Cloud computing has become an easy way to bring flexibility to growing companies. Whether it’s providing affordable and easily scalable storage or allowing staff to work more easily outside the office, cloud computing has transformed quickly into a technology aimed at meeting company’s needs.
Hybrid cloud hosting is one way cloud computing technology has responded to the demands of our web-based business environment. The hybrid cloud is a system that uses a combination of private cloud hosting in conjunction with public cloud services. Public clouds are hosted by a third party and offer various companies server capacity for a range of uses which can be customized to best fit their needs. Private clouds are owned and operated in-house or by a company partner, and offer companies a highly controlled environment that is completely walled off from other companies and users.
Companies often use private cloud hosting for long-term uses, such as storing important data, and public cloud hosting for short-term functions, such as server space during a period of peak usage. In a hybrid cloud system, companies use both and these public and private cloud servers have connections between the two. The goal of a hybrid cloud is to strengthen each environment and create a more affordable and efficient system for the company.
How do companies use hybrid cloud hosting?
Companies today are looking for hosting that offers what they need and is easy to control. Hybrid cloud hosting gives businesses the scalability and cost-effectiveness that public cloud computing offers without sacrificing security and reliability. A company may want to keep its private cloud for storage of customer data, but would prefer using public cloud storage for email and archiving data. By setting up a hybrid system, the company can add the flexibility the public cloud offers while keeping sensitive data in-house.
This is a simple example of how a hybrid cloud can help a company function more efficiently. Depending on a company’s needs, a series of public and private clouds can be incorporated under the hybrid system. These services and data from a variety of cloud server locations are then used to create a cohesive, systematized, and easily managed computing environment.
What are the pitfalls of a hybrid system?
While hybrid cloud hosting offers many advantages, the key to maintaining a high level of functionality is proper development. Your cloud hosting company and IT staff must make a number of important decisions, such as whether to base important data on the public or private cloud, or how to overcome design differences. The goal is to manage multiple clouds as a single entity, not a group of connected systems.
At Togglebox our hybrid cloud allows your company to connect many cloud server environments as though they were one through a single, easy-to-use dashboard. Our clients can also easily move data between private or data center resources, allowing for different levels of security, while also taking advantage of instant scalability and the cost advantages of cloud computing.
By combining the flexibility and cost advantages that come with cloud computing with the control that comes with an in-house IT operation, the advantages to hybrid cloud hosting are clear. Both small companies and large corporations can build a system that works for them, while maintaining control of their computing resources.