There’s one big problem that most businesses face moving to the cloud. That’s the problem that not all their applications belong in a public cloud. That can lead companies to think they need to build a hybrid cloud. But there’s also the problem that some applications don’t belong in any cloud. Legacy mainframe applications are probably not worth rearchitecting to fit into a cloud—if that’s even possible. They most likely need to remain on their existing platforms until either hardware or software is ready for retirement.
What companies need is often not a hybrid cloud, but hybrid IT. That’s a mixed environment with both cloud-based and non-cloud-based applications unified via APIs, high-speed networking, and security to enable flexibility and responsiveness.
Cloud Benefits for Non-Cloud Applications
The challenge of hybrid IT is to extend at least some of the benefits of the cloud to the non-cloud-based systems. Improved efficiency and manageability are reachable goals, ironically because using cloud frees up resources from routine operations so you can devote more time to tackling these challenges.
You won’t get those benefits by continuing to work the way you’ve always worked with your non-cloud applications. Bringing in new automation and orchestration tools is necessary to streamline operations.
Using Legacy Data in Cloud Applications
You can also look for new ways to leverage the data from these applications to support the new, scalable applications running in the cloud.
Your developers will need to build APIs and feeds to enable data to be shared. Along with dealing with data transport issues, your team needs to ensure data integrity of the data maintained in the legacy systems.
Tools for Hybrid IT Data Integration
Fortunately, there are tools you can leverage for data integration. Though some integration tools are designed for hybrid cloud, they can also provide the same support to hybrid IT.
Some tools come from third-party vendors, such as the NetApp data fabric that makes it easy to transfer data between cloud and local environments. There are also many tools from cloud providers such as AWS that support data integration. AWS offers a Storage Gateway appliance that acts as a local file server for on-premises applications. AWS also offers networking solutions, such as Direct Connect, that enables you to connect to resources in the cloud as if they were on your local network. Integrated identity management means your existing user information in Active Directory can be used to manage access to data in the cloud.
Making hybrid IT and hybrid cloud work requires successfully managing the need to keep data integrated across two disparate environments. dcVAST’s expertise with public cloud, hybrid cloud, and storage manage let us effectively evaluate your cloud and premises environments to identify issues and design an appropriate data integration strategy. We can offer assistance or provide fully managed services to keep your IT operations running smoothly. Contact us to learn more about how dcVAST can make your hybrid IT strategy successful.
