By Gary Thome, VP and Chief Engineer, HPE Software-Defined and Cloud Group
Technology continues to move forward at a rapid pace. What seems innovative and exciting today can quickly become obsolete tomorrow. For CIOs and those who select and implement IT infrastructure, these technologic advances create a myriad of opportunities.
One innovation area that is receiving lots of attention is public cloud—with many believing that it is the best thing since sliced bread. Yet, as I’ve discussed in previous articles, it has its limitations such as high profile cloud outages, latency issues, high costs, financial risks, and questions regarding control, security, and compliance. So is public cloud still delivering all the IT advantages it had promised?
Many businesses have already started to move beyond the public cloud into a new era of hybrid IT that combines public cloud, private cloud, and traditional IT. Is it possible that innovations such as hyperconvergence, containers, composable infrastructure, and Azure Stack (as a private cloud) are already pushing us to think about how to manage infrastructure differently?
Accelerating deployments beyond public cloud
In my last article, I discussed the benefits of hybrid IT. As I travel the world and talk with customers, I am seeing successful companies move toward a hybrid IT model because it lets them deploy applications into the IT environment that best suits a variety of specific workloads.
It’s clear that we haven’t arrived at a hybrid IT utopia yet, but the pieces are quickly falling into place. To achieve the goal of a simple hybrid IT infrastructure, the following advancements are needed:
Software-defined management to tie it all together
Industry-leading companies, like HPE, are currently working on software that will allow businesses to build and manage applications in one environment and seamlessly move them to another. A comprehensive, hybrid IT software platform will allow organizations to compose, operate, and optimize workloads across on-premises, private, hosted, and public clouds.
Build on existing infrastructure and technology
As hybrid IT takes hold, businesses aren’t rushing to throw away their current infrastructure. Instead, they are building on it as they transition to new technologies. This transition is imperative as tried-and-true solutions such as VMware, OpenStack, Azure Stack need to work seamlessly with legacy on-premises platforms, container-based platforms, and private-cloud stacks.
Cloud-like, software-defined platforms on premises
New offerings such as hyperconverged and composable infrastructure offer cloud-like capabilities on-premises – solutions that can provide businesses more control, greater performance, less cost, and less risk than many public cloud options. A combination of on-premises, software-defined options within a private cloud seamlessly combined with public cloud lets businesses build the best possible infrastructure for their individual workloads.
Marketplace for hybrid IT
Another must-have for a simple hybrid IT environment is an easy to use marketplace so that businesses, IT operators, and developers can quickly access the tools they need. For example, Cloud 28+ is the world’s largest independent community that links customers with a global, open partner ecosystem of cloud service providers. Today, Cloud28+ features more than 500 HPE partners (including service providers, ISVs, value-added resellers, distributors, and systems integrators.)
The importance of analytics
An analytics-powered dashboard is needed to provide visibility on costs and utilization across private and public infrastructure — with insights down to the level of individual projects. This type of analytics will help businesses keep costs under control and ensure service levels are being met. For example, Cloud Cruiser lets businesses measure, analyze, optimize, and control their usage and spend in private, public, and hybrid cloud environments.
Room to grow
As technology continues its rapid race forward, a simple, hybrid IT infrastructure must be able to easily evolve. For example, APIs are currently simplifying data integration, and microservices that work together seamlessly are today’s ideal. As tomorrow brings memory-driven computing and edge servers that support IoT, a hybrid IT infrastructure will need to evolve to ensure simplicity and choice.
Putting it all together
Will the right mix of hybrid IT – public cloud, private cloud, and traditional IT – soon replace public cloud as the best thing since sliced bread? From what I’ve seen, my answer is YES.
HPE has assembled an array of resources to help you build and manage your hybrid IT world. You can learn more about composable infrastructure by reading the e-book, HPE Synergy for Dummies, or learn about HPE’s approach to hybrid cloud by checking 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.