Cloud computing is great for so many things, but simply throwing all your virtual machines in some AWS EC2 instances is not the right thing to do.
We could spend days explaining why Cloud isn’t the perfect solution for all IT needs, but let’s be productive and teach you guys how IT should be done in 2020.
TL;DR: Cloud computing seems great on the surface, but if you throw all your IT into the Cloud, you’ll most likely triple your IT expenses. Hybrid deployments are the way to go.
The right way to do IT
Hybrid IT
Any company’s IT should be split into three parts.
- Cloud
- Colocation
- On-Prem (sometimes)
Cloud
Although Cloud is really overly expensive for most tasks (no wonder why you have to dig really deep to understand Cloud pricing), Cloud does make sense for very flexible and scalable applications like website hosting, emails, and varying compute loads. Basically, any task that needs to flawlessly scale up and down on demand. That said, once you commit to a Cloud provider, expect to stay there, as you will be most likely locked down into their ecosystem.
No matter the provider, your Cloud infrastructure must be planned and deployed accordingly to how your provider has built its services. Unlike traditional IT where you just spin up VMs as you grow, a Cloud environment is segmented into services. Compute, storage, archiving, database, firewalls, etc.
Colocation
Colocation data centers are where the main IT of any company should be. Company-owned hardware in a rented space within a colocation facility. Colo allows you to have stable and predictable costs in addition to having full control of the infrastructure.
Colocation data centers will allow you to benefit from 100% uptime at a simple monthly cost. Read more about colo here.
When renting infrastructure in the Cloud, you are simply paying for colocation and renting hardware managed by a Cloud console. Don’t be mistaken, even AWS might be in the same colocation facility as you. Cloud is not magic!
Buying your own hardware will always be more cost-effective on a medium-term plan.
On-Prem
Lastly, for some very specific applications, some companies might require on-premises infrastructure (a server room in the office building). If your office is located in downtown, you might be close enough to a colo data center to bypass this, but that’s not always the case.
Indeed, some applications need zero latency between the servers and users. Although they are quite uncommon, they definitely exist.
Master your IT budget
Splitting your IT correctly between Cloud and colocation for a hybrid deployment is the right way to do IT in 2020. Your company will be able to be more efficient as ever and have great scalability potential.
Need help to deploy your data center? Contact-us.