Which Is Better? Private Cloud or On-Premise Hosting?

Private hosting services usually fall under two primary types:

• (Externally) hosted cloud solutions
• (Internally) hosted or on-premise hardware solutions (you manage your own hardware locally).

The primary differences between the two are:

• Overall Cost (TCO)
• Level of support required
• Available scaling features.

On-Premise Hardware vs. Cloud Hosted Solutions

Every day more and more SMBs (Small to Medium-Sized Businesses) are looking into Private Cloud hosting solutions. A Private Cloud provides compelling benefits including improved ability to scale to meet demand, increased flexibility, and the elimination of potentially complicated and expensive server management costs.

Private Cloud Hosted Solutions

A Private Cloud, often called an Internal Private Cloud, is usually hosted within an organization own offices, or data center, and provides an internal solution for hosting needs. Since an Internal Cloud is completely controlled in-house this means you often have more flexibility. If you need to have things set up in a very specific way, with specific hardware, you have that control.

However, you also have to carry the full burden of dedicated server costs and maintenance. You’re all in. From the initial up-front hardware costs, software licensing, and even the unfortunate hardware failures. While providing more control On-Premise solutions don’t come without their own downsides.

Additionally, to ensure successful operation you’ll need to have qualified System Administrators on staff to maintain and monitor the systems. For organizations already staffed with Admins, this may be less of a concern, however, this can be a tough hurdle in some cases.

Hosted Private Cloud

A hosted Private Cloud solution is owned and operated by third-party service providers (Like Liquid Web). Since the infrastructure serves a much wider clientele, customers benefit from the economy of scale. Another huge advantage of a Hosted Private Cloud solution is that with a larger scale, comes more resources; this provides more on-demand scalability options for end-users.

For some SMB’s requiring PCI or HIPAA compliant hosting solution, a hosted platform can also help simplify securing your web infrastructure. In cases of on-premise hosting requiring such compliance, organizations may have to expand security and control practices. However, with hosted solutions, the service provider will manage and control physical server access and security.

Last but not least, a huge benefit to hosted solutions is the provided support and management. The cost of maintaining an on-premise solution can cost big for both equipment and any necessary staff.

Weighing the Costs

Ultimately every organization will have to factor the pros and cons for themselves. There is no one size fits all for finding the perfect hosting solution since every organization has varying needs.

It’s clear that Private Cloud solutions of all types, provide greater control and security. However, not every organization can afford to deploy, maintain and expand an On-Premise hosted solution. That’s where hosted Private Cloud solutions come in!

For more information please feel free to contact our Solutions team today. We are eager to assist you in finding the right solution. Our Solutions team can be reached at 1-800-580-4985 (1-517-322-0434). You can also learn more on our Private Cloud product page where you can look over a list of our available Private Cloud Servers.  Should you so choose, we also carry a full range of VPS servers to meet every need.