What is a hybrid enterprise?
Today’s enterprise datacenters live with one foot on-premises and one in the cloud. Networks are going hybrid too, with private MPLS links for mission-critical apps and the public Internet for non-critical traffic. It is this combination of private and public assets delivering essential business services that defines the hybrid enterprise.
Click to watch how Kim Stevenson, CIO of Intel, defines the hybrid enterprise:
Or, here’s the transcript:
“Hybrid is a combination of two things, and that’s what’s happening with enterprise IT and, really, enterprise business systems and processes. We have great external services that we can consume through the cloud and SaaS offerings, as well as, we have our internal systems that add core differentiating value to the company. The hybrid enterprise is when those two come together in an integrated fashion to speed the velocity of the business.”
Kim Stevenson, CIO, Intel
When is the hybrid enterprise coming?
Nearly a third (32%) of Americans believe that cloud computing is a thing of the future. They are wrong—the cloud is here now. And it’s only going to get bigger. But on-premises computing continues as well, and will continue for the foreseeable future. As a result, the hybrid enterprise is the new norm.
You want stats? We’ve got stats:
- By 2015, end-user spending on cloud services is projected to exceed $180 billion.
- Accord to predictions, the global market for cloud equipment will reach $79.1 billion by 2018.
- Workloads in the public cloud are expected to reach 44% annual growth over the next five years versus 8.9% growth for “on-premises” computing workloads.
- More than 60% of businesses utilize cloud for performing IT-related operations.
- An average of 545 cloud services are in use by the typical organization.
- 2014 is the first year the majority of workloads (51%) will be processed in the cloud.
(Stats are thanks to Jack Woods, “20 cloud computing statistics every CIO should know,” SiliconANGLE, January 27, 2014)
Click to watch how Geoffrey Moore, author of Crossing the Chasm, assesses the hybrid trend:
Or, here’s the transcript:
“For the mid-market, SaaS is what we call ‘inside the tornado’. If you are a mid-sized company, it’s such a huge value proposition, and you really don’t have the wherewithal to have a big on-premises installation, so it’s a big difference. The larger you are, the slower you move, because you have such deep roots in the client-server era. And so, for the larger companies, we’re probably in some version of ‘crossing the SaaSm’.”
Geoffrey Moore, Managing Director, Geoffrey Moore Consulting, author of Crossing the Chasm
What are the benefits of going hybrid?
There are many compelling business reasons to leverage the cloud. According to a recent survey, 82% of companies have saved money by moving workloads to the cloud, 14% downsized their IT after cloud adoption, and 80% saw improvements within six months. Organizations with high cloud adoption are reporting 2x the revenue growth, and 2.5x higher gross profit growth than peer companies that are more cautious about cloud computing.
Click to watch how Intel CIO Kim Stevenson highlights the cloud’s promise of acceleration and innovation:
Or, here’s a transcript:
“We’re at this amazing point in history. As an IT community, we’re at the crosshairs of all that change. It’s up to us to figure out what that hybrid enterprise looks like for our companies, and to drive the acceleration and innovation into the company.”
Kim Stevenson, CIO, Intel
What are the challenges of going hybrid?
While there are compelling business reasons accelerating the widespread adoption of cloud computing and SaaS, there is also a whole new set of difficulties that arises as a result to challenge the hybrid enterprise. The complexity of multiple clouds, networks, service providers, SLAs, application sprawl, and end users everywhere all combine to limit the application and network visibility needed to ensure a consistent experience for end users, no matter their work situation, place, or device. And such a consistent end-user experience is essential for everyone to work effectively and for the hybrid enterprise to perform at its peak and achieve its maximum business potential.
Click to watch how Geoffrey Moore explains the fundamental importance of network performance in the digital world:
Or, here’s a partial transcript:
“How disruptive do you want to be with each investment? We’ve got a ton of disruptive technology in our world right now, through social, mobile, analytics, cloud—whatever. The thing the business community may not realize is that every one of those technologies is network-dependent. Ultimately, they all rest on the network. So investing in network performance is the sine qua non; if you’re going to do any of these things, you’ve got to start there.”
Geoffrey Moore, Managing Director, Geoffrey Moore Consulting, author of Crossing the Chasm
Click to watch how Jerry Kennelly, CEO of Riverbed, explains the evolution and challenges of hybrid networks:
Or, here’s a transcript:
“You’re using not only your private network, but you’re also wanting to get the economics of using the broader Internet in addition to your own network. In 2004, you were probably dealing with routers and switches that were hard-wired mechanical devices. Today, you’re dealing with software-defined networks and software-defined datacenters, network function virtualization, an entirely different world. That’s the hybrid network, where you’ve gone from the on-premises, controlled, familiar world of a decade ago, to the current world, a very exciting world….”
Jerry Kennelly, CEO, Riverbed
Click to watch Shell’s Jay Haines on the power of network visibility in problem-solving and long-term planning:
Or, here’s a partial transcript:
“Via the monitoring, we’re able to see the growth. Turns out it exposed a network problem where we had a threshold limit on firewalls and number of sessions. But, by having the visibility and being able to step back and not only look at the now but look at the long-term approach, gives you great advantage to understand how you’re doing from a health perspective.”
Jay Haines, Landscape Operations and Integrations Manager, Shell
Why do you need Riverbed for SaaS apps in the hybrid enterprise?
Click to watch Peter Coffee, VP for strategic research at Salesforce, explain why:
Or, here’s the transcript:
“When I hear the things that are said by Riverbed customers about things like SteelHead SaaS, what I’m hearing from them is, ‘Now I know that I’m not putting my destiny completely in your hands at Salesforce. I know that I’m also retaining the power to see, understand, optimize, control, and assure the kind of performance that’s going to make me a leader in my industry.’ It’s a very important part of the mixture that’s out there in the SaaS marketplace.
“At Salesforce, we know what we do. We do exactly one thing. We deliver the leverage, the economic benefits, and the agility of a pure SaaS model to companies of every size. But, as soon as you get to companies of medium or large size, they also want to merge that value effectively into existing hybrid portfolios of IT assets. So, SteelHead and SteelCentral are vital tools for them to have the confidence that they’re going to do that on their terms, and that they’re the ones who will always be driving their IT roadmap.”
Peter Coffee, VP for strategic research at Salesforce
Click to watch Ginna Raahauge, CIO of Riverbed, explain why it’s so important to ‘know thy cloud’:
Or, here’s a partial transcript:
“A lot of people have embraced SaaS, but they haven’t spent the time to understand what it really means. And it’s one thing to make the decision at the top line to subscribe. There are a lot of other elements of the architecture that are impacted by this. They are thinking about the shiny object, the slick user experience—‘oh, I get it on mobile’—and that’s great; but they’re not really understanding the investment and the cost structure and where that might show up down the road. A lot of times it’s in support, and a lot of times it’s in your data architecture. So, know thy cloud….”
Ginna Raahauge, CIO, Riverbed
