State of the Private Cloud: Trends to Expect in 2024

According to a Technavio report, the private cloud services market size is estimated to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 26.71% between 2023 and 2028.

And this growth of the private cloud market is not just an aberration in the matrix. Instead, businesses are increasingly turning to the cloud to deliver digital services and stand up to their competition.

For example, a 2023 Gartner report predicts that 75% of organizations will adopt a cloud-based model by 2026.

We’ve done the legwork and tracked the general trends in private cloud for you, and you can count on us to provide all the insights you need.

Let’s start by understanding what the private cloud offers, and then dive into what it can offer a modern business.

A private cloud is a cloud computing solution where one tenant has exclusive access to all cloud resources. In short, instead of sharing server infrastructure with several global companies, you have your own dedicated cloud.

Additionally, since the cloud consists of virtualized physical hardware, you have flexibility in how you want to host the cloud. For example, you can start your own on-premises private cloud, like legacy data centers. Alternatively, you can rely on hosted private cloud services that can take care of cloud maintenance and let you enjoy the dedicated resources without additional staff training costs.

However, why choose a private cloud? Usually, the answer is easier compliance, strong security and a predictable budget. That said, to get the whole answer, you can turn to emerging private cloud trends.

While private clouds have a lot to offer today’s businesses, you can take inspiration from the growing trends and initiatives in the private cloud ecosystem to get the most out of this rapidly evolving technology.

If you’re looking for a cloud solution, you don’t necessarily have to choose between public or private cloud.

Instead, you can choose both at the same time with a hybrid cloud infrastructure, as 82% of Cisco respondents said.

How does hybrid cloud work? With a hybrid cloud, you can get the best of both worlds by combining private and public clouds. For example, you can store sensitive data in your private cloud and use the public cloud to perform accessory functions.

If you already use a public cloud and are looking for a reliable private cloud provider, consider Liquid Web’s VMware Private Cloud.

Likewise, you don’t need to lock yourself into a single public cloud service. With a multi-cloud strategy, you can use multiple public clouds together to get the best out of each cloud.

For example, you can use GCP if you think Google Cloud Platform (GCP) helps with your AI application. And if you work within the Microsoft Ecosystem, getting integrations from Microsoft Azure can be valuable.

While pay-as-you-go pricing models for public clouds are initially attractive, the hefty bills you get afterwards take the fun out of cloud computing. In addition, you also have to deal with the hidden charges of public clouds due to bandwidth requirements.

For example, VMware found that 76% of companies using multiple clouds struggle to control their cloud spending.

In contrast, private clouds allow you to choose a predictable cost model with lower expenses than public clouds. For example, Liquid Web’s VMware Private Cloud is built around a simple resource-based pricing model, so you never have to worry about going over your IT budget—plus, there are no per-VM charges.

Investing in artificial intelligence, machine learning and automation is the new normal as they offer many growth opportunities. That said, given the competition, it can be a bit like living on the edge and you’ll need a private cloud to support your business operations.

For example, say you run an AI-focused company that offers UAVs to spray smart pesticides. In this case, you’ll need the UAVs to have the ability to detect crops, people and animals within seconds — something that isn’t always possible if you send the data back to your main server.

Instead, it may be better to have a secure, private data center nearby that serves your customers.

The best way to do this? Private clouds. In addition to security isolation to comply with relevant data regulations, you can also adapt your IT infrastructure to support AI-centric workloads and process incoming queries within milliseconds.

And it’s not just pesticide drones that can use it. In 2023, Accenture shared that 83% of C-level executives from major industries find edge computing critical to staying competitive in the future.

On the one hand, you will have a private cloud to power your AI-based systems, as it can store, process and use machine learning algorithms. For example, if you use Liquid Web’s VMware Private Cloud, you can turn to VMware Private AI to use genetic AI to your advantage without worrying about data leakage.

You can also see AI-based solutions inside the private cloud, helping you with resource allocation, database security and cost optimization. For example, artificial intelligence will help security tools look beyond the noise and notice anomalies that modern solutions might miss.

As organizations embrace the cloud for digital transformation, cybersecurity professionals are somewhat concerned about the resulting security challenges. In fact, Fortinet’s 2023 Cloud Security Report found that 95% of organizations are concerned about the state of security in public clouds.

With a private cloud, companies can double down on security through its proprietary structure from the ground up, as there is one less attack surface to worry about. In addition, since you have exclusive access to the server infrastructure, you can easily take additional security precautions as necessary to protect your organization’s data.

If you’ve ever been audited before, you know that one of the ways to get through audits is to bury your main server deep in the basement, away from prying eyes, and disconnect from the Internet.

That said, with a digital first business focus, you can’t take such extreme measures. Instead, companies are turning to private clouds to use cloud computing without overcomplicating their security, as it is a dedicated server with no noisy neighbors.

With Liquid Web’s VMware Private Cloud, a compatible private cloud solution is just the beginning. We can assist you with PCI scanning and vulnerability assessment to further accelerate your compliance processes.

A private cloud also makes it easier to adopt modern technologies like container storage and microservices in your IT stack.

The best example of this is the processing of healthcare data in a healthcare organization. Instead of going toe-to-toe with the regulator using public clouds, you can use containerized microservices to process sensitive patient health records and keep them encrypted inside the private cloud.

Additionally, you can anonymize the data before exporting it to the public cloud, where you can run data analytics to spot trends and predict future outcomes.

And it’s not just healthcare. Any business that includes sensitive customer data, such as contact information, addresses or payment card details, can use a private cloud with containers and microservices to get your work done while complying with relevant regulations.

With Liquid Web, you can leverage containerization and microservices through VMware Tanzu, which comes with VMware Private Cloud.

With the changing digital landscape, investing in private cloud technology to support your business operations can be a good option.

However, spearheading digital transformation by driving one of these private cloud trends requires more than technology. You’ll also need a trusted partner who will stand with your in-house IT team and help you focus on serving customers instead of fumbling with technical issues if something goes wrong.

If you’re looking for such a private cloud partner, consider Liquid Web. Liquid Web offers VMware Private Cloud at an affordable price and all the features you need to start and support your business growth.

Plus, you have the most helpful people in hosting to back you up 24/7/365 throughout the partnership.