A hybrid cloud is a computing environment that combines a public cloud and a private cloud by allowing data and applications to be shared between them.
The private cloud is a set of servers dedicated to a single company. It transfers and backs up the data and software of various kinds. Private cloud servers are either installed directly within the company or outsourced. The public cloud is a network of servers that are shared by several customers of one supplier. It is necessarily off-site since public servers are hosted on the supplier’s data center.
The hybrid cloud is, therefore, the combination of these two clouds: private cloud and public cloud. More and more companies are migrating to hybrid cloud. A study by Nutanix reports that 91% of IT managers believe that the hybrid cloud is the ideal solution to get benefits from both private and public clouds.
Forrester Research, a firm specializing in market studies on the impact of technologies, provides an interesting definition of what the hybrid cloud is: an activity that consists of connecting one or more public clouds to a private cloud.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Hybrid Cloud
Advantages of Hybrid Cloud:
Why do so many companies choose to rely on a hybrid cloud solution? Because of the different advantages in terms of flexibility, high reactivity, control of internal costs, and data security.
- Flexibility: The hybrid cloud makes it possible to transfer data between a private cloud and a public cloud on-demand, according to the need.
- Thanks to a hybrid cloud, the company can exploit resources from the public cloud when its need exceeds the resources available from its private cloud.
- The hybrid cloud thus brings a lot of flexibility, elasticity, but also reactivity.
- Responsiveness: It allows you to have real-time access.
- The public cloud is inherently more advantageous in terms of cost. The majority of public cloud providers only charge for the resources used.
- Finally, securing data is an extreme point in the hybrid cloud.
Disadvantages of Hybrid Cloud:
- The hybrid cloud is intended for VSEs and individual SMEs whose IT budget is limited.
- The costs of setting up and maintaining a private cloud is too high. Small businesses cannot bear them. In this case, they only use a public cloud.
- Technical knowledge is needed to manage the Hybrid Cloud.
