History
The concept of community cloud emerged alongside the growth of cloud computing in the late 2000s. It gained traction as organizations from specific sectors, such as healthcare, government, and education, required customized cloud environments that aligned with their unique security, compliance, and operational needs. These sectors began forming community clouds to address shared concerns like data privacy and regulatory requirements while benefiting from the efficiencies of cloud technology.
Value proposition
Community clouds provide organizations with a unique balance of the security and privacy offered by private clouds, while benefiting from the cost savings of shared infrastructure. They are ideal for organizations in regulated industries, such as healthcare, finance, or government, that require strict adherence to security standards and regulatory compliance.
1. Enhanced Security and Compliance
A key advantage of community clouds is the enhanced security measures that can be tailored to the specific needs of the community. Unlike public clouds, where resources are shared among numerous unrelated users, community clouds restrict access to a defined group of organizations that share common compliance or regulatory requirements. This controlled environment allows for customized security protocols such as encryption, firewalls, and access control policies specifically designed for the community’s needs.
2. Data Sovereignty and Privacy Control
Community clouds often cater to sectors that handle sensitive data (e.g., healthcare or financial services), where data sovereignty and privacy are critical. Organizations within a community cloud can ensure that their data remains within agreed-upon geographical boundaries, complying with local data protection laws. Additionally, community cloud members typically establish governance rules that ensure data isolation and protection between participants, reducing the risks of data breaches or leaks.
3. Regulatory Compliance
Many industries have stringent regulations, such as GDPR, HIPAA, or PCI-DSS, which require organizations to adhere to specific security and privacy standards. A community cloud enables its users to implement industry-specific compliance frameworks directly within the infrastructure. Cloud environments can be audited and certified to meet these requirements, offering peace of mind to organizations that must regularly demonstrate regulatory compliance.
4. Collaborative Security Practices
Since all organizations in a community cloud share similar security concerns, the collective approach to governance, policy enforcement, and security management is more focused and consistent. Members can collaborate on best practices, threat intelligence, and response strategies, enhancing the overall security posture of the cloud. This collective security model is often more robust than what individual organizations can achieve on their own in a private or public cloud.
5. Reduced Risk of Vendor Lock-in
Community clouds, particularly those managed by member organizations, offer more flexibility compared to large public cloud providers. Members can jointly decide on the infrastructure’s evolution, ensuring that security, compliance, and performance needs are met without relying too heavily on a single vendor. This can reduce the risk of vendor lock-in, as the community has more control over its cloud’s security architecture and features.
Disadvantages
1. Cost Distribution Issues
While community clouds can be more cost-effective than private clouds, the shared cost model can be problematic. Organizations with larger resource needs or higher security requirements may end up shouldering a bigger portion of the financial burden. This can lead to dissatisfaction if cost-sharing arrangements aren’t clearly defined or fair.
2. Complex Governance and Management
Managing a community cloud can be complex because it involves multiple organizations with different priorities, policies, and governance frameworks. Reaching consensus on how the infrastructure should be managed, what security protocols to follow, and how to allocate resources can be challenging. Disagreements among members can slow down decision-making and hinder cloud operations.
3. Uneven Resource Usage
In a shared community cloud, some organizations may use more resources than others. This may lead to an imbalance in cost and resource allocation. Frictions can arise if one member disproportionately consumes computing power or storage, potentially causing performance issues or higher costs for others in the community.
4. Limited Customization Compared to Private Clouds
While a community cloud offers more customization than a public cloud, it is still shared among multiple organizations. That means customization may be limited to what benefits the entire community. This can make it harder for individual organizations to implement highly specialized configurations that would be more feasible in a private cloud environment.
5. Potential for Security Conflicts
Although community clouds are designed with a focus on shared security and compliance, differing security policies or concerns between members can lead to conflicts. Organizations with higher security needs may feel constrained by the shared environment, where they are unable to implement security measures unique to their internal requirements, creating a risk of weaker overall security if compromises are made.
Key Features
- Shared Infrastructure for Collaborative Use
In a community cloud, the infrastructure is jointly owned or leased by a group of organizations that share similar goals or regulatory requirements. For example, a group of hospitals might set up a community cloud to share data, research, and healthcare applications. This is done while keeping patient information private and secure. - Data Isolation and Access Controls
Although the infrastructure is shared, each organization has control over its own data and can apply strict access controls to ensure data is isolated from other members of the community. This structure ensures that data privacy regulations, such as HIPAA or GDPR, are respected. - Multi-Tenancy with Customized Configurations:
The infrastructure is multi-tenant, meaning multiple organizations operate within the same cloud environment. However, the community can implement customized configurations for shared applications or workflows that meet the collective needs of all users, such as common compliance checks or encryption standards. Each tenant still retains the ability to run its specific workloads within the community framework. - Collaborative Security and Governance Models:
Security measures are typically established collectively, based on shared needs. For example, a financial community cloud might have joint governance policies to address data encryption, firewalls, and compliance with financial regulations like PCI-DSS. The organizations in the cloud collaborate to ensure these policies are enforced uniformly across the environment. - Centralized Resource Pooling and Cost Sharing:
A central pool of computing resources is shared among the organizations, allowing for efficient use of resources. Costs for maintaining and securing the infrastructure are distributed among the participants. This is done based on resource usage, often leading to significant cost savings compared to private cloud solutions.
Example of a Community Cloud Infrastructure
Consider a government community cloud where several government agencies collaborate to share secure computing resources. Each agency might have its own virtual network within the community cloud but benefit from common services like disaster recovery, compliance auditing, and encrypted communication channels. While the infrastructure is jointly managed, each agency maintains control over its data and applications, ensuring that sensitive information is protected.
Types of Community Cloud Deployments
- On-premises Community Cloud: Hosted within one of the member organization’s data centers, offering greater control and customization.
- Third-party Managed Community Cloud: Hosted by a third-party service provider, reducing the need for internal infrastructure management but potentially limiting customization.
Market
The community cloud market is much smaller than the public and private cloud markets. Public clouds, led by providers like AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud, dominate the cloud computing space. Private clouds are also widely used, especially by large enterprises needing full control over their infrastructure.
Community clouds serve a niche audience. They are mostly used by organizations in regulated industries like healthcare, finance, government, and education. While smaller in size, the community cloud market is growing as more organizations seek secure, shared environments that meet strict compliance rules.
Analysts expect community cloud adoption to rise in regions with strict data sovereignty laws. It offers a balance between the cost savings of public clouds and the security of private clouds. Despite this, community clouds remain a niche compared to the massive public cloud market.
List of Community Cloud Providers
- IBM Cloud
- Microsoft Azure
- Oracle Cloud
- VMware Cloud
