Virtual Private Cloud

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What Does Virtual Private Cloud Mean?

A virtual private cloud (VPC) is a hybrid model of cloud computing in which a private cloud solution is provided within a public cloud provider’s infrastructure.

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VPC is a cloud computing service in which a public cloud provider isolates a specific portion of their public cloud infrastructure to be provisioned for private use. The VPC infrastructure is managed by a public cloud vendor; however, the resources allocated to a VPC are not shared with any other customer.

Techopedia Explains Virtual Private Cloud

VPCs were introduced specifically for those customers interested in taking advantage of the benefits of cloud computing but who have concerns over certain aspects of the cloud. Common concerns involve privacy, security and the loss of control over proprietary data. In response to this customer need, many public cloud vendors designed a VPC offering a part of a vendor’s public infrastructure but having dedicated cloud servers, virtual networks, cloud storage and private ID addresses, reserved for a VPC customer.

VPCs are sometimes referred to as private clouds, but there is a slight difference as VPCs are private clouds sourced over a third-party vendor infrastructure rather than over an enterprise IT infrastructure. Examples for VPCs include Amazon VPC, launched in August, 2009, and Google App Engine, where the VPC feature is supported through the secure data connector product launched in April, 2009.

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Margaret Rouse
Technology expert
Margaret Rouse
Technology expert

Margaret is an award-winning writer and educator known for her ability to explain complex technical topics to a non-technical business audience. Over the past twenty years, her IT definitions have been published by Que in an encyclopedia of technology terms and cited in articles in the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine, and Discovery Magazine. She joined Techopedia in 2011. Margaret’s idea of ​​a fun day is to help IT and business professionals to learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages.