Cloud computing has significantly impacted the world by enabling data access from anytime anywhere in a secured environment. 

However, there have been concerns of companies over lack of control and privacy due to easy access of public cloud servers.

Hence, the world is moving towards hybrid cloud hosting technology to ensure data security to an optimum level. 

In this article, you will get to know about Hybrid cloud architecture and the ways it is benefiting the Technology world. Following are the key takeaways of this article:

5 Key Takeaways From This Article:

1. Pros and Cons of Public and Private Clouds.
2. What is Hybrid Cloud Technology?
3. Advantages of Hybrid Cloud Hosting
4. Scenarios Where Implementing Hybrid Cloud Architecture is Perfect.
5. Which industries and companies are using Hybrid Cloud.

First you need to understand what are the pros and cons of Public and Private cloud hosting in  order to better understand the need of hybrid cloud server hosting.

Public Cloud Server Hosting :

If you are using services of Azure or AWS then you are actually using public cloud services. It is like you are renting a partition of distributed data center infrastructure. Public cloud works on principles of infrastructure as a service (IAAS). They enable systems to scale and execute an automated infrastructure. Hence, the price of an on premise data center is hard to compete..

Benefits of Public Cloud:

• 1.Reliability: 

They are very reliable as services come  from distributed data centers.

• 2.Scalability: 

They are mostly unlimited because of on demand cloud services and hence scalable to a great extent.

• 3.Lower Capital expenditure: 

Companies don’t need to buy their own data center equipment which lowers the equipment cost at least. 

Drawbacks of Public Cloud:

• Higher Operational expense:

As you do more scaling the cost per hour charges may increase.

• Minimal Control Over Data Security:

As data centers are distributed so you don’t know from which geographical locations and restrictions, data is being operated.

• Private Cloud Server Hosting

A dedicated cloud server infrastructure for a business is meant to be a private cloud. You may manage it yourself or take third party service. Also it may be hosted in your data center or off premises. 

Advantages of Private Cloud:

• Lower TCO: 

Private cloud offers lower OpEx over time.

• Data Security:

All your applications are only accessible by your business and are present behind your firewall which increases data security level. 

• Flexibility:

Also you are flexible to move non sensitive data to public cloud, incase demand rises on private cloud.

• Customization:

Private cloud also enables you to customize your server setting according to the organizational preferences.

Drawbacks of Private Cloud:

• Responsibility: 

There is much greater responsibility for operational maintenance of data center, hardware, software and IT hardware, security and compliance.

• High Cost:

Private cloud is considered as an expensive option due to the initial fees as well as repay costs of the equipment.

What Is Hybrid Cloud?

It is actually a mixed storage, computing and services environment. Hybrid cloud is built by combining  private and public cloud services along with in- premises infrastructure like Microsoft Azure or Amazon web services (AWS). 

To be more precise, it can be said that hybrid cloud infrastructure is a blend of on premises computing, private and public clouds in data centers. 

6 Key Benefits of Hybrid Cloud Model:

• Agility:

A digital business needs to change and adapt direction  Agility is one of the core benefits of hybrid cloud technology. A business may need a combination of on-premises resources, private and public clouds to gain agility. 

• Immense Control:

Hybrid Cloud hosting gives you immense control over data security. Instead of relying on third parties for IT infrastructure, companies prefer to tackle the private end of hybrid model and customize according to needs. Also a portion of the network remains private thus internal IT staff can retain control of operations and deal with day to day servers management.

Considering responsiveness of public cloud servers, many companies exert direct control over IT assets

• Speed:

Hybrid cloud environments provide edge for further boosting speed and locating services closer to end users.. The private portion of hybrid cloud may be designed for helping users to work faster and productively. 

Public Clouds need to spread resources for customers whereas private clouds reduce resources demands. 

• Data Security:

Cloud hosting companies do their best to secure customers data. Public clouds are considered more vulnerable to cyber attacks as compared to private clouds. 

Hybrid cloud hosting activates services of secure private cloud with the services of a public cloud. Since data is still transferred from private to public cloud for analytics and other processes, encryption techniques are implemented for ensuring data security to every possible means. IT staff manage data security in hybrid models and build strict protocols to save critical assets of the organization.

• Scalability:

In private cloud networks, capital investment is one of the challenges whereas in public cloud services, they can invest as they grow. 

In a hybrid  approach, companies can have the best of both private and public clouds. Entrepieses may increase operational capacity by leveraging expansive power of cloud computing.  Moreover, hybrid clouds ease companies to compete with industry giants faster than ever. 

• Cost:

Hybrid cloud implementation is considered costly but in the long run it lower IT costs. The scalability factor of hybrid models makes it an alternative to pure private cloud. Hybrid cloud server hosting cause cost saving as critical data is retained in private cloud  

Hybrid Cloud is more suited in certain scenarios which are given below:

5 Scenarios Where Hybrid Cloud is Perfect:

• Workloads Categorization:

Hybrid cloud is useful for separating critical workloads from less critical ones. You may store sensitive financial information on private cloud whereas for least sensitive data you may use public cloud.

• Variable Workloads: 

you may use public clouds for storing frequent changing workloads whereas less frequent or sensitive ones can be stored on a private cloud server. 

• Data Migration Gradually:

You may check by placing some of the data on a small scale private cloud server and see what’s working for the business website and then accordingly you may expand your presence on either of the cloud server or a mixture of both. 

• Big Data Processing:

You may run big data analytics with scalable public clouds and at the same time use a private one to ensure data security and keeping sensitive data behind a firewall as big data is not used regularly.

• Futurist Flexibility:

You can never predict accurately about your future server needs despite fulfilling data security needs today.. Hybrid cloud technology enables you to meet data management requirements for private, public cloud and on premises resources. 

Temporary Data Processing needs:

Hybrid cloud hosting enables you to allocate public cloud resources for short term projects at minimal cost because if you need your own data center and IT infrastructure, then you need to invest as you need for smaller time. 

Where Industries are using Hybrid Cloud Architecture?

Following are the industries where hybrid cloud hosting is being used:

1. Sale Enablement and Proof of Concept (PoC)
2. Philanthropy: Hosting and Provisioning of Virtual Resources
3. Real Estate Services: Development and Testing
4. Banking and Finance: Reducing Costs by Moving Datacenter
5. Network Security: Virtual Training Labs
6. Gaming: Development and Testing
7. Higher Education: Database as a Service (DBaaS) for Project Tracking

Which Companies are using Hybrid Cloud Model?

Following are the giant companies where hybrid cloud hosting is being used:

1. Hitachi
2. CSC
3. Cisco
4. NTT
5. CenturyLink
6. Fujitsu
7. Verizon Enterprise
8. IBM
9. EMC
10. Hewlett Packard Enterprise
11. Rackspace
12. Google
13. VMware
14. Amazon
15. Microsoft

Wrapping up: 

Hybrid Cloud computing is widely being used in giant technology companies in fact in numerous industries as listed above. Hybrid cloud architecture provides enormous benefits to enterprises by running processes smoothly and keeping data safe from any vulnerabilities. Share your views about this article in the comment section.