Issue link: https://cp.revolio.com/i/549869
www.datacenterjournal.com 8 | THE DATA CENTER JOURNAL the cloudy definition of hyBrid it a lmost any kind of hybrid will involve a spectrum of characteristics that may be more prominent in one case and less so in another—it's no different with IT. According to Chris Patterson, VP of Product Management for NaviSite, "In the cloud industry, the term hybrid is oen used to discuss the mix or use of both internal and exter- nal cloud solutions (public and private cloud); the term hybrid is more dynamic, however. It can also describe the use of a mixed architecture, including the cloud as well as dedicated virtual and traditional single-tenant hosted infrastructures." at mixture is what gives companies a range of options that they can customize for their particular requirements—it need not be an all-traditional or all-cloud proposition. Bob Lamendola, CIO for MindShi Technologies, defines hybrid IT as "a con- cept that enables the integration of various data-center-centric and cloud-based technologies into a unified operating envi- ronment to provide flexible, efficient and agile technology enablement. It combines the reliability and security of modern data center technologies with the flexibility of public-cloud architectures and the control offered by private-cloud architectures, of- fering a best-of-breed architecture to meet any business-operations requirement." Colocation customers are already familiar with IT outsourcing: they may maintain a fair degree of control over their server hardware, but they recognize the benefits to their business of letting someone else handle the facilities side. In a sense, then, hybrid IT is nothing new: it's just an extension of the available options to supplement company-owned hardware with remote services. "Not everything in an organization can move to the cloud immediately. Indeed, some application infrastructure cannot move to the cloud as a result of platform and/or security constraints," said Patterson. But "hybrid IT can marry the physical and the virtual for added control and optimal performance." from a hyBrid colocation perspective Colocation does away with the need for customers to build their own data centers—a costly and time-consuming process that also imposes rather firm restrictions on growth (apart from expan- sion of an existing facility or additional new construction). By colocating, these customers can instead rent the space and other physical resources they need and, within the bounds of their contracts, scale those resources as the business demands. It also enables them to focus on their core business rather than the peripherals of data center operation. By adding cloud re- sources, colocation providers offer another dimension of flexibility. "Particularly in instances of a hybrid IT approach, colocation can help central- ize IT from different sources and provide seamless integration," said Patterson. "is approach allows organizations to benefit from all of the advantages of hosting offsite, while maintaining control and access to critical applications. Coloca- tion can keep IT investments relative to business needs by enabling companies to scale IT resources based on business growth." He adds that colocation itself need not be all or nothing: companies can turn to colocation providers to supplement their own facilities when growth runs up against limits on available space, power or cooling resources. It can also serve as a backup facility for implementing an offsite disaster-recovery plan. In a tough business climate where fast adjustments to market demands are critical to staying alive, hybrid IT gives co- location customers access to cloud-based services that can reduce time to market for a new business model or offering. La- mendola notes, "e benefits of hybrid IT center on improving agility and efficiency in delivering services. Flexible colocation capabilities play the most essential part in enabling these benefits. Colocation and cloud providers that adapt a model that fosters the ability for customers to build a hybrid IT infrastructure will enable these customers to drive more value-added services to their business faster and at a lower cost." e use of a hybrid IT model in the context of colocation effectively expands the pool of available expertise that companies can tap. On the one hand, the colocation provider offers on-site data center services, but on the other hand, by working to specifically support the cloud, it offers access to remote IT capabilities. Almost any kind of hybrid will involve a spectrum of characteristics that may be more prominent in one case and less so in another—it's no different with IT. According to Chris Patterson, VP of Product Management for NaviSite, "In the cloud industry, the term hybrid is often used to discuss the mix or use of both internal and external cloud solutions (public and private cloud); the term hybrid is more dynamic, however. It can also describe the use of a mixed architecture, including the cloud as well as dedicated virtual and traditional single-tenant hosted infrastructures."