Hybrid IT Infrastructure and Application Services Model: The Future IT Infrastructure Environment in an Organization By Neeraj Dikshit, Chief Manager / Head –IT, Angelique International Limited

Hybrid IT Infrastructure and Application Services Model: The Future IT Infrastructure Environment in an Organization

Neeraj Dikshit, Chief Manager / Head –IT, Angelique International Limited | Friday, 06 May 2016, 09:51 IST

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What is the future of cloud and its adaptability in an organization?

What is the future of On-Premise Data Centers?

How to ensure the Security and Control on the Cloud based IT Infrastructure and services?

How to ensure the Privacy of Information and Prevention of the Data Leakage in the cloud environment?

The above are few very intriguing questions that are the part of discussions going on about the future of cloud based and in-House based IT infrastructure model among CXOs and IT Infrastructure Planners around the world.

Cloud Based IT Infrastructure and Application Services Model:

There are distinct, visible and immediately identifiable benefits of Cloud based infrastructure.

OPEX based nature of Cloud Infrastructure and Application services Model, costs less in terms of Up Front Financial investments. Rolling out and Scaling Up of the IT Infrastructure and Application services very quickly is a great advantage that drives any IT Decisions Maker to go for the Cloud Model.

But there are Lots of visible risks associated with the Cloud based IT Infrastructure as well.

Loss of Control, Privacy and Information Security are the few of the biggest risks associated with the Cloud based IT Infrastructure and Application Services Model.

Integration of the Shop Floor Machines and other devices with the cloud based IT infrastructure and Applications is another challenge especially where the cost and Link reliability is a concern.

In the absence of a proven Information Security and Governance Control framework for the cloud model, porting of all the IT resources to the Cloud infrastructure will not be in the agenda of any CXO for a long time in future.

On Premise IT Infrastructure and Application Services Model:

Up Front Cost of In-House based IT Infrastructure and Application services model is higher but the extent of control, Privacy and information security is highest in this model.

With the Availability of affordable Hardware, Cost effective Outsourcing of Manpower and Reliable Virtualization Solutions, the overall cost and Investment Realization Period is reducing day by day.

Suitability of Cloud Based and On Premise IT Infrastructure and Application Service:

ROIs provided by the Cloud based IT infrastructure model versus On-Premise IT Infrastructure model are also directly related to the nature of the organization, business model adopted, geographic spread, type of applications, number of IT users ,desire for information security and extent of the control on IT Infrastructure.

In my opinion, the Cloud environment is best suited for either very small organization or very large organization spread across the world in terms of ROI but risk of losing control and Information security is also very high.

On-Premise IT Infrastructure and Application Services Model is best suited to Small Medium to Large Medium sized organizations having 500 to 5000 users concentrated in few locations requiring high integration with production machinery and administrative controls including security.

Hybrid IT Infrastructure or Hybrid Cloud Model:

Hybrid IT is an approach to enterprise computing in which an organization provides and manages some IT resources in-house but uses cloud-based services for others as per the needs. The term Hybrid IT is often used interchangeably with the term Hybrid cloud as well.

There are three forces driving the adoption of Hybrid IT:

1. Organizations need to maintain control of infrastructure and data.

2. The Cost efficiency of cloud components such as software-as-a-service and storage-as-a-service.

3. The desire for an IT department to respond as quickly as possible to rapidly changing business.

This mixed or Hybrid IT architecture is appealing because:

1. It provides the ability to seamlessly and flexibly
extend workloads or applications beyond the internal data center when extra capacity is needed.

2. It helps enterprises prepare for unexpected or unpredictable demands by delivering through public clouds.

3. It reduces the costs of having to build up a substantial reserve of data center hardware and software
infrastructure on premise.

4. Leveraging hybrid cloud model for disaster recovery due to their geographically distributed architecture.

Hybrid IT Infrastructure Model allows an enterprise to maintain a centralized approach to IT governance, while leveraging the benefits of cloud computing with Controlled Risks involved as well.

The complete reliability on the cloud infrastructure will never happen due to the way business actually functions and the fear of losing control by the
Management. Hence, Hybrid IT Infrastructure or Hybrid Cloud Model is the Future.

Securing a hybrid IT Infrastructure environment may be different from the traditional private cloud infrastructure. The challenges include a dependency on networks and IT resources that are outside immediate control and may be accessed outside of the normal corporate access methods.

But this certainly does not mean hybrid security is required. The consistent security policies must be implemented across the Hybrid Infrastructure. However, there is a need for the establishment of IT security and Governance Control Framework for Hybrid IT Infrastructure securing the confidence of Customers, Businesses and CxOs.