- Ensuring Business Continuity
Ensuring business continuity is the main goal of IT teams in various companies. This goal sounds easy to achieve but will be a problem for companies that have unqualified applications and platforms which unable to run on a Cloud environment. To ensure that each application can run well in a Hybrid Cloud or Multi-Cloud environment, the IT infrastructure platform must be easier to use, more flexible, and more cost-effective. The aspects that ensure Business Continuity in the company are as follows:
- Have a strong IT infrastructure architecture (Resilient Architecture) with a recovery process that can be done from anywhere as a form of application and data protection.
- Utilizing Cloud computing areas (Region Cloud) across the world to regionalize backup and DR (Disaster Recovery) processes.
- Has a small amount of downtime and has a fast recovery process
- Using a solution that does not add to the complexity of the backup and recovery process.
- On-Demand Elasticity
Easy application mobility enables the Public Cloud to gain access to additional resources as needed. For example, during a pandemic, the need for EUC (end-user computing) soars, exceeding the quota that can be served by the data center in a short time. By moving or extending applications to the Public Cloud, applications can gain access to the computing power they need so their needs can be met. There are several advantages of Hybrid Cloud related to infrastructure elasticity according to needs and demands, such as:
- Able to expand application capacity and workloads quickly and easily to meet seasonal or temporary needs.
- Able to provide optimal data center capacity to meet daily needs and access to Public Cloud computing when there is a surge in need.
- Licenses transfer between Clouds can be done to maximize the value of the investment.
- Self-service and automation can be enabled to streamline operational personnel.
- Reduction of costs for Cloud services can be done effectively by optimizing the Cloud use and purchasing of the right package to fulfill needs.
- Cost control can be done by activating the instance hibernation feature in the Public Cloud when not in use.
- Lift and Shift
The terms lift and shift are closely related to the merging of data centers and the migration of several applications to the Cloud. Lifting and shifting some applications from the Private Cloud to the Public Cloud without rearranging the platform is not an easy task. Nutanix, an experienced vendor in the Enterprise Cloud Platform, offers the convenience and freedom to move applications in the Cloud without code changes or help enterprises modify the code to meet changing business needs. Cloud services from Nutanix have several advantages, namely:
- Able to build Hybrid Cloud infrastructure quickly in a short time
- Cater VM (virtual machine), container, storage, and data migration
- Ensure visibility with a single control plane for easy Hybrid Cloud management
- Can support all well-known Public Cloud and Local Private Cloud
- Integrate resource consumption and cost reports in a Cloud environment so users can easily understand the exact benefits and costs of spending.
- Cloud-Native Services
Currently, many companies are transforming into Cloud Native. Cloud-Native is not just a collection of technologies and tools for creating applications, but also a philosophical approach to building applications that take full advantage of Cloud computing. This new paradigm creates not only new technologies but also new ways of working, such as customer-centric, learning culture, agile development, product focus, automation in delivery processes, and strong open-source implementation.
One of the Cloud Native services is Cloud Native Database, such as PolarDB and AnalyticDB from Alibaba Cloud. Both of them have high flexibility and reliability with support for capacities up to 100 TB which can be configured up to a maximum of 16 nodes. This Cloud-Native Database service has proven capable of serving 87 million requests per second during the peak of Alibaba’s 11/11 global shopping festival.
PolarDB database is highly compatible with MySQL, PostgreSQL, or Oracle formats. AnalyticDB can process the transmission of tens of billions of data quickly and in real-time. This service adopts a flexible and distributed computing architecture, which separates compute and storage.
- Dev/Test
Development testing (Development Test) is an approach in software development that aims to connect the development phase and the testing phase. Application and software development is a vital process for many companies in various industries. Hybrid Cloud solutions ensure the availability of resources and infrastructure needed by IT teams. Therefore, application developers and engineers can utilize both the resources in the Private Cloud and Public Cloud to fulfill software development needs without having to change the process. Apart from the ease of deploying applications in test environments and self-service access to resources, Hybrid Cloud also has other advantages, including:
- Provide dev/test environments on the Cloud environment when in selection
- Accelerate development by reducing infrastructure costs
- Develop VM (Virtual Machine) or containers/Kubernetes.
Cloud Deployment Selection
To choose the right type of Cloud Deployment, companies usually make a decision based on several factors. The determining factors that are usually considered the most important by most companies are cost and security.
Cost
Public Clouds generally result in lower overhead costs with a narrower scope of direct management than other types of infrastructure. This is due to the role of the Cloud service provider vendor who has handled most of the Cloud management. For example, managing and maintaining the data center, providing server equipment, implementing network security updates, etc. Therefore, companies with cost as the main determining factor usually choose to implement a Public Cloud or Multi-Cloud deployment.
Security
For businesses with high network security regulatory standards and data protection laws requirements, such as SOX, HIPAA, GDPR, and CCPA, a Hybrid Cloud deployment may be the best choice. High network security regulations usually serve to ensure that data remains secure and complies with industry rules and regulations. With Hybrid Cloud, enterprises can store data in a more controlled environment, such as in a Private Cloud or a local data center. However, a tightly controlled environment is not always safer. Public Cloud vendors typically have more resources to apply patches and can protect data more securely than individual businesses. But the application of this service also depends on the network security budget that the company has. In using Cloud services there are several other factors to consider:
- Time and effort to migrate to Cloud
Moving data and business operations entirely to the Cloud requires a lot of resources. Usually, the effort of this move is considered commensurate with the results and benefits that the Cloud offers. However, in some businesses, this attempt to completely migrate to the Cloud has not been considered necessary. That’s why many businesses decide to implement Hybrid Cloud.
- Reliability (Reliability)
Deploying across multiple Clouds can ensure websites and applications stay up and running during periods of high user demand. This is due to the presence of Cloud backups which can take over multiple workloads when a single Cloud is overwhelmed.
- Vendor lock-in
Using multiple Public Clouds can reduce dependencies on one Cloud vendor. Companies are also advised to compare the type of service, performance, security, and advantages of Cloud vendors to get the best service.
- Performance (Performance)
If the Public Cloud data center infrastructure is on-premises (domestic), then migrating to the Cloud can greatly improve performance as it reduces latency or time delay.
ACS Group in association with Alibaba Cloud as a public cloud service provider, and with Nutanix as an IT infrastructure vendor with its enterprise cloud platform will always be ready to support loyal customers in implementing Private, Public, and Hybrid clouds that can provide many benefits for your company.
For more detailed information, please see the video on ACS Group’s youtube ACS Group’s youtube “Improve Business with a Flexible and Dynamic Cloud“
