Author: Talabuyev Y.
More than two-thirds of IT directors prefer hybrid cloud, according to the IBM Transformation Index: State of Cloud survey. The data on the growth of the hybrid cloud market also supports this: the market size will quadruple in just 6 years and will reach $262 billion by 2027. For many companies, hybrid cloud has already enabled the creation of a flexible, easily scalable, and dynamic environment that provides a real competitive advantage.
- Hybrid Cloud: Definition
- How to Use Hybrid Cloud: 6 Typical Scenarios
- Disaster Recovery After Failures
- How Well-Known Brands Use Hybrid Cloud
Hybrid Cloud: Definition
Defining what a hybrid cloud is can be easily done by listing its components, which can be combined in various ways.
- On-Premise Computing Environment: This involves running IT workloads on proprietary hardware located directly in the office or in a local data center.
- Private Cloud: This involves hosting IT workloads in a secure and fully isolated environment provided by a cloud service provider.
- Public Cloud: This involves running IT workloads on the infrastructure of a cloud provider (which could be a hyperscaler or a local service provider). Besides Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), the public cloud can also include Platform as a Service (PaaS) for developing and running applications in the cloud, or ready-to-use applications designed for end-users in the form of Software as a Service (SaaS).
Previously, we dedicated a separate article to the detailed differences between IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS.
Initially, a hybrid cloud referred to a configuration where an on-premise computing environment was connected to the public cloud of a single hyperscaler. However, as the architecture evolved, the Hybrid Cloud has become more flexible. It can now include both public and private clouds hosted by the same provider, with the number of public clouds being arbitrary—this is known as a hybrid multi-cloud environment. It is important not to confuse hybrid cloud and multi-cloud, as they are different concepts despite having much in common.
How to Use Hybrid Cloud: 6 Typical Scenarios
Hybrid Cloud enables the implementation of various IT workload placement scenarios and addresses different tasks. Let’s look at several typical ways in which hybrid cloud can provide real benefits to businesses.
Modernizing IT Infrastructure as Part of Digital Transformation
Hybrid cloud allows for the selection of the optimal environment for handling various workloads and overall business tasks. For example, the demand for hybrid cloud grew during the COVID-19 pandemic, when it was necessary to ensure business continuity, optimize e-commerce services, and meet the need for remote work. Hybrid clouds enabled offloading some workloads to public clouds to provide secure access for employees at any time and from anywhere, as well as creating conditions for productive collaboration.
Another example is the digital transformation of financial organizations, some of which still use outdated systems due to concerns about data privacy. Here, hybrid cloud offers a flexible alternative to ensure the protection of critical data in accordance with industry standards while leveraging the capabilities of the public cloud to enhance the customer experience.
Disaster Recovery After Failures
Disaster Recovery (DR) minimizes business losses from failures caused by cyberattacks, server outages, unexpected power outages, natural disasters, and other issues. Developing a DR plan is already part of the IT strategy for many organizations, where the unavailability of IT infrastructure and/or data loss can lead to catastrophic consequences.
A hybrid cloud can provide a solution for implementing a disaster recovery plan. In this scenario, primary systems and data are hosted in a private cloud, while backups are stored in a public cloud. In the event of a disaster, the company can recover in the public cloud and continue to operate as usual, then return to the private cloud once the issues are resolved.
Colobridge’s Expert:
“The best way to implement such a scenario is to engage a provider offering DRaaS (Disaster Recovery-as-a-Service). This allows for the rapid resumption of all or only the most critical services, ensuring business continuity. This involves not only storage for client backups and archives but also reserving a certain pool of resources to achieve recovery within the minimally acceptable time frames for the company.”
Application Development, Testing, and Delivery
A hybrid environment is ideal for these tasks for many reasons, but primarily because there is no need to purchase, configure, and maintain on-premise hardware. DevOps teams use cloud environments for hosting their projects and testing, ensuring faster time-to-market for applications. Afterward, they can migrate these applications to a private cloud environment if required by business needs or internal security requirements.
Load Balancing
Companies dealing with dynamic workloads need to find ways to quickly respond to sudden changes in resource demands. A typical example is an electronics online store during the pre-Christmas sales. In this case, Cloud Bursting—a hybrid cloud deployment technology with load balancing—can be effective. It allows traffic to be redirected during load spikes.
Edge Computing
The essence of this approach is to place workloads as close as possible to data collection sources, such as IoT devices. These computing environments are often hybrid as well, and this trend is growing as more applications become distributed. The expansion of 4G/5G network coverage, providing sufficiently high-performance data transmission channels, partially contributes to this development.
Hosting AI Workloads
A hybrid cloud can provide a solid foundation for deploying AI-related workloads. These require substantial computing power and involve storing large volumes of data, with storage needs continuously growing. To meet these demands, a flexible cloud environment is used, allowing for easy scaling of both computing resources and storage capacities by allocating necessary resources during peak usage times.
In addition, a hybrid architecture can address data privacy concerns and better handle cyber threats—serious issues that arise when using generative AI systems. Companies can place critical data in a private cloud or even locally, protecting it from external threats and ensuring compliance with industry regulations.
How Well-Known Brands Use Hybrid Cloud
Here are some inspiring examples from companies you are surely familiar with.
Netflix hosts its library of movies and TV shows on cloud servers of a popular hyperscaler, easily scaling storage as needed. For organizing its own content delivery network (CDN), it uses both private and public cloud infrastructures placed as close as possible to end users. Additionally, the public cloud infrastructure is essential for Netflix for developing and testing applications, while the private cloud is used for big data analysis.
Coca-Cola utilizes a hybrid cloud infrastructure to manage supply chains worldwide, allowing the company to track production schedules, monitor product inventory, and manage delivery statuses. The hybrid cloud is also employed for big data analytics, collaborative projects among distributed teams, and disaster recovery.
Adobe leverages cloud computing resources from two hyperscalers to host applications and provide users with quick access to online services. Application development and testing are also carried out in a hybrid environment created with multiple service providers. The public cloud with scalable resources allows Adobe to meet peak demand from its analytics systems.
Colobridge’s Expert:
“Hybrid cloud enables companies to fully realize the potential of digital transformation and better meet market demands. A company can choose its own hybrid cloud architecture for various business needs or consult with us at Colobridge to collaboratively find the optimal solution in terms of flexibility, scalability, and security. We will offer the best ways to utilize this cloud model, and you will get a computing environment that best matches your workloads.”
