What is a hybrid cloud?
Let’s understand the concept of a hybrid cloud.
A hybrid cloud is a cloud computing environment that combines public and private clouds.
A hybrid cloud combines public and private clouds, catering to the requirements of each company with an optimized cloud environment. Public cloud services are usually provided through the Internet, using a server hosted by the cloud service provider in its own data center. It offers companies relatively cost-effective and easy-to-access IT infrastructure. Meanwhile, a private cloud is owned and controlled by a company and operated from its internal data center. Private cloud solutions have better security and control over business data and applications but require massive upfront investment costs and maintenance costs. Combining the advantages of the two cloud types, a hybrid cloud allows companies to use critical data and applications that require security in a private cloud, while using applications with comparatively low loads in a public cloud. This allows companies to cut down on expenses without jeopardizing security and control of their data.
Digital transformation, episode 10: The cloud, the core technology of DT (2) Insight report describes how cloud services work, using the analogy of a house.
"If you want someone to select and manage a great employee who would never cross a line in a cloud environment while perfectly keeping your privacy, private clouds will be the best option for you. On the other hand, if you are willing to give up on privacy and noise between floors for lower maintenance fees and pleasant life, public clouds will be the best fit for you. If you need both, you should adopt a hybrid model that is a combination of the two."
[Gartner's definition] Hybrid cloud computing refers to policy-based and coordinated service provisioning, use, and management across a mixture of internal and external cloud services.
What are the advantages of a hybrid cloud?
Better security
Companies can arrange crucial data or applications in the private cloud and simple works in the public cloud. Keeping crucial data and applications in the private cloud can help reduce potential security risks of the public cloud. In addition, hybrid cloud solutions can connect to the internal infrastructure of the company that guarantees security and compliance.
High flexibility and scalability
Companies can immediately scale up or down resources to meet their business needs. They can purchase as many resources as they need from the cloud provider if extra resources are required for a certain period of time, and then they can return to the previous resource usage when they no longer need the extra resources. It is also easy to scale up cloud resources for new services or combine cloud solutions to improve business processes, such as data analysis.
Cost efficiency
Companies can save on costs by allocating resources as needed. In addition, companies can reduce the costs for hardware purchase and maintenance by combining private and public clouds.
What should we consider when introducing a hybrid cloud?
Complicated operation and management
Operating both public and private clouds may increase the complexity of management. It is necessary to secure personnel with the required skills and expertise in different cloud environments, and the more complicated the environment, the more challenging the operation and management can be.
Cost and security
Upfront and maintenance costs may be bigger, and there can be security issues when migrating data between different clouds. Purchasing additional services in public cloud environments can result in extra costs. However, purchasing and building additional security solutions is inevitable if companies wish to prevent security threats that can occur in public cloud environments.
Performance and compatibility issues
Transferring data between different clouds can cause performance issues, such as latency between data streams or applications. Moreover, compatibility issues may cause problems in data transfer and application operation. Thus, extra technical support is required to address these issues.
Samsung SDS provides customized hybrid cloud services for companies, through Samsung Cloud Platform (SCP), ensuring high security and availability.
