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Private Cloud
The convenience of cloud computing does not necessarily require placing every important business resource on infrastructure controlled by someone else. A private cloud can provide many of the advantages associated with cloud services while giving the business greater control over the computers, storage, information, and access that make the system possible.
PCS designs private cloud solutions around the resources a business actually needs to share. Depending upon the environment, that can include centralized files, network storage, applications, virtual machines, backup resources, and secure remote access for authorized users.
A private cloud can provide:
• Centralized business files and shared information
• Secure access for authorized remote users
• Network Attached Storage and managed storage resources
• Private virtual machines and applications
• Centralized backup and recovery resources
• Multiple users or locations sharing common information
• Greater control over where business data resides
• Infrastructure designed around the organization’s requirements
Your Data, Your Infrastructure
Public cloud services can be extremely useful, and PCS does not view private and public cloud computing as mutually exclusive. Microsoft 365, hosted applications, online backup, and other cloud services may remain important parts of the business.
The question is which resources make sense to place where.
Some organizations want greater control over important information. Others have large quantities of data that are used primarily within the business. Some need local performance combined with remote accessibility, while others want infrastructure that can continue serving local resources without making every operation dependent upon an outside cloud provider.
A private cloud gives PCS another option when designing that environment.
Private Does Not Mean Isolated
A properly designed private cloud can serve people well beyond the building where the equipment is located. Secure remote connectivity can allow authorized employees or locations to reach company resources while access controls help determine who is permitted to use them.
That makes private cloud infrastructure particularly useful when combined with the distributed-organization and remote-access solutions PCS provides. The resources remain under the organization’s control while authorized users can reach them from wherever their work requires.
Storage, Virtualization and Backup Working Together
Private cloud infrastructure can combine several technologies that PCS already supports.
Network Attached Storage can provide centralized files and storage. Virtualization can provide independent server and application environments. Backup systems can protect both physical and virtual resources. Firewalls and secure remote connectivity can control access from outside the local network.
The value comes from integrating those technologies rather than treating them as unrelated products.
A private cloud also needs its own protection. Keeping information on equipment the business controls does not eliminate the need for backup. Important data should still be protected against hardware failure, accidental deletion, corruption, theft, fire, security events, and other circumstances that could affect the local infrastructure.
Build the Cloud Around the Business
PCS does not begin with the assumption that every business needs a private cloud. We begin with the requirement: what information needs to be available, who needs access to it, where those people work, how much data is involved, how quickly it needs to be accessed, and how it needs to be protected.
The solution may ultimately combine local infrastructure, private cloud resources, and selected public cloud services. The objective is not ideological purity about where computing belongs. It is choosing the right location and technology for each resource.
PCS designs private cloud solutions for businesses throughout Roseville, Rocklin, Lincoln, Granite Bay, and surrounding communities. The cloud should not determine how your business operates. Your business requirements should determine what belongs in the cloud, what remains under your control, and how the two work together.