Hybrid Cloud
HYBRID CLOUD BENEFITS
Although cloud services can reduce costs, they mostly add value by assisting with a quick digital business transformation. The IT agenda and the business transformation agenda are the two main priorities of every technology management organisation.
Usually, the IT agenda has been centred on cost reduction. Agendas for digital company transformation, however, are concentrated on financial gains from investments.
The primary benefit of a hybrid cloud is agility. The need to adapt and change direction quickly is a core principle of a digital business. Your enterprise might want (or need) to combine public clouds, private clouds, and on-premises resources. To gain the agility it needs for a competitive advantage.
PUBLIC CLOUD: ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES
If you contract with a service provider such as AWS or Azure. You’re using a public cloud and essentially renting a slice of their distributed data center infrastructure. Public clouds deliver cloud infrastructure as a service (IaaS). They offer massive economies of scale, scale elastically, and run fully automated. So it’s nearly impossible for an on-premises data center to compete on price or efficiency.
Advantages
Scalability (both up and down)
Almost unlimited due to on-demand cloud resources.
Lower capital expenditure (capex)
You don’t need to purchase all your own data center equipment.
Reliability
Due to services distributed across multiple data centers.
Disadvantages
Less control over data security
You never know where—and under what geographic or other restrictions—your data is operating.
Higher operational expenditure (opex)
As you scale performance, your cost-per-hour fees rise.
PRIVATE CLOUD: ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES
If you set up a dedicated cloud infrastructure for your enterprise, you are using a private cloud. It’s a private cloud whether you manage it yourself or hire a third-party service. And whether you host it in your data center or off-premises.
Advantages
Potentially lower TCO
Through lower opex over time.
Greater control and customization
Fit your servers to your enterprise’s preferences.
Flexibility
Ability to move non-sensitive data to a public cloud to accommodate sudden bursts of demand on your private cloud.
Security
Your data and applications remain behind your firewall and are accessible only to your enterprise. Making private clouds better suited for processing or storing sensitive data.
Disadvantages
Higher costs
Increased initial charges and the need to repay costs of the equipment you purchase.
Responsibility
For operating and maintaining your own data center, IT hardware, and enterprise software—as well as your own security and compliance.
Less flexibility.
In scaling IT resources up or down as your needs change.
IS HYBRID CLOUD RIGHT FOR YOU?
Not everything belongs in a public cloud. Which is why so many forward-thinking companies are choosing a hybrid mixture of cloud services. Hybrid clouds offer the benefits of both public and private clouds and take advantage of existing architecture in a data center.
The hybrid approach allows applications and components to interoperate across boundaries. (for example, cloud versus on‐premises), between cloud instances, and even between architectures (for example, traditional versus modern digital). The same level of distribution and access flexibility is also needed for data. Whether you’re handling workloads or datasets, in the dynamic digital world. You should plan for things to move around in response to evolving needs. Where applications or data live today might not be the best place for them to live over time.
A hybrid cloud architecture includes these characteristics:
- Your on-premises data center, private and public cloud resources. And workloads are tied together under common data management while staying distinct.
- You can connect existing systems running on traditional architectures. That run business-critical applications or contain sensitive data that might not be suited for the public cloud.
- Hybrid cloud infrastructures are enabled by a Data Fabric. Which uses a software-defined approach to provide a common set of data services across any combination of IT resources
HYBRID CLOUD SCENARIOS
- Maximize monetization opportunities by leveraging hosting partner cloud solutions as a pathway to hybrid cloud.
- Deliver seamless cloud migration capabilities from customer premises to your data center.
- Provide deep visibility with granular monitoring, chargeback, reporting, and logging capabilities.
- Promote developer productivity and deploy applications to market faster.
- Connect their private cloud to public cloud for a hybrid cloud experience for greater scale and efficiency.
Dynamic or frequently changing workloads
Use an easily scalable public cloud for your dynamic workloads, while leaving less volatile, or more sensitive. Workloads to a private cloud or on-premises data center.
Separating critical workloads from less-sensitive workloads
You might store sensitive financial or customer information on your private cloud. And use a public cloud to run the rest of your enterprise applications.
Big data processing
Big data processing is unlikely to occur continuously at a volume that is close to constant. Use highly scalable public cloud resources instead to execute some of your big data analyses. Using a private cloud as well as a firewall to protect sensitive big data and assure data security.
Moving to the cloud incrementally, at your own pace.
Put some of your workloads on a public cloud or on a small-scale private cloud. See what works for your enterprise, and continue expanding your cloud presence. As needed—on public clouds, private clouds, or a mixture of the two.
Temporary processing capacity needs
A hybrid cloud lets you allocate public cloud resources for short-term projects, at a lower cost. Than if you used your own data center’s IT infrastructure. That way, you don’t overinvest in equipment you’ll need only temporarily.
Flexibility for the future.
No matter how well you plan to meet today’s needs, unless you have a crystal ball. You won’t know how your needs might change next month or next year. A hybrid cloud approach lets you match your actual data management. Requirements to the public cloud, private cloud, or on-premises resources that are best able to handle them.
Best of both worlds.
Unless you have clear-cut needs fulfilled by only a public cloud solution or only a private cloud solution. Why limit your options? Choose a hybrid cloud approach, and you can tap the advantages of both worlds simultaneously.
