In business today, companies are expected to properly store and utilize the consumer’s information. All this information is typically stored onto servers, either private or public. A private server is one only the company uses. On the other hand, public servers are used through a third party, and the company could be sharing servers with other companies.

Hybrid What Now?

The cost of building and maintaining on-site servers is high and can prevent businesses from truly thriving. With the introduction of cloud computing, new businesses can take advantage of going through another company to use their services within the cloud. This too, has it disadvantages, for the security of cloud services is lacking. Enter, hybrid cloud computer, a combination of private on-site services and cloud services. In this mesh of computing, companies can keep private information and data safe on their own private servers, and still take advantage of cloud services. Hybrid cloud computing services are supported by large companies such as Microsoft, Amazon, and Google. These established companies provide services that make the transitioning of data between servers seamless. Additionally, with cloud services, a company can take advantage of cloud IT services. Consequently, they make the transition from a previous computing solution to hybrid cloud computing, easy.

Advantages

The hybrid cloud model allows workloads and data to move between private and public clouds in a flexible way as demands, needs, and costs change, giving businesses greater flexibility and more options for data deployment and use. For a data storage user, the on-premises private cloud storage provides, among other benefits, the highest speed access. For data that is not frequently accessed, or needed with the absolute lowest levels of latency, it makes sense for the organization to move it to a location that is secure, but less expensive. The data is still readily available, and the public cloud provides a better platform for sharing the data with specific clients, users, or with the general public.

Disadvantages

Nevertheless, hybrid cloud computing is not the solution for every business. For example, the JMA supercomputer is a Hitachi-designed 847-teraflop system that helps the meteorologists determine whether a tsunami warning should be issued following an earthquake. It’s also used to predict earthquakes in the Tōkai region, where the tectonic movement is particularly well understood. As these predictions are intensely time-critical, attempting to offload this computational workload to the cloud is not feasible. Hybrid cloud computing has its own disadvantages. Allowing information to be transported across a network that can be subject to third-party interference or tapping is, to many organizations, an unnecessary and unacceptable security risk. Since data is being transferred, anything time-sensitive should not rely on the hybrid cloud system. Organizations operating on a tight IT budget might struggle to implement a hybrid cloud solution, as the upfront cost of the servers at the private end is substantial. Also, the needs of smaller businesses can probably be served adequately using a public cloud provider.

Overall, hybrid cloud computing allows a company to interact with multiple servers, without as hefty as a cost as all private servers. Do you think hybrid cloud computing is a viable solution for businesses? Let me know in the comments down below!