The main reason why data-driven companies with lots of sensitive customer data are looking past cloud computing as a viable solution for their business, is because of security and privacy concerns that the multi-tenant infrastructure of cloud computing brings. The multi-tenant infrastructure is very important for cloud computing as it carries the scalability and cost benefits of the paradigm.

First of all let us define what a hosted private cloud is and how it differs to the general definition of cloud computing. A hosted private cloud is a cloud infrastructure which has been provisioned for the exclusive use of a single organization or collaborations thereof; only recognized constituents may access it or even know that it exists. The infrastructure could be operated, owned and managed by this organization, a third party, or a combination of both and it may exist on or off premises.