. Public cloud hosting is most popular model and is suited for the start-ups and small businesses that are still in a nascent stage of growing. The provider uses the infrastructure and distributes applications, data storage and other resources to multiple organisations.

What is public cloud and how is it different from other models?

•    Public cloud hosting involves third party providers offering services over the internet to the public in general. It is the most affordable model and the users can draw their share of resources from any internet connected device and from any part of the globe.

•    Private cloud is in contrast to the above and has only one entity enjoying the allotted pool of resources and services in a secluded environment.  Private cloud is available in two variations of in-house or on-premises and externally hosted. It is far more expensive as there is only one party using the services.
 
•    Hybrid cloud is a combination of the two models drawing some features from both public and private cloud.

Features of public cloud

1.    Cost-effective:  Public cloud hosting uses the hourly payment process and uses the pay-as-you-go pattern. This is in contrast to the traditional form where the users had to buy plans irrespective of their utilizing the resources or not. It also does not require any physical infrastructure to be installed at the user’s premises unlike in private cloud where dedicated hardware is required.
 
2.    Economies of scale: Public cloud is most ideal for businesses that may require additional resources while having peak traffic occasionally or for some specific projects. Users can draw the required resources from any internet connected locations making remote working possible. Data can be stored and backups and recovery can be done instantly in the public cloud without the need to maintain any high costing equipment.

3.    Security: The public cloud providers offer high security measures to ensure that the servers and other hardware storing the data applications are secure and well protected. This is one feature where private cloud definitely scores over the public cloud.
 
4.    Zero capital investment: Public cloud hosting does not require the users to have any major infrastructural investment. Even the operational costs are far lesser as the public cloud provider maintains all the infrastructural expenditure.

Public cloud hosting services are highly scalable. The users are allowed to draw more resources as and when required for some particular projects and are allowed to discard the resources once they are done with the operations and may not need it again in the near future.  

Small businesses and branch offices or departments of a large organisation can avail the public cloud hosting as it is an affordable platform and can be adjusted to the varying business demands. Being highly scalable it works out well with these businesses. They have the flexibility to move over to the private cloud or hybrid cloud if required.