Five stages of Application cloud computing: Hybrid cloud is not an end point

On March 4, according to foreign media reports, market research firm IDC describes the five stages that organizations must go through to take cloud computing as a core part of their IT strategy. The journey begins with a small exploration of some concrete projects and then reaches the climax of a hybrid cloud: seamlessly combining different cloud resources with clear strategic interests.

According to IDC, its research shows that most organizations develop and implement cloud strategies in a phased approach in order to progressively adapt to defined standard configurations and service policies. This process typically requires close collaboration between the business and IT departments to define the services provided, service-level agreements, and user self-service capabilities. However, this results in a more flexible and responsive IT environment.

IDC believes that there are four different cloud deployment patterns that can create this environment. These include the private cloud at the organization's own data center and cloud services managed by an external service provider and the full public cloud service. There is dedicated private cloud and virtual private cloud between these cloud services. These cloud services can be provided by a cloud service provider or hosted by a provider's business site.

The five steps that IDC paints are the first to explore cloud services in a special way to become more familiar with cloud technology choices, key considerations, and cloud contribution to it efficiency.

In the second step, as the enterprise adapts to the cloud computing experience, the enterprise will transition the existing workload to the cloud service, usually by migrating new or isolated systems to the cloud service, which has little impact on existing processes and business.

In the third step, the cloud will be applied to standard it practices and programs. By actively standardizing, identifying the best cloud practices, and improving governance, businesses will become more flexible. Business and it users will begin to rely on self-service portals to access a wide range of cloud services and to quickly set up and activate the automated approvals and workflows needed for services.

In the fourth step, the application of cloud services will be broader and more annotated. Companies will expand the boundaries of how and how to use cloud services and will adopt a consistent best practice for an entire enterprise-wide application cloud service.

In step fifth, the cloud has become a key implementation factor in business strategy. Businesses will drive business innovation through seamless access to mixed cloud resources. Companies will take advantage of cloud services to reduce costs and accelerate the delivery process.

Bitcloud chief executive Vic CinC says customers are very familiar with every part of their IT blueprint. They know what works and what doesn't, because the management of IT resources is their focus. The advantage of a hybrid cloud deployment is that the enterprise can experience scalability and test-owned total costs without exposing important task applications to third parties.

It should be noted that this process does not support any of the different cloud patterns identified by IDC. However, IDC pointed out that the diversity requirements to be met by cloud services led to the emergence of a hybrid cloud approach. IDC predicts that in the next five years, most enterprise IT organizations will support hybrid it or hybrid cloud strategies, driven by different types of workloads, applications, and the different needs of the user base.

IDC added that for many years to come, the private cloud architecture will be an important part of many of the mixed enterprise IT infrastructure strategies and will drive IT decision makers to develop more streamlined, automated, and integrated methodologies to optimize a wide range of IT management, governance, and compliance processes and workflows as these environments evolve.

The mixed cloud itself is not the end point. However, it must reach the level of seamless integration of various cloud computing models so that organizations can adapt this best practice to their specific needs and strategic objectives.

(Responsible editor: The good of the Legacy)