Paul Miller looks at the biggest trends shaping the future of the hybrid cloud
As predicted, 2017 has shaped up to be the year of the enterprise cloud — and more than half of enterprises interested in the cloud are looking to deploy with a multi cloud strategy. That’s because hybrid cloud gives organization more flexibility to choose the right mix of cloud deployment models for each workload or workgroup.
To find out more about hybrid cloud adoption trends, Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) commissioned Forrester Consulting to survey enterprises worldwide and compile a report. The research, The Proliferation of Hybrid Cloud, details insights from IT decision makers at director-level and above. Amongst some fairly expected results, a few findings emerged as noteworthy for prospective cloud consumers.
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Benefits of adopting hybrid cloud solutions
Forrester found that 56% of organizations surveyed said they had multiple cloud solutions. They cited three main benefits of hybrid cloud: improved data management, improved IT infrastructure management and flexibility, and improved security and compliance.
These results may come as a surprise considering the complexity involved with deploying hybrid cloud. Yet, it seems that although deployment may be difficult, the end result is well worth it. Companies are finding that by piecing together private and public cloud along with their traditional infrastructure, they actually are getting the best and most cost-effective solutions.
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Different cloud models for different workloads
When asked which workloads fit best into each cloud model, Forrester also found expected results. Mobile apps and Internet of Things were typically deployed in public cloud, contact center and web business applications were deployed in private cloud and ecommerce was usually deployed in Software-as-a-Service environments. And sensitive, mission critical applications are still deployed on premises.
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Hybrid cloud has lots of moving parts
Ultimately, the survey found that the complexity of a multiple cloud environment is the single biggest challenge faced by enterprises. Approximately 70% said that security and management complexity were challenging. No surprises here.
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Wanted: seamless migration between cloud platforms
Enterprises don’t just want to move their workloads to the cloud once; they want to be able to constantly migrate data between cloud platforms. According to the report, the most valuable migration capabilities included the ability to migrate workloads based on their best-fit and the dynamic relocation of workloads based on excess capacity.
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Most valuable features: consistency and integration – NOT cost
According to this survey, enterprises are looking beyond costs when determining where to place their workloads. This may seem surprising since cost is often mentioned as a reason for moving to the cloud. However, enterprises also want management and security tools (that work across private, public and traditional IT environment), integration with existing IT management tools and cost management capabilities.
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Third-party consulting is a top priority
Hybrid cloud is difficult, so enterprise customers aren’t going it alone. Along with using software and platforms from third parties, most companies are currently working with third-party vendors for implementation, ongoing management/support, and strategy and planning. HPE embraces this collaboration by focusing on providing expertise and solutions that enterprise customers can count on as they transition thousands of applications from their current environment to a hybrid cloud infrastructure.
Making hybrid IT simple
When it comes to cloud platforms, one size doesn’t fit all, which is why so many enterprises are moving to hybrid cloud. Increased flexibility and speed combined with decreased cost are key benefits of transitioning to hybrid cloud. As enterprises move thousands of applications from their current environment to the hybrid cloud, HPE provides the expertise needed along with a wide range of solutions. To learn about HPE’s approach to hybrid IT check out the HPE website, Project New Hybrid IT Stack. And to find out how HPE can help you determine a workload placement strategy that meets your service level agreements, visit HPE Pointnext.
To read the full report, click here
About Paul Miller
Paul Miller is Vice President of Marketing for the Software-defined and Cloud Group at Hewlett Packard Enterprise. The Software-defined and Cloud Group organization is responsible for marketing for composable infrastructure, HPE OneView, HPE SimpliVity hyperconverged solutions and Project New Hybrid IT Stack portfolio.
