One size does not fit all when it comes to an organization’s IT environments. The truth is: some workloads and applications work better in the cloud than others. For many organizations, this means managing both cloud and non-cloud workloads. But with a hybrid environment, comes more responsibility and complexity around management, especially when making sure it all runs smoothly. To alleviate this, many organizations have opted to work with a hybrid cloud computing provider. These hybrid providers help businesses create cloud strategies, manage and implement the right mix of technologies for businesses with complex cloud and non-cloud workloads.
What is hybrid cloud computing?
We define a “hybrid cloud computing” as an environment with a mix of cloud and non-cloud technologies. This differs from our multicloud definition in which multiple clouds are deployed in one IT environment.
Though not necessarily a cloud environment, colocation remains a smart choice for organizations looking to decommission their on-premises data center. This is one of the reasons our definition of a hybrid cloud environment includes cloud and non-cloud technologies. If you need to integrate non-cloud workloads into your environment, it’s important to choose a cloud provider who understands and has experience addressing your unique requirements.
Gartner released a Market Guide for Managed Hybrid Cloud Hosting that we think you will find useful. Here is the report:
Advice of note from the hybrid cloud computing market guide
Have an open mind when it comes to the cloud
In the report, one of the recommendations that stood out to us was to “be open-minded” about the many rich alternatives to simply “public” and “private” solutions. We’ve talked about these kinds of alternatives before, like hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI), and we whole-heartedly echo this advice. Cloud technologies and services are advancing with astounding rapidity. The understanding of the cloud you developed while doing research six months ago, is potentially out of date.
Latency and security matter
Provider attributes are also important. Location and proximity do matter. The further your data is from point of use; the more likely latency is going to be an issue. Advancements like 5G will have an impact, but this will be short-lived in our data-driven world as applications progress to take advantage of the increased bandwidth.
Location can also be a consideration for security and compliance reasons. Choosing a data center that is within a reasonable travel distance will allow you to keep an eye on the physical security protocols and daily practices of your provider. This is and always will be an important consideration for those in highly regulated industries like healthcare and government.
A provider who knows your ecosystem is vital
As your business grows, you want a partner who can scale resources to meet your needs and provide additional services to ensure your IT environment is safe, secure and operates efficiently. Choosing a provider with additional managed services, beyond hosting, is a step in the right direction.
We’re a hybrid cloud provider
TierPoint manages more than forty data centers across the U.S., and we’ve helped hundreds of organizations configure a hybrid cloud environment suited to their business and goals. We also provide a full menu of managed cloud services for many types of cloud platforms. Contact us to discuss your objectives and how we might be able to help you reach them.