Planning for Cloud Integration: Pitfalls and Advantages - Deploying and Managing a Cloud Infrastructure - page 382

Advantages:

Optimal utilization of existing hardware assets

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A high level of data security and custom compliance with regulations and standards set
by the company

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On-demand provisioning of resources

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Disadvantages:

Extra resource management load

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The need for special skills and expertise in cloud solutions

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Additional capital expenditure required to set up the infrastructure (hardware, software,
and other tools and services)

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Best for:

Large organizations with underutilized hardware resources

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Medium-sized organizations requiring platforms

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Usual applicability scenarios:

Organizations willing to invest in resources such as hypervisor platforms, cloud
resource management tools, storage, and server machines

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Organizations willing to spend funds on acquiring long-term cloud expertise and
willing to manage future demands of infrastructural expansion

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Virtual Private Cloud
These are third-party public clouds that have additional features for security and compliance.

Advantages:

Minimum vendor lock-in concerns.

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Zero management requirements because the cloud provider takes care of it.

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On-demand provisioning of resources with zero capital expenditure.

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Strong compliance with data security, privacy, standards, and regulations. Though
these are public cloud instances, they are not shared with other organizations that
may also be subscribers of the same cloud provider.

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Disadvantages:

Additional compliances might be required, such as the SAS 70 validation from the
cloud service provider. The Statement on Auditing Standards (SAS) No. 70 is a widely
recognized auditing standard developed by the American Institute of Certified Public
Accountants (AICPA). See http://sas70.com/sas70_overview.html .

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