Adapted from: The Journey to the Cloud Is Not Either/Or: Exploring the Hybrid Cloud IaaS Model, by Melanie Posey, IDC #249416

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1 IDC VENDOR SPOTLIGHT T h e S h i f t t o H yb r i d C l o u d : I T a n d L i nes of B u s i n e s s B oth Stand to Benefit November 2015 Adapted from: The Journey to the Cloud Is Not Either/Or: Exploring the Hybrid Cloud IaaS Model, by Melanie Posey, IDC # Sponsored by NetApp With the advent of the 3rd Platform, the evolution toward cloud-based IT is not an either-or proposition. Hybrid cloud is a viable option for any organisation seeking to leverage, rather than replace or abandon, existing internal IT frameworks. Hybrid cloud offers a way to satisfy the requirements of line-of-business managers, application developers and IT operations, by combining the best aspects of both public and private IT resources. As a result of the flexibility of the hybrid cloud model, IDC expects the market to grow. By 2016, 65% of enterprise IT organisations will commit to hybrid cloud technologies, vastly driving the rate and pace of change in IT organisations. This Vendor Spotlight explores hybrid cloud deployment trends and benefits. In addition, this paper discusses how Data Fabric, NetApp s vision for the future of data management, can provide the data services required to enable hybrid clouds. Introduction Cloud-based infrastructure as a service continues to expand beyond its original base of early adopters and is now approaching the "early mainstream" stage of development. Increasingly, enterprises are considering cloud-based infrastructure as a viable model for agile, cost-effective IT and application delivery. However, the prevailing IT paradigm of dual cloud infrastructures public versus private and on-premises versus offsite limits the extent to which enterprises can fully leverage the benefits of public cloud while retaining the proven and trusted methodologies developed for their existing private clouds and legacy IT infrastructures. Hybrid cloud provides an alternative that encompasses the benefits of the public cloud while providing the security, reliability, performance and management required by a private cloud. Enterprises are already combining the use of IT resources deployed in the company datacentre with resources (infrastructure, platforms or software) deployed via the cloud. Among U.S.-based companies in the process of implementing or currently using a cloud, hybrid cloud adoption stood at 24% in mid-2013; hybrid cloud adoption will expand further to 65% by 2016 as public cloud usage accelerates and as hybrid options become standard features of vendor, systems integrator and service provider cloud solutions. Definitions Hybrid cloud is a unified IT environment encompassing public and private cloud resources. Workloads running in virtual machines and/or containers leverage hypervisors, compute and storage infrastructure, and operate seamlessly across different types of IT environments private clouds residing in enterprise datacentres, private clouds located in co-location facilities or hosted by service provider datacentres, and external public clouds. However, hybrid clouds are more than just the middle ground between public and private. Hybrid clouds, when properly designed, integrate compute, storage, security, networking, applications and management into a common, highly US

2 orchestrated on-premises/off-premises "workspace" that enables IT operations and application developers to leverage the speed and agility of public cloud in concert with the existing tools, systems and policies that are used in the enterprise datacentre. Ideally, applications built on a traditional client/server IT architecture and operating in an enterprise datacentre can run unchanged in a federated public cloud environment. However, this optimised hybrid cloud state requires a seamless application, data and management environment and sophisticated orchestration to co-ordinate, federate, provision, manage and secure heterogeneous cloud resources in an automated fashion. In the IT context, hybrid clouds bring the "outside in" and let the "inside out". The vision of hybrid cloud, of transparent operations with application workloads running across different cloud infrastructures, promises the best of public and private options. However, the implications for the underlying storage infrastructure are not widely appreciated. For the workloads themselves, hypervisors and containers provide application and configuration portability. However, the portability of the data itself remains a hurdle particularly when it comes to the movement of data as it is redirected between providers, travels throughout an application lifecycle, or is tiered across cloud services. In the case of hybrid clouds, it isn t always obvious where the data (and by extension, the storage infrastructure) should reside. Should data reside in the private cloud, the public cloud or in both clouds? In both cloud scenarios, it s critical that data consistency between clouds be maintained. Hybrid designs that disaggregate compute and storage by locating compute resources in the public cloud and data in a private cloud can also raise latency concerns. Lastly, if data is placed in a public cloud, there are inevitably data management concerns that must be addressed. These data management concerns will typically highlight requirements for data governance, including cloud API compatibility, shredding, encryption and data location based on jurisdiction, among other considerations. Benefits Automation and orchestration management technologies enable IT architects to leverage their enterprise datacentres, external cloud-based resources and corporate WANs as a comprehensive hybrid environment. Tearing down the wall between public and private clouds can lead to enhanced flexibility for enterprise IT organisations. In addition, hybrid cloud can also help to transform for the better the organisational dynamics of enterprise IT and lines of business. Hybrid cloud implementations yield multiple business and IT benefits, including the following: Bridging the divide between IT and line of business. Hybrid cloud helps to give each group what it wants: security and control for IT operations and speed and agility for LOB operations. To the extent that IT can incorporate external public cloud services into formalised IT procurement, implementation and governance processes, IT becomes a facilitator rather than a roadblock for more dynamic business-ready IT. Centralised governance, decentralised infrastructure. The benefits of public cloud are undeniable: on-demand resources, elastic scaling, consumption-based pricing and self-service implementation. However, these characteristics can also create "shadow IT" purchasing and deployment, resulting in fragmented enterprise IT environments, as well as security and compliance risks. Hybrid clouds that tightly link the enterprise datacentre with public cloud resources, along with well-defined policies and processes governing access and usage, ensure consistent IT governance while enabling location-agnostic flexibility, thereby supporting data sovereignty and locality issues. The right environment for the right workload at the right time. Public clouds generally mean a one-size-fits-all approach for each workload, regardless of the individual application profile 2015 IDC 2

3 (e.g., life-cycle stages, usage patterns, application behaviour characteristics, data criticality and data compliance). Hybrid cloud means a common architecture for both legacy and net-new cloudnative applications, with the ability to mix and match deployment environments based on specific performance, security and compliance parameters, as well as to scale-up/scale-out needs and requirements around dependency/tethering to on-premises systems. In addition, the life-cycle timing of the workload is important. For example, record systems can remain on-premises yet be connected with engagement and analysis systems, which will increasingly reside in public clouds. Applications at the proof-of-concept or development/testing phase benefit greatly from public cloud's rapid provisioning capabilities and consumption-based pricing. In a hybrid cloud environment, these applications can be moved back into the enterprise datacentre once they hit a critical mass of usage (at this point, consumption-based pricing could become expensive) or when data security dictates an in-house production environment. Continued leverage of existing IT systems investments. While cloud-native start-ups can leapfrog traditional IT architectures and jump straight into the cloud, enterprises cannot. Investments in equipment, software, personnel and datacentre facilities cannot simply be written off in favour of "asset-lite" public cloud services. However, hybrid cloud provides self-service "stretch" resources that augment what is already in the enterprise datacentre, delaying or even eliminating the need for additional CapEx via an OpEx approach. Market Trends While a number of industry players (software and hardware suppliers as well as integrators and service providers) position "hybrid cloud" as a generic service deployment model, it is more accurately described as a vendor-specific product/service extension strategy. For most IT organisations, hybrid simply "happens" as a consequence of past and current cloud and non-cloud IT investments. It doesn't represent a specific prescribed architecture or optimal IT end state, but rather, it represents a transition point on a cloud maturity journey. The hybrid cloud services market is still maturing, but a broad array of providers from different segments of the IT industry have converged around the opportunity. The competitive landscape includes hardware and software technology vendors, IT outsourcers, systems integrators, network service providers, specialist hosting providers and cloud-native IaaS providers. The various providers take different approaches to the hybrid cloud space, building upon their intellectual property, hardware and software products, existing datacentre and infrastructure assets, integration and management expertise, support personnel and customer relationships. It is important to note that many hybrid offerings from larger providers are designed as single vendor solutions; organisations therefore should consider an exit strategy as part of their overall data management plans. IDC expects continued growth in overall cloud adoption, which will complicate enterprise IT management as multiple deployment models remain in place for business organisations through the end of the decade. As a result, IDC believes that the majority of organisations will seek outside assistance to implement at least part of the private cloud portion of their hybrid cloud. The NetApp Data Fabric NetApp provides hardware, software and services that can optimise traditional IT operations and private clouds, while providing an on-ramp to the public cloud. A data fabric enabled by NetApp is a collection of integrated technologies and services designed for the hybrid cloud: distributed platforms (physical or software-defined) house application data; a common data transport links them together; a common management framework simplifies deployment; and layered services provide overall visibility and control of business operations IDC 3

4 For example, the German IT company DARZ built its hybrid cloud service using NetApp data fabric technology. Due to the security demands of customers, DARZ uses NetApp Private Storage to connect its highly-secure datacentre to multiple public cloud services, including those from Amazon, IBM and Microsoft, in a fashion that satisfies German data protection regulations. Lars Göbel, the director of IT services at DARZ, notes that NetApp s vision for a data fabric aligns perfectly to our strategy. It has enabled us to build a new generation of hybrid cloud services that fulfil customers requirements today and tomorrow." In another use case, Virdata is using a NetApp FlexPod converged infrastructure solution as the platform for its cloud service, which enables its customers to deliver new experiences based on realtime data generated by the Internet of Things (IoT). By relying on a FlexPod validated design for OpenStack cloud software, the Virdata IoT platform is both highly scalable and flexible. "We didn t want to be limited by a certain hardware architecture, or cloud provider, explains Jeremy DeClerq, product management lead at Virdata, so we created a platform that is completely cloud-agnostic. Today, NetApp offers a variety of hybrid cloud solutions that can be deployed individually or connected with one another as part of a larger data fabric, including the following: NetApp Clustered Data ONTAP. The company's flagship storage OS provides an adaptable, always-on storage infrastructure for enterprise applications and private clouds. FlexPod Datacentre Solutions. Converged infrastructure solutions validated by Cisco and NetApp for a wide range of workloads, including Microsoft, Oracle, OpenStack and VMware. Provides the ability to orchestrate data management across flash, disk and cloud storage tiers. NetApp Private Storage for Cloud. Extends the reach of Data ONTAP by placing application data next to, but not inside, public clouds. This solution works in conjunction with AWS, Azure (in preview), and SoftLayer. AltaVault Cloud-Integrated Appliances. Backup and archive-to-cloud solutions that can integrate with both private and public clouds, such as AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud Platform. Cloud ONTAP. A software-only version of Data ONTAP that can be run on top of public cloud services, such as AWS. Enterprises can harness a data fabric powered by NetApp to achieve the following IT benefits: Build a cloud-ready datacentre that protects existing infrastructure investments Accelerate enterprise application performance to drive greater speed, responsiveness and value from key business applications while managing data across flash, disk and cloud storage tiers Protect and recover enterprise data. Maintain stewardship of data across all cloud resources while realising the economics of cloud storage. Challenges Firms considering hybrid cloud deployments should evaluate not only the applications, hypervisor and compute resources for suitability, but also the underlying storage infrastructure and data management functions/controls available. Questions about lock-in with a particular solution, service levels associated with a service, performance (IOPs, latency, throughput) with a given solution and the cost model for a service over time must be evaluated. This upfront evaluation will save a firm time and cost downstream when unexpected issues surface IDC 4

5 Conclusion The next three years can best be described as the time when companies will go from hybrid cloud to diversified IT that encompasses multiple cloud environments. IT organisations will operate diversified IT environments encompassing a range of deployment models (on-premise and off-premise) and a broad portfolio of SaaS and IaaS cloud services. IT organisations must manage distributed assets across multiple internal and third-party datacentres Hybrid cloud will be the endgame for many organisations, while others may choose to shift more and more of their IT to public clouds as legacy applications and datacentre systems reach the end of their life cycles, application consumption shifts to SaaS and agile application development approaches take hold within the enterprise. In any case, hybrid cloud environments will provide enterprises with the flexibility to make the move to public cloud, while also maximising current datacentre and IT systems investments. If NetApp can address the challenges highlighted in this paper, IDC believes that the company has a significant opportunity to succeed in the growing market for hybrid cloud solutions A B O U T T H I S P U B L I C A T I ON This publication was produced by IDC Custom Solutions. The opinion, analysis and research results presented herein are drawn from more detailed research and analysis independently conducted and published by IDC, unless specific vendor sponsorship is noted. IDC Custom Solutions makes IDC content available in a wide range of formats for distribution by various companies. A license to distribute IDC content does not imply endorsement of or opinion about the licensee. C O P Y R I G H T A N D R E S T R I C T I O N S Any IDC information or reference to IDC that is to be used in advertising, press releases, or promotional materials requires prior written approval from IDC. For permission requests, contact the Custom Solutions information line at or gms@idc.com. Translation and/or localisation of this document requires an additional licence from IDC. For more information on IDC, visit For more information on IDC Custom Solutions, visit Global Headquarters: 5 Speen Street Framingham, MA USA P F IDC 5