The bad thing about cloud computing trends is the fact that there are new definitions introduced on regular basis. While many people are still trying to understand what cloud computing is, they now need to understand the difference between public cloud and private cloud.

Public cloud is the mainstream; cloud services delivered via web-based applications and services by third-party, off-site cloud service providers in a pay as you go manner (you only pay what you use.)

Private cloud is operated only by a single organization, managed by an internal IT department or by a third-party, and can be hosted on-site or off-site.

For a business, choosing whether to adopt public or private cloud (or even hybrid cloud) requires some considerations, such as IT budget. You might want to read this useful blog post to make sense of the battle between private and public clouds.

Fortunately, there’s a useful cloud computing infographic from Wikibon that visualizes the difference between public and private cloud, the pros and cons of each, and the cloud costs breakdown.

Check out this cloud infographic (please click for the original size.)

Via Wikibon.org