Cracking the Code: The Contrast between On-Premises and Cloud Infrastructure Deployments

Two broad spectrums of network deployments - on-premises and cloud-based, shape the hustle and bustle of the IT industry today. At first glance, you could shrug off the significance of these two, treating them merely as nuts and bolts in the frame of the CCNP 350-401 ENCOR exam. However, peel off their superficial layers, and you've got a hotbed of nuances to explore. In our pursuit to demystify these critical structures, we'll delve into their intrinsic differences, strengths, and weaknesses.

A Peek into the Academic Aspect

Let's kick off things by donning our academic caps. So, what is an on-premises deployment? In a nutshell, it's a traditional model where you would install and run the applications on servers housed physically within your company's premises. You're the captain of your ship here, responsible for managing the hardware, software, and network resources. It sounds quite swell, doesn't it? The catch lies in the overheads! The maintenance, upgrade, and repair of these systems take a big chunk of time, efforts, and dear old money!

On the other hand, cloud-based infrastructure is the new kid on the block. Herein, you lease and access computing services over the internet from cloud service providers. These providers run a massive network of servers to deliver the resources you need. Just imagine for a moment, you're piggy-backing on the data centres spread worldwide, far away from your office hubbub. And the icing on the cake? You pay as you go, scaling the resources up or down as if adjusting the volume knob of a sound system!

Now comes the face-off between these two contenders. Many perceive on-premises infrastructure as more secure in terms of security because your organization's walls contain the data. But wait a minute! With advances in encryption and security policies, cloud infrastructure is closing this gap at a swift pace. Broadly, the choice between the duo boils down to two things - one's budget limitations and the criticality of control over your data.

A Cascade of Numbers

For a moment, shall we tip our hats to the power of statistics? A 2020 report by Flexera reveals that 59% of enterprises expect the Covid-19 pandemic to push their cloud usage beyond prior plans. That's almost a whopping three-fifths leaning towards the cloud! Moreover, Cisco Global Cloud Index forecasts a growth from 94% (in 2018) to 98% (by 2021) in workloads and compute instances processed in cloud data centres. This sure gives the impression that the cloud wave is gaining momentum.

In contrast, only 27.6% of enterprises plan to maintain significant on-premises capacity, indicating a wind of change blowing towards the cloud. According to the IDC, spending on traditional, non-cloud, IT infrastructure is expected to decline at a rate of 1.6%yr through 2023. If that doesn't speak volumes about the gear-shift towards cloud infrastructures, what will?

Truth be told, the world of network deployment has a lot on its plate. On-premises and cloud-based infrastructures both continue to mold and remold the landscape of network deployments. Only you can make the choice of what piques your interest and suits your needs, be it the uncompromising control of on-premises infrastructures or the scalability and flexibility of cloud deployments. Nonetheless, understanding the difference between these two is not just pivotal, it's downright fascinating!