Hybrid Cloud is now the defacto standard for IT environments, but what is Hybrid Cloud and how should you approach it? 

An obvious definition of hybrid cloud is as simple as ‘a combination of one or more cloud types”. Broadly that means a combination of on premises, private and public cloud.

On Premises

A solution where users are ultimately accessing applications and data located on hardware (servers) wholly owned and managed by an organisation and logically and physically only accessible by that organisation whether in a owned or colocation site.

Private Cloud

Data / applications are logically accessible via an organisation’s firewall and there is a layer of cloud management software that controls overall capacity, machine management, network management, and layers of authentication and authorisation allowing self-service. The physical hardware and the cloud management software layer can be owned and managed inhouse, or by a third party.

Public Cloud

Cloud that is delivered as a service over the internet with all hardware and cloud management (and often platform and application) software owned and managed by the service provider. Provider is large scale, allowing online access for users to deploy their own services, on demand, at scale worldwide.

Each cloud type has advantages and disadvantages in terms of availability performance, security and cost options. Hybrid Cloud allows organisations to benefit from all the options, instead of having to trade-off different requirements.

So combination doesn’t quite cut it when talking about an optimal Hybrid Cloud, Hybrid Cloud is not about the mix you end up with … in fact we recommend assuming that either now, or for the future, your cloud will be a blend of all cloud types and you will continually refine that blend.