Is hybrid IT missing the point?

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(Image: Mediateam)

4 March 2016

There are those in enterprise ICT who have said that hybrid IT is the new normal, while others say that this approach, along with Gartner’s interpretation of bimodal IT, is missing the point of the promise and possibility of cloud by hitching it to legacy approaches.

Amazon CTO Werner Vogels has ploughed a middle furrow, saying that hybrid IT is a necessary transition.

“We have built a whole set of services that allow you to run seamlessly together [services] on-premises [and] in the cloud,” Vogels said. “However, you have to realise that in our eyes hybrid IT is not the endpoint … There will be less and less data centres over time. Hybrid IT is the path to more cloud usage. Many more of your applications and services will move over into AWS.”

The CEO of one major US service provider is more of a hybrid IT supporter, saying “Love it or hate it, hybrid IT is here in force and it’s here to stay,” said Matthew Gerber, CEO, Digital Fortress.

Transitionary phase
Citing figures from 2015 figures from US-based analyst and consultant Markets & Markets that indicate the global market for hybrid cloud computing is will grow from $25.28 billion in 2014 to $84.67 billion in 2019, Gerber argues the momentum is too hard to ignore, but also too heavily invested to be purely transitionary, but also comes with a warning.

“Mixing old and new IT models is not for the weak at heart,” Gerber advises. “Success depends upon a leader who can help these two worlds peacefully coexist. At the same time, CIOs should take the lead in moving staffers toward an agile, collaborative workflow which matches the requirements of deploying the modern IT stack encompassing cloud, mobile, Internet of Things and social media technology.”

Gartner’s Bimodal IT concept is defined as the practice of managing two separate, coherent modes of IT delivery, one focused on stability and the other on agility. Mode 1 is traditional and sequential, emphasising safety and accuracy. Mode 2 is exploratory and nonlinear, emphasising agility and speed.

Cloud bridge
Fujitsu and a number of other giants of the industry have made their pitch to be the bridge for enterprise from the world of mode 1 to leveraging the benefits of mode 2. Microsoft and Oracle too have made significant efforts, with services, architecture templates and pre-engineered systems, to be that bridge in their respective ecosystems. But others on the cloud side of the equation have said that this is merely diluting the ability of cloud to deliver by constraining with attachments legacy systems that organisations really need to let go.

How does an organisation go about this transition to what seems inevitable but has its pros and cons on various aspects?

TechFire, in association with Sungard Availability Services will explore this theme, from an independent viewpoint, examining the various features and capabilities, distilling the hype from hybrid. With a real world example in the home-grown success of MicksGarage.com, this event will help organisations to understand hybrid IT as a strategy for business, not a solution to a narrow issue. With an international perspective, made real through a local example, the experts will provide concrete answers to this potentially cloudy problem.

To register for this free event, visit TechFire.ie

 

 

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