Introduction
In the following article, we will explain the importance of cloud computing and define what a hybrid cloud solution actually is. And, we will describe why it is important in the first place. Lastly, we will go into more detail about why it is a good idea to switch from a private on-premise solution to a hybrid cloud by outlining some of the top benefits.
The Importance of Cloud Computing
There’s no doubt that cloud computing has become an extremely important part of running businesses. Cloud infrastructures allow companies to become very proactive in their management approaches because services can become completely virtual, rather than relying upon hardware or physical products. This is important because it can save a lot of time and money as well as helping companies to meet their corporate social responsibility goals by eliminating paper (and other material) waste. This includes commuting costs as the servers can be accessed from anywhere in the world.
According to Zippia, 94% of all businesses were using cloud services in 2022. They note that a huge increase in usage was spiked by the 2020 shift in workplace productivity driven by remote working. This COVID-19-related change drove 61% of businesses to migrate their workloads to the cloud.This applies to large corporations, medium-sized companies, and even small local businesses of all sizes and industries.
What is a Hybrid Cloud Solution?
Google Cloud defines a hybrid cloud as the following: “Hybrid cloud solutions include applications, or their components such as compute, networking, and storage, when deployed across public and private clouds. On-premises servers are also often referred to as private clouds.” Further, a hybrid cloud is basically a mixed computing environment, as described above, that uses a combination of computing, storage, and services to create new environments that include data centers known as “edge” locations.
Explanation of Hybrid Cloud Solution
A hybrid cloud refers to the creation of a mixed approach to computing, storage, and services. The mixture includes classic on-premises functionality (commonly referred to as private cloud services) and public cloud services working together as a unified entity. This means that hybrid clouds allow data, apps, and users to move between the two environments. So, these hybrid cloud solutions have become much more nimble and accessible to workers in the office and remote.
It is important to note that the implementation of such a hybrid cloud requires attention to detail. Reasonable deployment, business continuity, elastic expansion, performance efficiency, security compliance, and continuous operation are the 6 fundamental building blocks of a properly implemented hybrid cloud setup.
Hybrid Cloud Architecture
Because hybrid clouds combine resources and services from multiple environments, their architecture requires significant integration and coordination steps to enable functional and rapid sharing, shifting, and synchronization of information. These cloud networks must be set up with an immense focus on the details.
Most hybrid solutions use a local area network, or LAN, to create interconnectivity between environments. In addition, they include wide area networks, or LANs, as well as virtual private networks, or VPNs, and application programming interfaces, or APIs. This is because of the leveraging of virtualization, containerization, and network and storage technologies that are defined by software. Administration of a hybrid cloud is generally done with dedicated management software so businesses can allocate the appropriate resources and enable on-demand provisioning between the environments.
Hybrid Cloud Benefits
Cost Effective
Cloud computing is considered to be very cost effective because the standard costs of implementing and purchasing both hardware and software can be completely eliminated. That also includes the costs associated with operational, maintenance, and upgrades to them. In addition, the staff that performs that setup and maintenance may no longer be needed.
Flexibility
A hybrid cloud solution allows a business to operate in the best environment for them at any given time. By creating containers, portable applications can be moved in and out of public clouds quite easily. Additionally, the ability to scale up or down as needed is no longer a major undertaking that requires large capital investments to grow or a set price if demand falls.
Security
There are also significant benefits from a security standpoint. Sensitive data can be locked down or regulated separately from other data by putting on-premise while allowing less sensitive data to be stored with a third party. And, it can be done seamlessly.
Scalability
Scalability and redundancy can be achieved much easier with a cloud solution. In fact, it can also be about half the cost to provide geo-redundancy to a hybrid cloud than it would be for a private cloud by removing the related overhead costs. This not only makes it easy, but allows for further scalability at a faster pace – which also helps with innovation speed. In addition, by syncing the environments, redundancy can be implemented nearly instantaneously. Workloads can also be scaled to public clouds when demand is at its highest to create ultra-efficiency.
If you have questions about how to implement a hybrid cloud solution for your business, please reach out to see how we can help.
