ON-PREM VS CLOUD

1. ON-PREM

An On‑Premises (ON‑PREM) Data Center is a setup where a company builds and manages its entire IT infrastructure within its own physical location—such as its office, factory, or a dedicated server room.

In this model, the company owns, controls, and maintains everything required to run applications and store data.

What the Company Manages in ON‑PREM

• Infrastructure
  Servers, storage devices, networking equipment, racks, cooling systems, and physical space.

• Software & Hardware
  Operating systems, applications, databases, firewalls, and all hardware components.

• Electricity & Power Backup
  Continuous power supply, UPS, generators, cooling systems.

• Internet Connectivity
  Network lines, routers, switches, and bandwidth management.

• Maintenance
  Hardware repairs, software updates, patching, monitoring, and troubleshooting.

• Security
  Physical security (CCTV, access control) + cybersecurity (firewalls, antivirus, intrusion detection).

2. CLOUD (Cloud Computing)

Cloud computing is a model where a company does not build or maintain its own data center. Instead, it uses IT resources such as servers, storage, databases, networking, and software over the internet, provided by cloud service providers like AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud.

In the Cloud model, the cloud provider owns and manages all the physical infrastructure, while the company only pays for the services it uses.

What the Cloud Provider Manages

• Infrastructure
  Servers, storage, networking, data centers, cooling, and physical space.

• Hardware & Software Maintenance
  Hardware upgrades, OS patching, security updates, monitoring.

• Electricity & Power Backup
  Power supply, UPS, generators, cooling systems.

• Internet Backbone & Connectivity
  High‑speed global networks and data center interconnections.

• Security
  Physical security + major cybersecurity layers (firewalls, encryption, identity management).

What the Company Manages

• Applications, data, user access, configurations
• Choosing services (VMs, databases, storage, etc.)
• Usage and cost optimization