Tag Archives: hybrid cloud

How To Harness the Hybrid Cloud

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Hybrid cloud models have become even more prominent than ever before, with many companies demonstrating a need for both private and public clouds. As with any other IT solution, making a hybrid cloud viable is a question of integration. In this case, seamlessly transitioning between the two cloud models is the primary challenge. However, existing IT systems must often operate in conjunction with the cloud.

There’s no “one size fits all” solution for any business, but many cloud providers are starting to take the hint and adapt their services accordingly. Azure Stack is one of the newest hybrid offerings, intended to bridge the gap between public and private cloud services. Services such as these lower the barrier to entry for hybrid cloud adoption and may be what is necessary for this model to truly become mainstream.

The advantage of the hybrid cloud is flexibility. With private clouds hosting core applications and sensitive functions, companies can then use scalable public clouds as widely as their needs allow. This is the most efficient solution once implemented, but there’s a high level of logistics necessary to make it work. The data centers that provide the infrastructure necessary for the hybrid cloud will need to be customized in order to function properly. Specialized personnel will need to be on-site to test and reassess the service, and cybersecurity is, as always, paramount.

Service is another issue that needs to be addressed when working with a hybrid cloud. With the massive volume of data that needs to be transitioned between the two clouds, a quick response time from providers and high connectivity are necessary for success. Latency problems continue to be one of the largest issues when it comes to hybrid cloud adoption. Going forward, businesses will need to decide whether they can host this infrastructure on-site or outsource to IaaS organizations. It’s an expensive proposition, and one that many companies lack the funds to handle.

Networking between facilities is another challenge that Microsoft has tackled in the interest of improving their services. ExpressRoute is an interlink touted as a low-latency connection, though it is not available to all facilities. And, as a trunk connection, ExpressRoute does experience some latency issues with the last bit of distance that data must travel. Still, it’s the start of a future of trans-facility marketing. In the near future, as more of these connections become available, the hybrid cloud will become more of a practical option. Multiple connections to each facility and more robust data centers are the key to better hybrid offerings.

The idea of a hybrid cloud continues to become more popular as the need for scalability becomes more pronounced for IT departments. Companies such as Microsoft are now scrambling to meet these new needs, but delivering the necessary level of connectivity has proved difficult. Still, it is not impossible to strive for trans-facility networks that allow for better data delivery and provide organizations with the infrastructure that they need.

Improving Research with the Cloud

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When it comes to fighting disease, it can often feel like an uphill battle that consumes funds and lives without end. While treatment options have improved greatly for diseases such as Parkinson’s, cancer, and heart disease, research methods associated with them have not and have remained largely stagnant over the past few decades.

Now, cloud technology may provide doctors and researchers with better, more consistent controls when it comes to collecting, measuring, and analyzing data. I’ve already discussed the ways that the cloud can assist with medical maintenance and improve patient outcomes through Big Data, but when applied to research, it offers consistency and an easy exchange of ideas.

Cloud computing is a prime example of disruptive technology, and nowhere else is it becoming more apparent than in the medical field, where integration with wearable devices offers access to a wealth of biometric readings in conjunction with easily-shared patient data, further blurring the line between treatment and research. Before this, data was often collected solely by doctors during patient visits, and inconsistent reporting measures majorly hampered the reach and quality of the collected data. The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research has tried to leave these practices behind and embrace cloud computing in an attempt to better understand and eventually cure the disease. With Big Data, the Foundation is able to get a better picture of the progression of the disease through patient wearables. Smartwatches allow researchers to monitor a number of biometric readings, including tremor symptoms and sleep patterns.

The Foundation’s CEO, Todd Sherer, Ph.D., remarked on the lack of progress in measuring Parkinson’s, stating that it measurement methods are “largely the same” as they were in 1817, when the disease was first described. In addition to the wearable devices that the Foundation uses, patients are capable of entering notes about their daily symptoms on a web portal as a more consistent substitute for reporting directly for a doctor. The information is then collected on Cloudera CDH, a secure data platform.

Parkinson’s isn’t the only disease that is being tracked through cloud services. The American Heart Association recently partnered with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to create a cloud system to empower scientists and researchers from all over the world to share data with each other. Previous data that has remained unseen for years is now being distributed on the cloud, to the mutual benefit of all organizations involved. While this system requires the people involved to sacrifice some level of self-benefit to provide progress toward a major problem facing humanity, enough researchers have stepped up to make the AHA’s new project a major step forward.

However, the cloud does still offer solutions for researchers interested in preserving their intellectual property. Hybrid clouds, another platform that I’ve discussed before, enable individuals to share data on a public cloud while storing their own progress on a private cloud. Because of this, others are still able to benefit from their research while they pioneer their own findings.

Not only is the cloud changing the way that data is collected and analyzed, it changes the type of data that can be measured. Compilation of genetic data is much more manageable than before thanks to better ways to sift through data, enabling researchers to better compare genomes and find subtle genetic trends that would otherwise take countless hours to detect.

Collecting a large amount of data to leverage through the cloud is part of the ongoing efforts of many research organizations; part of the ambitious Cancer Moonshot initiative is establishing a “data ecosystem” aimed at sharing and analyzing patient data on a national level.

It is exciting to see the cloud being used for medical goals in addition to business goals. From consumer trends to genetic trends, expect to see measurement metrics and data analysis improve substantially over the next few years as this disruptive technology rapidly becomes the norm in research.

Adopting the Cloud in 2017

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With a new year comes resolutions—personal objectives for an individual to complete. Too often, the grand dream of exercising more often does not come to fruition, leading to empty gyms and admissions that the whole effort was “good enough.”

On a greater level, the new year gives businesses a chance to rethink how they run themselves—particularly when it comes to things like cloud systems.

It has been mentioned a few times on this very blog that cloud systems are revolutionizing enterprise data management. The cloud computing industry grew by 25% in 2016 and is expected to continue that sort of progress in the near future. Perhaps more telling is the rapid growth of infrastructure as a service (IaaS) by 53%, indicating a rise in interest in public cloud services.

So, in 2017, let’s have a look at some of the more viable cloud strategies that enterprises can adopt as their own new year’s resolutions. Hey, at least it’s not a gym membership.

The Public Option

Of course, the truth of the matter is that businesses that take advantage of cloud opportunities will fare better in the future that those that don’t. This has caused some degree of controversy, especially among small businesses that may not have the time or resources to kickstart their own cloud network.

That said, even these businesses can harness cloud services through the ever-popular public cloud. If they lack a CIO, which they likely will, they may not be able to enjoy the full benefits of whatever platform they decide to use, but still stand to benefit in the form of better storage, backup, and information sharing.

The Hybrid Option

Everything about the cloud is set to herald in a new era of IT-driven success in business. As a professional in the field, I’m ecstatic to see cloud computing given so much attention in the technology sector.

Despite my earlier mentions of public cloud systems, I believe that a hybrid cloud approach is best for businesses capable of running the private components on their own. Of course, infrastructure is necessary for a private cloud to work, but the speed of having on-site data access as opposed to relying on public Internet is very often an advantage.

Beyond that, one of the great aspects of the hybrid cloud is the ability to “pay as you go” for public services, giving businesses flexibility when more computing power than usual is needed.

Rise of Bimodal IT

Now, more than ever, this is the time to adopt cloud services, particularly for businesses that possess a robust IT department. A 2014 CIO Agenda report by Gartner details the ways that a hybrid cloud model can bring further opportunities to enterprises through what it calls “bimodal IT.”

Bimodal IT, referred to as one of the large components of digital transformation, is the practice of managing two work styles, one rooted in established practices and another focused on exploratory tactics. The hybrid cloud enables this progressive practice by allowing easy “overlay” across existing platforms, whereas companies operating primarily from physical servers may face problems with their hardware becoming outdated.

This is perhaps the biggest challenge that big businesses will face in the coming years. While small businesses may not have an existing IT support structure, they can also adopt cloud services without worrying too much about how it interacts with existing infrastructure.

Here’s to a New Year!

As we continue to move into 2017, it is important to remember that the IT industry is constantly in a state of flux. Businesses can’t anticipate every development that will be made, but adopting a cloud-based infrastructure gives them unprecedented flexibility to adapt to computing demand.

Server Pies: A Brief Guide to Cloud Computing Systems

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So you’ve decided to take your business to the cloud? Congrats! This is going to allow you to accelerate and increase the scope of your business initiatives to unprecedented levels. Now, all you have to do is figure out what sort of configuration you want your cloud computing set-up to be. Unfortunately, the jargon that gets batted around the cloud computing world can be a little intimidating to say the least. In this post, I look at four types of cloud computing systems in what I can only hope is straightforward, easily understood, and appetite-whetting language.

Private Cloud

In Brief: You own the server pie. You control who gets to take slices from it. A single-tenant environment better geared to mid to large-sized companies that need to meet compliance and security requirements.

Payment: It’s more expensive to buy a pie than it is to pay for a sliver of one. You are paying for dedicated servers and so you are looking at a contract model of payment to keep that infrastructure up-and-running.

Performance: It’s your server pie, so you get to decide what ingredients go into it. You have the ability to control everything from hardware performance to storage performance. If needed, a dedicate server can be integrated into the system for hybrid cloud capabilities. More on that below.

Compliance: You control your pie and whoever gets a share of it. Unlike a public cloud where your data is hosted in the same data center, private cloud solutions are hosted with their own data storage, hardware, and network. For that reason, high security and compliance requirements like Sarbanes Oxley, PCI and HIPPA can be much more easily met.

Public Cloud

In Brief: Someone else owns the the server pie e.g. Amazon EC2, Rackspace Cloud, or Microsoft Azure. You pay them to take a slice of their pie. A multi-tenant environment often used for smaller development systems or web servers that are not as focused on compliance.

Payment: Many public clouds operate off of a pay-as-you-go model, which often translates into hourly rates for using specific resources. Contracts requiring ongoing use are seldom part of the equation.

Performance: You are taking a slice of someone else’s server pie, and so you don’t have any control over what ingredients go into that pie. The hardware on which your server will be hosted is decided for you.

Compliance: In a public cloud, you are taking a slice of pie that other individuals/companies/clients are taking slices of. Because you are sharing hardware, storage and more with these other entities, meeting compliance standards such as PCI or SOX is often not possible.

Public Cloud v. Private Cloud infographic

via thedatavault.com

Hybrid Cloud

In Brief: You are eating from two pies. A strategy in which two types of cloud or hosting infrastructure are used by a single company. Using different clouds for the same task.

Payment: Depends on the marriage of server pies. May end up being a combination of the pay-as-you-go and contract model. Increased flexibility means a better chance of getting the best price per performance.

Performance: Can be Public/Private to maximize power while also maximizing security, dedicated/non-dedicated for customized performance, colocation for redundancy for stability and redundancy needs.

Compliance: Depends on the marriage of server pies

Multi-Cloud

In Brief: Taking pieces from multiple pies in multiple locations. As cloud technology advances, certain clouds will emerge as being better at accomplishing different tasks e.g. sharing sensitive data or processing power. Using different clouds for different tasks. A hybrid cloud can use a multi-cloud.

Payment: Depends on the network of server pies. May end up being a combination of the pay-as-you-go and contract model. Increased flexibility means a better chance of getting the best price per performance.

Performance: Inherently is a diverse array of server pies, which means that you should be seeing better performance.

Compliance: Can be public or or private, depending on what sort of server pies you own and what sort of server pies you’ll need to access elsewhere. Depending on how your cloud network is configured, this can be arranged to easily meet compliance and security requirements.

In today’s world of cloud computing, we’re seeing a push to diversified cloud systems. Being able to navigate between the types of cloud systems out there will without a doubt be essential for many businesses to maintain competitiveness moving forward.

Scott Maurice