What is a Hybrid Cloud? A Comprehensive Guide

What is a Hybrid Cloud?

The term ‘Hybrid Cloud’ refers to a mixed environment that consists of computing, storage, and IT services encompassing private or public cloud services and physical on-premises IT infrastructure – all working towards providing a flexible mix of cloud computing services.

However, the two most critical components of a Hybrid Cloud are the public and private cloud. So how are the two differentiated?

Public Cloud

Cloud computing via public cloud providers is a computing and storage service available to anyone and everyone. It can easily be accessed via the internet or direct connections accessed within hyperscale cloud data centers. Globally, some of the biggest public cloud platforms are AWS, Microsoft, Google, Oracle, IBM and Alibaba Cloud.

Private Cloud

Technically, any private cloud provides the same features as a public cloud. The only difference is that private clouds are created and controlled by a single enterprise or organization for the exclusive use of employees or other stakeholders like vendors. The general public is strictly barred from accessing any element of a private cloud for multiple business reasons.

While Hybrid Cloud platforms have been around for many years, it was only recently that adoption accelerated to never-before levels, thanks to the global pandemic and the rise of remote services and WFH culture.

How does a Hybrid Cloud work?

At its core, being a unified entity, Hybrid Clouds make it easy to seamlessly switch data and application workloads between platforms by virtualizing data and workloads, Network Function Virtualization (NFV) or VPNs, and the connectivity to one or more cloud providers. Hybrid clouds also vary in terms of maturity of interoperability when it comes to networking and security frameworks.

What are the 5 benefits of a Hybrid Cloud?

Hybrid clouds offer the best of both worlds—the flexibility and cost-efficiency of a public cloud and the security of dedicated hardware. Technologically speaking, Hybrid Cloud’s other advantage is that it creates a unified and seamless collection of assets and resources to support modern application strategies. Businesswise, the popularity of a Hybrid Cloud infrastructure can also be attested to reduced risk, minimized IT costs, migration without refactoring, consolidation of the data center, and comfortable catering to an enterprise’s ever-changing demand for computing and storage resources. On the flip side, a Hybrid Cloud platform is also, at times, associated with networking issues, infrastructure incompatibility and reliability. Thus, to realize the true benefits of any Hybrid Cloud platform and its subsequent management, integration is key. Let’s take a closer look at the benefits.

1. Cost

The sheer number and pervasiveness of many popular cloud providers like AWS, Microsoft, Google and others has made it possible for almost anyone to use them at a fraction of the cost compared to an in-house IT infrastructure. Enterprises reap huge cost (both capital and labour) benefits by migrating part of their technology into public cloud computing while retaining integration with private systems – making Hybrid Cloud a no-brainer solution.  

2. Agility

E-commerce sites are a prime example of fluctuating business demands. For extreme variations during sales or major events, they rely on Hybrid Clouds to cater to such spikes. For DevOps enterprises with agile development practices, their teams are enabled with all the support they require in real-time to support rapid build, test and deploy needs.

3. Security

The number one priority for any CIO is security. Growing regulations and compliance challenges demand microscopic attention to detail in all matters concerning security. While the jury is out on which cloud is more secure, it should be an enterprise’s absolute right to decide where and how they secure data. With a Hybrid model, data can either be stored in a private cloud or onsite at a customized hyperscale cloud data center with all security regulations intact.

4. Risk

There are two elements to risk management and Hybrid Cloud. First, it allows organizations to dip their toe in the water of cloud computing — with a smaller investment and effort — before deciding whether to migrate to a more cloud-heavy environment. Second, it can be a way to mitigate the risk of being caught off guard by a cloud provider who may change rules with little or no notice.

5. Control

To minimize risks, enterprises can leverage the benefits of a Hybrid Cloud by customizing and configuring in-house IT infrastructure, in conjunction with restrictions on what data and apps can be switched between the two.

Hybrid Cloud vs. Multi-cloud: What is the difference?

Considering how tech jargon can be ambiguous, one may be forgiven for assuming that they both might mean the same. However, that’s not the case. Hybrid Cloud and Multi-cloud refer to deployments that integrate more than one cloud. They also differ in the kinds of cloud infrastructure they include: A Hybrid Cloud infrastructure blends two or more different types of clouds, while Multi-cloud integrates different clouds of the same kind. A Hybrid Cloud platform can be compared to a dessert menu, while a Multi-cloud platform can be zeroed further to the dessert menu’s ice-cream section.

How can Hexaware accelerate your Hybrid Cloud journey?

In today’s digital transformation era, when the speed of innovation is directly proportional to the rise in the growth curve, Hexaware has built an industry-proven Hybrid Cloud services platform that enables enterprises with the capability to deliver IT-as-a-Service. Beyond innovation, our services and capabilities also help modernize and reconfigure the IT backbones for a seamless hybrid fabric of private and public cloud platforms. Maximized returns at minimized costs and disruption. We also offer Digital Enterprise Business Platforms as ‘Platform-As-a-Service (PaaS)’ hosted on-premise or on partner premises. Hexaware’s Hybrid Cloud platform consists of the following features:

Engineering Services: Modernize legacy data-centres on cloud or build new applications

Consulting Services: Assess quicker to create a cloud strategy and roadmap for seamless cloud enablement

Operation Services: Deploy seamless systems across public/private cloud, compute instances, databases, containers, networks and middleware

Platform Services: Accelerate cloud migration and operation with extreme automation, AI and ML

Optimizing Spend @Cloud: Benefit from a cloud optimization suite that helps optimize and manage cloud costs

Conclusion

Enterprises and technology companies across the world agree: the future is Hybrid! When almost every business relies on a strategy that integrates multiple platforms – it all pivots to a Hybrid Cloud. Indeed, a trend outlook on the future of Hybrid Cloud shows what lies ahead: ‘While adoption of public cloud services is nearly ubiquitous, the breadth of usage of these services is also increasing at an accelerated pace. Indeed, over the next two years, a 45% increase in the number of organizations running more than 30% of their production applications on public cloud infrastructure is expected.’ (Source: ESG Hybrid Cloud Trends)

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