Where hybrid cloud is headed next, and the role of Microsoft Azure

Hybrid cloud—environments that blend public and private cloud—are a central part of the modern IT landscape, particularly as organizations of all sizes work to incorporate legacy systems into future-looking digital strategies and while meeting regulatory requirements. Although well-established, hybrid cloud is often poorly understood by IT departments, CIOs and partners, and its long-term trajectory is unclear to many that work with the cloud. As Microsoft positions Azure to play in a hybrid cloud world, MSDW reached out to experts for their thoughts on where hybrid cloud is headed next.

Assessing the benefits of hybrid

When it comes to hybrid cloud, many organizations adopt a hybrid approach to keep data under their own control, while gaining the benefits of scalability in the cloud. Adam Mansfield, commercial advisory practice leader at UpperEdge explained:

Using a hybrid cloud, enterprises have the ability to put sensitive data in a highly secure and controlled private cloud environment while having the ability to also place other non-sensitive data in an often more scalable, reliable and cost-effective public cloud environment, like Microsoft Azure, AWS, or Google Cloud Platform (GCP).

According to Dr. Taras Filatov, CEO and founder of blockchain-provider Dappros, the proportion of cloud components relative to on-prem continues to grow with time. To improve hybrid cloud performance, Filatov recommends using Kubernetes—which is still at a low level of adoption—to containerize applications. Additionally, he suggests taking advantage of machine learning and blockchain add-ons as well as leveraging public cloud compliance tools for regulations like GDPR.

In many cases, hybrid scenarios are a way for companies to boost agility while continuing to get value out of on-prem data centers. But in other situations, hybrid is a way to handle poor connectivity with remote locations like rural factories, farms, or oil and gas sites. What's more, hybrid gives a way for companies to spend time unpacking years of what Andrew Bandera, DMI practice lead and solutions architect, calls "enterprise accretion," tidying up massive customized systems as a staging area before a move to the public cloud.

The role of Azure and the way forward

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