For many businesses, the ability to access and collaborate on projects in real time, regardless of location, is essential in day-to-day operations. That’s why so many have turned to cloud hosting services to remotely store their data. However, public cloud services operate by using a shared infrastructure where they pool resources; they do not set aside isolated storage spaces for users. Because of this, some organizations are concerned that data stored in public clouds is not fully secure. That’s why they opt to utilize virtual private clouds. And at ALTERNcloud, clients can choose from both multi-tenant and single-tenant clouds with our EZ Cloud, Virtual Private Cloud (VPC), and Hosted Private Cloud (HPC) offerings.

What is a VPC?

Virtual Private Clouds (VPCs) function very similarly to public clouds, and often are located within the same infrastructure. But instead of hosting data in one big space, Virtual Private Clouds set aside private hosting spaces that are only accessible to select users. VPC users are often viewed as “tenants” that rent a private space from the public cloud service providers, allowing them to utilize a variety of cloud resources (such as “compute, storage, and networking resources”) while resting assured that their data is logically isolated and protected by additional security measures. As enterprise software company Nutanix states:

[With VPCs,] users can store data, run applications and code, host websites and do pretty much anything else they can do in a [public] cloud. A unique, private IP subnet is assigned to each client, enabling the use of virtualized hardware and software resources as if they are part of an on-prem environment. This also lets VPCs use a separate, secure network to connect to the internet, along with an optional dedicated circuit to the public cloud vendor.

Of course, all VPC resources are available and scalable on-demand just like the public cloud, while doing away with private cloud limitations such as acquiring and maintaining hardware, software, data center space and a team of skilled IT personnel.  

Utilizing a VPC enables organizations to rapidly adjust to changes in scale, since their data is stored off premise, while not compromising on privacy or security. Plus, VPCs can easily be configured to connect to onsite data centers or other cloud architectures, ensuring operations can continue in a hybrid cloud environment. In other words, VPCs allow for all the privacy and security of a fully private cloud, without the hassle of hosting your data on your own servers – it’s the best of both worlds.

If you are currently evaluating your business’s workloads and trying to determine what updates to make to your IT infrastructure, hosting some (or all) of your digital assets on a VPC may be a viable option.