Technology Requirements for Operating Hybrid Cloud

Hybrid cloud is increasingly becoming very popular among organizations, and if you look at the latest statistics, it comes hybrid comes at a strong 40% third, compared to the 50% and 45% of public and private cloud respectively. This means that it has started gaining momentum, and in future, hybrid cloud will be a force to reckon with. The best thing about hybrid cloud is the fact that it brings the best of both worlds. As an organization, you get to pick the highs from both factions. For example, you gain from the speed, variety of applications, agility, flexibility and low costs that come with subscribing to a public cloud and you also gain from the security, ease of customization and control that come with a private network.

Hybrid clouds are for organizations that are hungry for better performance, which is in total contrast to sticking a comfort zone. It shows a desire to get the best from the cloud platform, but you need a proper assessment before enrolling into hybrid cloud in order to determine the organizational areas which stand to benefit from hybrid cloud. As a matter of fact, the decision to enroll into hybrid cloud should be propelled by the desire to fill certain gaps which have not been filled by either private or public cloud. For example, if you do not have variety of applications for use in the organization on your private network, it makes a lot of sense to subscribe to a public cloud where you will get all the variety you desire.

What do you need in order to operate a hybrid cloud?

In order to operate a hybrid cloud, you will need a data center facility in your organization. This is where all the hardware and software components essential in running the private cloud will be located. The data center environment has to allow proper functioning of the hardware components of cloud, such the servers and processors. This means that it should be cool enough to prevent overheating of the processors, which may be catastrophic and may destroy the entire system. Thus, coolers and multiple fans will have to be installed at the data center facility in order to provide an optimum environment for the hardware components to function.

Strong servers are an essential ingredient of cloud. The amount of traffic that your network is able to handle is fully dependent on the strength of your servers. Strong servers have the capacity to handle huge traffic without any hitches. They also have a swift response time, meaning that users will be able to send and receive files instantaneously. This also means that they will have a high upload and download speed, which is very important especially for an organization that is fully depended on cloud computing.

Virtual infrastructure managers – they play a very vital role when it comes to virtualization. Virtualization is very important, because it is responsible for providing users with space on a virtual platform. Cloud is about providing users with virtual space, as in the case of email service providers who normally provide users with up to 15GB of virtual space. This is exactly the same with organizational cloud computing, and the virtual infrastructure managers (VIM) provide users with a certain amount of virtual space. Thus, on hybrid cloud platform, users will have a certain amount of virtual space depending on their subscription package. However, they can increase the amount of space on the private cloud according to their needs.

Multicore processors – this is yet another very important component of a hybrid cloud system. You will need to invest in specific processors which are specifically manufactured to handle cloud computing requirements. The keyword here is multicore, which means that the CPU has multiple processors, which thus give it more processing power. Thus, such a CPU is able to handle huge traffic, multiple users, advanced programs and applications without any hitches. Moreover, it is able to transfer data at explosive speeds, consequently earning it the status of a server. In simple terms, these multicore processors are commonly known as servers. The number of processors is solely depended on the user’s needs; thus, if you run a complex hybrid system, you will need more processors. The number of processors is also dependent on your organization`s size. Big organizations automatically have more employees subscribed to the cloud servers, which trickles down to more traffic. Thus, the bigger the organization, the higher the amount of servers required to run the hybrid cloud system.

On the software side of the equation, you will definitely need strong security firewalls, so that your hybrid cloud system is not prone to compromise by malicious people such as hackers who operate through viruses and malware. In most cases, having a private cloud which has stronger firewalls than the public cloud always makes more sense. As a matter of fact, the need to have a hybrid cloud is often necessitated by the desire to have a network whose security cannot be compromised, so that it can be used for sending confidential files and storing critical data. This is mainly because security lapses have been known to occur in some public clouds.

Your hybrid cloud system will definitely need period upgrades in order to keep up with the changing environment. Every organization grows with time, and hence its cloud needs today may be totally different from its cloud needs tomorrow. This therefore means that with time, you will need to increase the servers, in terms of both size and capacity, so that they can comfortably meet your growing needs. The best thing about a hybrid network is the fact that you can import some of the software and applications provided on the public cloud, and use them in your private cloud.