Public Cloud
Provisioned for open use by any consumer (e.g., business, academic, government). The cloud infrastructure may be owned, managed, and operated by the consumer, a third party, or a combination of them. It exists on the premises of the cloud provider.
Private Cloud
Provisioned for exclusive use by a single consumer. The cloud infrastructure may be owned, managed, and operated by the consumer, a third party, or some combination of them, and it may exist on or off premises.
Community Cloud
Provisioned for exclusive use by a specific community of consumers from organizations that have shared concerns (e.g., mission, security requirements, policy, and compliance considerations). The cloud infrastructure may be owned, managed, and operated by one or more of the organizations in the community, a third party, or some combination of them, and it may exist on or off premises.
Hybrid Cloud
A composition of two or more distinct cloud deployment models (i.e., private, community, public) that remain unique entities, but are bound together by standardized or proprietary technology that enables data and application portability (e.g., cloud bursting for load balancing between clouds).
