One of the promises of cloud is that it makes data accessible from anywhere, potentially breaking down the data silos that limit companies’ ability to get the most value from their data. Yet if not used carefully, cloud can perversely result in creating even more data silos and inaccessible data.
Whether through deliberate design or not, most companies end up with hybrid cloud, or at least hybrid IT: some data is in legacy applications in the corporate data center, some data is stored and accessed through Software as a Service, some data is stored in public clouds, and some data is stored in private clouds.
Having these multiple environments makes managing data much more complex. Moving and sharing data across and between environments means considering the privacy ramifications, plus solving technical challenges that include synchronizing data across environments and migrating bulk data that overwhelms the bandwidth of even the widest network link. These challenges aren’t due only to the underlying limitations of the technology, but also due to the underlying limitations of your staff: it’s simply not possible for every developer to be expert in each environment housing the data.
Break the Barriers Between Environments
Breaking the barriers between environments and enabling data to be shared in a hybrid IT environment requires making data management decisions when applications are created. These decisions include determining where to locate data, whether locally, in the cloud, or in multiple locations, and evaluating whether updates need to be applied synchronously or not. Sharding the database can help.
Cloud vendor products can also help build bridges between environments. For Amazon Web Services (AWS) users, the AWS Storage Gateway provides near-local performance when access cloud-based datasources. AWS Snowball helps move very large scale data into and out of the cloud.
A data fabric is another technology option to make data accessible across environments. NetApp provides support to smoothly integrate local and cloud datastores, as well as migrating data between local storage and cloud environments. Through providing a single view of data wherever it resides, the NetApp data fabric makes it easier for companies to manage and use their data effectively.
Build A Hybrid Cloud That Avoids Creating Data Silos
Creating a hybrid could without creating new data silos begins with careful analysis of your applications and data. dcVAST’s professional services offer an assessment of the challenges and requirements specific to your environment.
Once the evaluation is complete, we offer design services that leverage the most appropriate technology to create a solution to your challenges. Our experience with managed AWS, managed Nutanix, NetApp, Veritas, and Cohesity lets us deploy and support solutions that make your data manageable and usable no matter how complex your hybrid cloud environment. Contact us to learn how to move data out of data silos and into a shareable, reusable hybrid cloud.
