36 Shades of Hybrid IT

April 29, 2017 / G C Network / Comments Off

Twitter Feed

Cloud Computing Wargames !!

By G C Network | January 22, 2009

Wikipedia “A wargame is a game that represents a military operation.” “Military simulations, also known informally as war games, are simulations in which theories of warfare can be tested and refined…

President Barack Obama. A New Day for Cloud Computing !!

By G C Network | January 20, 2009

Yesterday, President Barack Obama’s transition team released a new video touting the benefits of cloud computing and government transparency. “Cloud computing, which allows consumers and institutions to access their files…

How the Government Tweets – An Update

By G C Network | January 19, 2009

Thanks goes out to Twitter_Tips for a link to Government agencies on Twitter: a few comprehensive sites posted by lindyjb which includes the following: The Government’s A-Twitter: A Comprehensive List…

How the Government Tweets

By G C Network | January 16, 2009

Last September in “Ambient Awareness. The cloud killer app? ” and ” The Cloud Wins in Minneapolis at the RNC! “, I wrote about how the cloud infrastructure and microblogging…

Bob Gourley on Cloud Computing and NetCentric Operations

By G C Network | January 15, 2009

Bob Gourley, Crucial Point CTO and former DIA CTO, just posted Cloud Computing and Net Centric Operations on his website CTOvision . In it he outlines how the OSD and ASD NII…

Obama Administration CTO Top Suggestions

By G C Network | January 14, 2009

Check out the top vote getters for suggestions to the nations’s first CTO! #5 with 5,835 votes Open Government Data (APIs, XML, RSS) We can unleash a wave of civic…

2009 Cloud Computing Events

By G C Network | January 13, 2009

2009 is off to a fast start with the following events on the horizon! February 2009 – “Bi-Annual On-line Government Cloud Computing Survey”, On-line February 3, 2009 – Open Group…

World Summit of Cloud Computing Virtual Site

By G C Network | January 12, 2009

The Israeli Association of Grid Technologies (IGT) has made its recent IGT 2008 World Summit of Cloud Computing available on-line. Speakers include: Day 1: Stevie Clifton, Co-Founder & CTO Animoto…

1105 Government Information Group does Cloud Computing

By G C Network | January 9, 2009

Mark your calendars for April 29, 2009 ! 1105 Government Information Group has announced that there will be a Cloud Computing Conference at the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington, DC.…

Sun Acquires Q-Layer

By G C Network | January 8, 2009

Yesterday, Sun Microsystems announced their acquisition of Q-layer. This Belgium based company automates the deployment and management of both public and private clouds. In the press release, David Douglas, SUN’s…

« Previous
1
…
50
51
52
53
54
…
73
Next »

Photo credit: Shutterstock

Everyone has heard of the 50 Shades of Grey. But do you know the “36 Shades of Hybrid IT”? These shades are a new way of describing the 36 point solutions across a hybrid IT environment. Enterprises looking to transform the way information technology is leveraged should evaluate their options by analyzing a transition across three specific high-level domains and their relevant sub-domains, namely:

IT Implementation Model
- Traditional
- Managed Service Provider
- Cloud Service Provider
Technology Service Model
- Infrastructure-as-a-Service
- Platform-as-a-Service
- Software-as-a-Service
Deployment Model
- Private
- Hybrid
- Community
- Public

Combinatorically (3 IT Models x 3 Service Models x 4 Deployment Models = 36 options) these components are used to identify the “36 Shades of Hybrid IT”. These domains and sub-domain outline a structured decision process that aims to place the right workload into the most appropriate IT environment. It is also important to note that this is not a static decision. As business goals, technology options and economic models changes, the relative value of these combinations to your organization may change as well. Another critical truth is that the single point solutions identified by this model are rarely sufficient to meet all enterprise needs so a mix of two, three or as many as 10 variations of these specific point solutions may be required. This is why hybrid IT and cloud service brokerage are such important skillsets to the modern information technology team.

The IT Implementation domain addresses, at a high level, the three implementation strategy options most companies look at when digital transformation is the goal:

Continue a status quo strategy that uses a traditional enterprise data center to address requirements;
Select and contract with a managed service provider (MSP) by running a traditional acquisition that dictates requirements and operational processes through the RFP/bid process; or
Satisfy requirements through the use of standard offerings from one (or more) cloud service provider (CSP).

The primary drivers in an implementation model selection is enforcement of enterprise IT governance processes (status quo and MSP option) or acceptance of CSP IT governance processes (CSP option). These choices are also strongly influenced by capital investment plans and long-term business model changes. Decisions within the Technology Service Model domain should typically reflect staff skillsets and training targets. IaaS reflects the broadest range of skillsets and training requirements. It also delivers the greatest amount of flexibility and choice. The other end of the spectrum is represented by SaaS which demands the minimum level of technical staff but may also act as guardrails to your business processes and models. Overall control of data security and technology choices are reflected by deployment model preferences. In the Private model, the organization retains absolute control over all aspects of the information technology platform. Choosing this option, however, would also lead to the highest levels of capital and staffing investments. Public sits at the other extreme, requiring strategic alignment with the cloud service provider in exchange for lower capital and staffing investment requirements. Hybrid and Community deployment options lie between these extremes and usually offer unique operational and economic capabilities.

Your digital transformation team should discuss and debate what these “36 Shades of Hybrid IT” mean for your company’s future. The team should also avoid leaving these important decisions to opinions and guesswork. Comparisons and options should be considered using real data. This is where tools like IBM Cloud Brokerage can be important to your digital transformation efforts. Organizations should carefully consider which business applications should be migrated to which “shade”. While some apps run best on traditional, physical servers, others are cloud-ready, but need the security of private clouds or enterprise-grade public clouds. There are even other applications where lower-priced commodity clouds will prove to be a viable and money-saving option. In addition to migration plans and cloud choices, the best hybrid IT strategies also take into account provisioning of the necessary migration skills and technology management capabilities. After deciding the target environment for each of your business processes, the team may still need to do some application re-architecting.

If you and your team are dealing with Digital Transformation, a cloud brokerage platform can help by using real data to profile your workloads. It will also enable data-driven decisions on best-fit architectures, technology choices and deployment models. In addition, these platforms aid organizations in designing production solutions and in estimating costs before transformation even begins.