Cloud infrastructure allows enterprises to discard costly on-premise resources in favor of the flexibility of an elastic environment. But many are still hesitant to entirely replace their legacy systems because on-premise IT infrastructure guarantees greater compliance, data control, availability, and strict security measures necessary for some the most data-sensitive industries. The ones that have to follow unusually strict government regulations (e.g., HIPAA, PCI and SOX) for data security compliance do prefer to stick with private clouds instead of hybrid options, as in the healthcare or the credit card industry. Nevertheless, a hybrid cloud storage system is reliable, secure, scalable, and cost effective for enterprises.
A hybrid cloud approach ensures substantial cost savings. Instead of having to spend the money on building infrastructure for increased bursts of system usage that happen occasionally, companies can leverage public cloud to offload some of the heavy usage when it exceeds the capacity of their private space, and pay for it only as it is needed. This frees up funds for other critical projects to grow the business.
A hybrid cloud network provides companies the flexibility, on-demand resources and pay-as-you-go flexibility of the public cloud, along with the capability for control over critical applications, as you would enjoy with a private cloud model. Hybrid cloud solutions allow smooth communication between the public and private cloud infrastructure over an encrypted connection and advanced technology for data and application portability.
With the hybrid cloud storage environment, enterprises can manage their resources on- or off-premise. It allows companies to keep high-risk information behind the firewall of the private cloud and run local cache & memory for sensitive data. Moreover, this confidential data has a physical presence and is also easily retrievable, which may be essential for some types of businesses, whereas less sensitive data can be stored in the public cloud with data encryption & duplication features and no concerns about scalability.
In the 21st century enterprise, business happens 24/7 and hybrid cloud solutions merge both cloud and on-premise resources to provide easy and greater accessibility to business-critical applications.