IT professionals are tasked with finding the best infrastructure option for their organization while making the most efficient use of their budgets. Public cloud services have become particularly popular, especially for businesses that do not have the resources to operate their own data centers. However, most companies require more customization and control than the public cloud can offer on its own. When evaluating different cloud options, the biggest challenge is making sure your infrastructure decisions align with the goals of the organization, and a “one-size-fits-all” approach is rarely the answer.
The most effective approach depends on the type of application or workload, and is often a combination of infrastructure services – ranging from public, private and “bare metal” cloud to colocation and managed hosting, as well as in-house IT resources.
Join the cloudy colo carpool
Unlike internal data centers or colocation environments, with a public cloud, enterprises have little to no insight into their servers, switches and storage environment. A hybrid approach allows IT leaders to maintain business agility without sacrificing security and control. Internap’s recent survey showed an increase in demand for “cloudy colo” features, or, colocation management with cloud-like monitoring and remote visibility into your colocation environment. This best-of-both-worlds scenario gives the IT department an opportunity to make the CIO and CFO happy at the same time.
While the public cloud may be the sexy new sports car – coveted for its horsepower and handling – sometimes a hybrid model can be the more practical approach, burning less gas and still getting you where you need to go.
To learn more about the benefits of hybrid architecture, read our eBook, Looking for More IT Efficiency? Take a Drive with a Hybrid. We discuss why organizations must look beyond the industry’s cloud hype and instead build flexible, centrally-managed architectures that take a workload-centric approach.
The eBook includes chapters on:
- Debunking the fuel economy myth
- Combining the handling of cloud with the safety of a hybrid
- Joining the “cloudy colo” carpool
- Driving toward flexibility
