HOT TOPIC
Data centre connectivity – the key to modern day cloud services
With cloud services becoming ever more ubiquitous , the role of the data centre is changing . Simon Bearne , commercial director at Next Generation Data , tells us what that role is becoming .
In the final analysis , the data centre is ultimately the foundation supporting any kind of cloud – public , private or hybrid . Clearly , whether you are a CIO , service provider , systems integrator or network installer , you need to be sure the data centres involved offer robust physical security and sufficient power supply on tap for supporting high density racks . However , as demand for public , private and hybrid cloud environments continues to grow you also need to be certain they can deliver the enhanced levels of predictability and security that users will expect . With hybrid clouds , in particular , there is not only the concern around latency and consistency but also the cost of connectivity to consider .
Fortunately , with more data centres moving to connect up to cloud gateways , a potentially daunting challenge can now be overcome relatively easily and cost effectively .
No one size fits all
Clearly public cloud is not for all . Many organisations still and will always demand the peace of mind of retaining private cloud infrastructure for managing core business applications . A company might be happy enough using an Internet based public cloud development platform for testing new applications but not once it goes into production . Not only that , there are valuable on-premise legacy systems and equipment which just can ’ t be virtualised .
With all these factors in mind , there ’ s a place for both public and private clouds and users are pushing back on their providers to find solutions that give them the best of all worlds ; a service which can connect all three environments as if they were a single environment . By offering private clouds combined with public cloud services , hybrid has the potential to enable a unified , automated , and well managed computing environment . Certainly , its growing fast in popularity – almost by default – as enterprises using public clouds for storing nonsensitive data and accessing office applications and productivity tools are automatically becoming hybrid users as soon as they connect any of these elements with private clouds – and vice versa .
March 2017 | 17