In the rapidly evolving world of cloud technology, hybrid clouds are currently enjoying the notoriety that comes along with being the hottest thing to hit the street since big data and mobility private clouds. According to a new report from MarketsandMarkets, the hybrid cloud market is expected to reach $79.54 billion by 2018.
Most people think of hybrid clouds as involving combination with public clouds to offer the benefits of multiple deployment models, which is true. As such, they allow IT organizations to use public cloud computing resources to meet temporary needs. Private clouds are typically confined to an enterprise’s data centers, while public clouds are offered by service providers. As a combination of these two models, a hybrid cloud enables IT organizations with private clouds to use resources from public clouds as a way to expand the capabilities of their IT infrastructures. Hybrid clouds are also notable for their freedom from vendor lock-in.
The standard hybrid cloud is joined by other variations, including hybrid cloud hosting, which leverages the best features of managed and cloud hosting into a single optimized IT environment. By using multiple platforms, users can achieve high performance along with the flexibility that is highly touted by cloud advocates. Hybrid hosting also allows users to maximize performance by employing the private connection between platforms to distribute workloads optimally across their environments.
Despite its alleged sagging status, private cloud represents significant financial investments and intrinsic security that will not be simply written off. According to a recent study commissioned by IDC, 69 percent of respondents reported their company’s preference for private cloud. However, additional results from that same survey reveal that respondents in the financial services industry (64 percent), healthcare industry (47 percent), manufacturing industry (40 percent) and retail industry (37 percent) have already adopted hybrid cloud solutions.