Hybrid public-private cloud usage more widespread than you think
May 23, 2013
Grazed from NetworkWorld. Author: Brandon Butler.
Many times in discussions about cloud computing, the hybrid cloud – meaning a service that combines both off-site public cloud and on-premises private cloud computing resources – is thought of as being some nirvana state that will be the dominant architecture at some point in the future. Well, Forrester cloud expert James Staten has news for many IT shops: Hybrid cloud is already here, whether you know it or not.
Staten lays out the argument in one of his latest blog posts, but it boils down to the point that if enterprises are using some sort of public cloud resource – like an customer relationship management (CRM) app from Salesforce.com, or some on-demand virtual machines from Amazon Web Services – that more likely than not those applications are using information from some on-premises databases or applications hosted behind your company’s firewall. If there is some sort of transfer of data between your on-premises systems and that public cloud resource, then you’ve got a hybrid deployment. “If you are planning for hybrid down the road, I have a wakeup call for you,” Staten says. “Too late, you are already hybrid.”…
So what? Staten says this is a big deal because often IT shops aren’t aware of these hybrid connections. Many times public cloud resources have been setup by line of business workers, without consultation from the IT department. And when that happens it’s a recipe for things to go wrong. Staten’s advice: Do an inventory and figure out what public cloud resources are being used, and what, if any, connections those have with resources behind your firewall. Then, make sure the hybrid deployment doesn’t have any security, compliance or otherwise troubling issues that need to be addressed…
Read more from the source @ http://www.networkworld.com/news/2013/052313-hybrid-cloud-270093.html