The hybrid cloud market is expected to grow from $38.27 billion in 2017 to $97.64 billion by 2023, in a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 17.0% throughout the forecast period, based on Markets and Markets.
The research company said the hybrid cloud is quickly becoming a leading cloud solution, as it provides various benefits, such as cost, efficiency, agility, mobility, and endurance. Among the many reasons is that the need for interoperability standards between cloud services and present systems.
Unless you are a startup company and can be born in the cloud, you’ve got legacy data systems that have to be bridged, which is where the hybrid cloud comes in.
So, in very short order we’ve seen a bunch of new alliances between the new and old guard, reiterating that the demand for hybrid solutions remains powerful.
HPE/Google
Back in April, the Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) and Google announced a deal where HPE introduced a variety of server options for Google Cloud’s Anthos, together with a consumption-based version for its validated HPE on-premises infrastructure that’s incorporated with Anthos.
Following up with this, the two just announced a strategic partnership to create a hybrid for containers by combining HPE’s on-premises infrastructure, Cloud Data Services, and GreenLake consumption model with Anthos. This permits:
Bi-directional info freedom for data mobility and constant data services between on-premises and cloud
Application workload mobility to move containerized program workloads across on-premises and multi-cloud environments
Multi-cloud flexibility, providing the choice of HPE Cloud Volumes and Anthos for that which works best for your workload
Unified hybrid management through Anthos, so customers can Find a unified and consistent view of the applications and workloads regardless of where they reside
Charged as a service through HPE GreenLake
IBM/Cisco
This is a furthering of an already existing partnership between IBM and Cisco designed to provide a common and secure developer experience across on-premises and public cloud environments for constructing modern applications.
Cisco said it will encourage IBM Cloud Private, an on-premises container program development platform, on Cisco HyperFlex and HyperFlex Edge hyperconverged infrastructure. This includes support for IBM Cloud Pak for Applications. IBM Cloud Paks deliver enterprise-ready containerized software solutions and developer tools for building apps and then easily moving to some cloud–public or private.
This architecture delivers a secure and common Kubernetes experience across on-premises (including edge) and public cloud environments. IBM’s Multicloud Manager covers monitoring and management of clusters and container-based software running from on-premises into the border, while Cisco’s Virtual Program Centric Infrastructure (ACI) will allow customers to expand their network fabric from on-premises to the IBM Cloud.
IBM/Equinix
Equinix expanded its collaboration with IBM Cloud to bring personal and scalable connectivity to international businesses via Equinix Cloud Exchange Fabric (ECX Fabric). This provides private connectivity to IBM Cloud, including Immediate Link Exchange, Direct Link Dedicated and Direct Link Dedicated Hosting, which is secure and scalable.
ECX Fabric is a web-based, SDN-enabled interconnection service that enables any business to attach between its distributed infrastructure and some other firm’s distributed infrastructure, such as cloud providers. Direct Link provides IBM customers with a link between their network and IBM Cloud. So ECX Fabric provides IBM customers using a bonded and scalable network connection to the IBM Cloud service.
At precisely the same time, ECX Fabric provides secure links to other cloud providers, and most clients prefer a multi-vendor approach to prevent vendor lock-in.
“Each of the partnerships concentrate on 2 things: 1) supporting a hybrid-cloud platform to get their existing clients by decreasing the friction to using each solution and 2) Implementing the unique strength that every business brings. Every one of those solutions are exceptional and will be unlikely to compete directly with other partnerships,” said Tim Crawford, president of Avoa, an IT consultancy.
