Exploring the Benefits of Hybrid Cloud Connectivity for Data Centers

Hybrid cloud connectivity -- the ability of a data center to connect to both private and public cloud environments to create a hybrid cloud infrastructure – allows the best of both worlds as organizations can optimize their IT resources and infrastructure by combining the scalability and cost-effectiveness of public clouds with the security and control of private clouds.

“Hybrid cloud solutions enable you to migrate and manage workloads between these various cloud environments, allowing you to create more versatile setups based on your specific business needs,” explains Google. “Many organizations choose to adopt hybrid cloud platforms to reduce costs, minimize risk, and extend their existing capabilities to support digital transformation efforts.”

Google’s definition of “hybrid cloud” is a mixed computing environment where applications are run using a combination of computing, storage, and services in different environments—public clouds and private clouds, including on-premises data centers or “edge” locations.

Hybrid Cloud Computing Approaches Become Widespread

Google says that the hybrid cloud approach is one of the most common infrastructure setups today with cloud migrations naturally leading to hybrid cloud implementations as organizations transition applications and data slowly and systematically.

“Hybrid cloud computing approaches are widespread because almost no one today relies entirely on a single public cloud,” says Google. “Hybrid cloud environments allow you to continue using on-premises services while taking advantage of the flexible options for storing and accessing data and applications offered by public cloud providers.”

Recent research backs up Google’s estimation of the popularity of hybrid cloud connectivity:

The Flexera 2023 State of the Cloud Report found that economic uncertainty is driving a reduction in corporate spending, but the need for innovation and increased revenues remains high – and the cloud represents an engine of innovation. Overall, 87 percent of organizations surveyed use a multi-cloud approach (including 72 percent hybrid cloud) compared to just 11 percent that use a single public cloud and 2 percent that use a single private cloud.
Flexera’s research lines up with Gartner’s predictions from five years ago that by 2025, 80 percent of enterprises would be taking a hybrid approach that combines using both public and private clouds.
Research by IDC projects that 90 percent plus of enterprises will rely on a mix of on-premises, or dedicated, private clouds as well as several public clouds and legacy platforms to meet their infrastructure needs.

How Hybrid Cloud Connectivity for Data Center Works

Hybrid cloud connectivity utilizes a combination of cloud-based and on-premises infrastructures that enable the sharing of applications and data between the data centers using a network.

“One of the main hybrid data center benefits is it allows a company to achieve business agility, scale on demand, and strike a balance between the flexibility of private cloud and public cloud data centers and the advantages of housing data and processes on-premises,” says Fortinet. “This allows for a wide range of IT possibilities, from container orchestration to on-premises redundant servers, without having to invest heavily upfront.”

Fortinet describes the different components that make a hybrid cloud connectivity setup:

Private Cloud: Private cloud is a cloud architecture that gives you exclusive use of cloud resources. You do not share any of your infrastructure with another entity.
Public Cloud: Public cloud data centers are shared with more than one user. The data gets stored on a shared server, and a cloud service provider manages it.
On-premises: In an on-premises data center, the server that stores and manages the data is kept within the premises of your company. This brings the advantage of added security for sensitive data because you have the option of setting up your own physical security systems to guard the server.

“Most often, there is either a hybrid cloud or multi-cloud strategy in place, the difference being that a hybrid cloud infrastructure blends two or more types of clouds (e.g., private, public, on-premises), while a multi-cloud, which primarily combines public cloud infrastructures, blends multiple clouds of the same type,” says Connected.

Main Benefits of Using Hybrid Cloud Connectivity in Your Data Center

There are many benefits to using a hybrid cloud connectivity approach in your data center including the optimization of IT resources, improved performance, cost savings, and increased security:

Increased Flexibility and Agility: Hybrid cloud connectivity allows organizations to leverage the benefits of both public and private clouds. This flexibility enables businesses to scale resources up or down rapidly to respond to changing business requirements, without having to commit to a specific cloud provider or architecture. This agility can help businesses stay competitive in fast-paced industries and enable them to take advantage of new opportunities.
Cost Savings: By using a hybrid cloud approach, organizations can optimize their spending on IT resources. They can use public clouds for non-critical workloads while reserving private clouds for more sensitive or critical applications.
Security: Hybrid cloud connectivity enables organizations to keep sensitive data and applications on their private clouds while leveraging the scalability of public clouds for non-critical workloads. This way, businesses can keep control of their data while benefiting from the elasticity of public cloud resources.
Disaster Recovery and Improved Data Backup: With hybrid cloud connectivity, businesses can create a disaster recovery plan that leverages both public and private clouds. This ensures that their data is protected and can be recovered quickly in the event of an outage or disaster. By leveraging both public and private clouds, organizations can create a comprehensive backup and recovery plan that ensures business continuity.
Improved Performance: Hybrid cloud connectivity enables organizations to create a more efficient IT infrastructure by distributing workloads across public and private clouds. Data center operators can avoid performance bottlenecks and ensure that their applications are running smoothly.
Geographic Reach: With hybrid cloud connectivity, organizations can take advantage of the global reach of public clouds while still maintaining control over their data. This is especially important for businesses with a global presence or those that need to comply with local data privacy laws.
Enhanced Collaboration: Hybrid cloud connectivity enables teams to collaborate more easily and efficiently by providing access to data and applications from anywhere. This can help teams work together on projects in real-time, even if they are in different locations.
Better Resource Allocation: By using a hybrid cloud approach, businesses can allocate resources more efficiently by identifying which workloads should be hosted in public clouds and which should be hosted in private clouds. This can help businesses avoid overprovisioning or underprovisioning resources, which can lead to cost savings.