Hybrid Cloud Management: Foundations And Strategies

Adoption of cloud-based systems has been relatively modest—regardless of significant marketing push by major public cloud providers. The cloud-based model utilizes distributed information technology services accessible over networks. The networks can be internal part of organizations’ infrastructure—intranets, or external, such as internet or mobile networks. Utilization of internal networks and services is preferred by organizations—private clouds. External networks and services provided by public cloud providers pose significant risks. The major risks associated with public clouds are security, control and accessibility. In public clouds, valuable organizational data can be compromised and damaged by external entities. Organizations utilizing public clouds lose control over their critical data and services, while external entities gain control. Furthermore, external networks are inherently insecure, monitored and substantially less reliable than organizational intranets. Despite numerous disadvantages of public clouds, there is a potential in combining private and public cloud systems—hybrid clouds. Hybrid clouds present unique challenges and possibilities. We explore pertinent aspects of hybrid clouds and introduce suitable strategies for their effective management. Such actionable knowledge is essential for managers of information technologies.