Disaster Recovery Journal

You may have heard the terms “public cloud” and “private cloud,” but what does it all mean? What happens when you combine the two to create the mysterious “hybrid cloud?”

Large corporations with the monetary resources available to build, develop and manage a server infrastructure most often use private cloud services. While obviously more expensive, a private cloud gives the builder complete control over the infrastructure and surrounding environment. It is important to note that those in charge of such a solution must be extremely skilled and confident in running a massive environment.

Most small to medium-sized businesses opt for a public cloud environment. This type of cloud offers web‐based applications and other cloud services. The hardware and operating systems are not owned by the client, but instead rented through a third-party vendor (a cloud hosting provider). One disadvantage to this solution is that the data is not stored locally; instead, data is stored and managed by the provider.

A hybrid cloud solution combines the best of both worlds. With such an option, businesses own some hardware that is enhanced with resources provided by the vendor. Essentially, a hybrid cloud can be completely customized based on the needs of the individual business.

Whether you have already made a substantial investment in your IT infrastructure, or you’d like to secure your data off-site, hybrid cloud could be the right solution for you.