5 Benefits of a Hybrid Cloud Model
Hercules Bester
In most cases, the scalability, cost-effectiveness and other advantages of the public cloud make it the best option.
However, there are some use cases where companies can benefit from combining different types of hosting environments together. Here are a few of the situations where a hybrid cloud model may beat a pure public cloud strategy.
Beneficial Use Cases of a Hybrid Cloud Model
1) Transitioning to a Public Cloud
Sometimes a hybrid cloud benefits companies going through complex migrations. For example, if you’ve recently acquired another organization, it may take multiple phases to consolidate the two landscapes into a public cloud.
Hybrid clouds are also useful for companies transitioning gradually because of a low appetite for risk, or the need to make use of hardware investments. In all these cases, a hybrid cloud model lets you move systems over to the new host when you’re ready, while gradually phasing out the old environment.
2) Maintaining a Legacy Data Silo
If you have old data you need to store but don’t regularly use, migrating it to the cloud may be more trouble than it is worth — at least in the short term.
Auditing, sanitizing and consolidating old data can be a complicated process, requiring your team to track down missing or inconsistent data and fix antiquated or inconsistent formatting. Sometimes it’s better to leave the silo in place until you’ve dealt with high-priority upgrades.
3) Low Latency
Data can move extremely quickly through the cloud, but it isn’t instantaneous. It takes time for data to travel thousands of miles, and pass through multiple routers and switches. And while an extra 10 or 15 milliseconds doesn’t usually matter, it can be unacceptable in certain applications, such as industrial control systems and human-machine interfaces.
A hybrid cloud combines the benefits of on-premise hardware for latency-critical applications, with the scalability and cost-effectiveness of the public cloud for other applications.
However, there may be other alternatives to a hybrid cloud model, such as moving production closer to the data center, or running a high-speed cable. Your managed services partner can help you weigh the options and pick the most effective one for your landscape.
4) Extremely Large Files
In certain applications that work with very large files, there are clear benefits to a hybrid cloud over a purely public cloud landscape.
This is often the case with media organizations, such as movie, animation and special effects studios, which may have to work with hundreds of hours of uncompressed video footage. A hybrid cloud model allows organizations to quickly access large files for current projects locally, while using the public cloud as their main data repository.
5) Hybrid Cloud Compliance
Certain compliance scenarios like data residency may be easier to satisfy using a hybrid cloud. For example, as part of a GDPR compliance strategy, a company may decide to store data from EU residents in a particular data center in France, while storing other data in a global public cloud. A hybrid cloud model enables companies to integrate ad hoc compliance controls with a global public cloud strategy.
Choosing the Right Cloud For Your Organization
In most cases, there are multiple hosting options that could effectively support your needs. The choice of hybrid vs. public cloud comes down to details like cost, risk and complexity. If you’re considering a hybrid cloud model, we can help weigh the factors and choose the right hosting option for your company.
Contact us to learn more.
