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EDITOR’S QUESTION
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AARON WHITE,
GENERAL MANAGER
– METI AT NUTANIX
M
ost organisations already operate in a variety of clouds –
public and private. But now as we stare down advancements
in AI, IoT and Machine Learning, hybrid cloud adoption is
accelerating, strategies are shifting and many IT organisations are
raising their hands and saying ‘not quite ready’. Today’s struggle
is creating an effective hybrid cloud strategy for a more functional,
future-ready infrastructure and making the data centre modernisation
decisions that will support new technology. So, where do you start?
First things first
Before we decide where we’re going, let’s look at where we are.
The very first step in moving forward with an evolved hybrid cloud
strategy is asking questions about your current infrastructure.
Identify all locations where you have infrastructure, services and
data. Then begin asking questions like:
• What infrastructure and staff resources do we have in
each location?
• What percentage of the infrastructure is traditional/siloed?
Virtualised? Private cloud?
• What parts of the business rely on this location?
• Why are we using the cloud providers we have now?
• Why is x workload running in x location?
you monitor, manage and orchestrate across all environments
with a single set of tools while enabling users to work easily in any
environment. Determine the pieces your cloud OS will need to
encompass including support for on-premise, public and CSPs, mode
1 and mode 2 apps, VMs or containers, etc. This will prep you to
properly consider your best cloud operating framework option.
Determining your on-premises modernisation strategy
. . . and so on.
See the future
After you’ve assessed your current situation, you’ll want to
take a look at future needs. What new apps and services are
due to come online in the coming year? Any planned changes
for key infrastructure components like
hypervisors? What new business or tech
initiatives are you planning when it comes
to Big Data, IoT or DevOps? What additional
resources will new workloads require?
Once you’ve assessed your situation and
established some high-level hybrid cloud
goals, you’ll have these five key decisions
to make:
Choosing your cloud
operating framework
This is the first and most important decision
you’ll make. Don’t back into this one –make
it up front. You’ll need a cloud OS that lets
www.intelligentcio.com
By 2021 it’s predicted that enterprises will run on-premises and
in the cloud with about a 50/50 split. With that in mind, on-
premise needs can’t be ignored even while we have our heads
in the clouds. Your critical capability list will include elements like
software-defined, hyperconverged, ease of automation, self-service
enabled, data protection/Disaster Recovery ready and distributed
and Edge capable.
“
ON-PREMISE
NEEDS CAN’T BE
IGNORED EVEN
WHILE WE HAVE
OUR HEADS IN
THE CLOUDS.
Choosing specific cloud environments
for your hybrid cloud
The main goal here? Pick cloud providers
that align ideally with the decisions you’ve
already made up to this point and choose
them based on compatibility. This will equate
to a more seamless integration between
environments and allow developers to
use resources in your hybrid cloud without
extensive retooling. Establish relationships
with cloud providers even if your need for
them isn’t immediate (which will save you
time down the road). n
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