This table compares the three models officials have when building their IT portfolios: A fee-based public cloud; a shared cost, government-only private cloud; or the traditional buy and manage your own.
In many circumstances agency executives may now have three models from which to choose when building their IT portfolios: A fee-based public cloud; a shared cost, government-only private cloud; or the traditional buy and manage your own.
|
Public Cloud |
Private Government-Only Cloud |
Traditional Owner-Managed Infrastructure | |
|
Security |
Standard defenses offered, but many agencies uncomfortable not knowing exactly where their data physically resides. |
Agencies have more control over physical and IT security. |
Owners have total control and responsibility, for better or worse. |
|
Configurability |
Typically not very configurable, to insure provider’s economies of scale from common platform. |
Varies by number of agencies using the service. Configurability typically rises with fewer users. |
Maximum flexibility. |
|
Administrative tools |
Very lacking to non-existent. |
Lacking, though a highly customized private cloud can have finer controls. |
Wide range of very mature tools available. |
|
Cost |
Excellent value, sometimes even free. |
Can be less expensive than traditional infrastructures, but the economies of scale of public clouds often lost. |
Higher up-front costs, but cost of a long-lived software package can end up less than cloud’s recurring fees. |
|
Portability |
Depends on provider’s policy, but may be impossible to move. |
Very portable. |
Very portable. |
Source: FCW
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