RESEARCH

PAPER
Integrating the
hybrid cloud
Its time for IT to get full value
from the cloud

February 2015
Sponsored by

Integrating the hybrid cloud

Contents
Executive summary

p3

The challenge

p3

Storage of data and applications

p4

Security and governance concerns

p7

Problems and solutions

p9

Conclusion

p10

About the sponsor, Talend

p11

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2 Computing | research paper | sponsored by Talend

Integrating the hybrid cloud

Executive summary
Theres no question that cloud computing is a disruptive technology. It promises that when
deployed correctly that it can allow organisations to reduce costs, increase computing scalability
and strengthen system security.
For businesses of all sizes and in all sectors the predominant architecture that emerges will
be a hybrid cloud set-up. Hybrid clouds combine the traditional enterprise applications that
we refer to as on-premises with a private or public cloud environment made up of the newer
type of application delivered in as Software as a Service (SaaS). Of course this is a very simple
description of what could in fact be many different combinations of cloud based and on-premises
environments made up of both internal systems and those of trading partners in a network
supporting Business to Business (B2B) transactions.
It is one thing to embrace the vision of cloud computing; another to actually make it a reality.
While there are undoubted benefits to implementing a hybrid cloud infrastructure, there are
dangers too. It is hard enough to control data and applications within a corporate environment,
and if it is not managed correctly it would be even harder to manage in a cloud environment.
The problem is compounded when data is flowing between on-premises and cloud architectures.
Organisations also have to contend with a plethora of other integration issues relating to corporate
governance, performance, security and compliance.
A Computing survey finds that these concerns are uppermost in the minds of todays IT
executives. Many are keen to embrace the technology, but are concerned about the repercussions
of doing so. So what, in practice, can IT directors actually do to surmount these integration hurdles
and get the most out of the technology?
This paper investigates the issue.

The challenge
The benefits of cloud technology are well documented. Clouds allow organisations to quickly
deploy new services; cope with spikes in demand; improve disaster recovery and systems
availability; and deal with the ever increasing data volumes.
Not surprisingly, almost every large and medium-sized business today uses cloud technology in
one form or another, be it in a public or private cloud architecture. But increasingly, organisations
are moving towards hybrid cloud infrastructures, which combine on-premises, private cloud and
public cloud architectures.
According to industry analysts Gartner, over half of enterprises will be using some combination
of public and private cloud by 2017. But while there are significant advantages to migrating to a
hybrid cloud arrangement, the challenges involved should not be underestimated.
In the first place, there is the whole issue of security. Its hard enough to lock down data and
applications within a corporate infrastructure. When data is flowing back and forth between that
architecture and a public cloud, things can get even harder. The same applies to compliance it
may be difficult to comply with government and industry regulations when sensitive data is held
off premises by a third party provider.

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Integrating the hybrid cloud

Performance management is another key issue. Most organisations have some type of IT
monitoring in place to ensure that key assets work as anticipated and emerging problems are
halted in their tracks. But that functionality begins and ends within the corporate walls; theres no
straight forward way of accomplishing the same goal in a public cloud.
Then theres the challenge of handling workload management and governance. Typically,
organisations want to have the ability to execute workloads and manage changes such as a
sudden spike in demand directly and in a business-orientated manner. At first glance, its hard to
see how this can be managed adequately in a hybrid cloud environment.
But the biggest challenge of all revolves around integration. Any organisation embarking on a
hybrid cloud implementation needs to find a way of linking in-house applications to applications
managed in the cloud. Everything must be done to ensure that silos applications that stand
alone are not created when on-premises and cloud applications are combined.
Whats more, without tight integration between on-premises and cloud services, organisations
find it difficult to orchestrate business processes, deliver workload mobility and provide a coherent
user experience.
At present, there are a number of products on the market that claim to bridge the gap between
on-premises, private and public cloud, thereby doing away with the need to integrate applications.
Unfortunately, these tools rarely deliver what is expected of them. Some tools have been
purpose built to manage workloads on an Amazon public cloud, for example, and they do this
perfectly adequately. Then there are other systems which perform well in VMware-based virtual
infrastructures. The trouble is that these environments are often limited in scope and lack feature
support. Vendors also make it difficult for organisations to use their own tools in these hybrid
cloud environments.
Given these factors, it is no surprise that many organisations find maintaining visibility and
control over their hybrid environments a challenge. Concerns about platform integration figured
prominently in an exclusive survey of 110 IT managers that Computing recently commissioned.

Storage of data and applications

Respondents were first quizzed about their current use of cloud technology. Almost three fifths
(58%) said they used cloud technology as part of their production environment. Of the remainder,
39 percent said they did not use any cloud technology, but about half of these said they would
be moving some data or applications to the cloud (public or private) in the next 12 months.
This shows that some usage of the cloud is now not only a majority pursuit, but also one that
is growing all the time.
The interviewees were also asked if they stored data and applications on-premises or in the cloud.
A sizeable proportion said that they stored their data and applications on-premises. An average
of 71 percent of applications and 68 percent of data is still maintained on-premises. Private cloud
accounted for just over a fifth (22%) of applications and 26 percent of data, while the public cloud
was home to seven and six percent of applications and data respectively.

4 Computing | research paper | sponsored by Talend

Integrating the hybrid cloud

Fig. 1 : Please estimate the percentage of applications and data held in

the following environments

22%

7%
71%

Applications in private cloud (%)

Applications in public cloud (%)
Applications on-premises (%)

26%

68%

6%

Data in private cloud (%)

Data in public cloud (%)
Data on-premises (%)

The findings seem to indicate that many organisations, whilst professing enthusiasm for cloud
technology, remain wary of moving their data and applications off-premises.
In a supplementary question, the interviewees were asked to estimate what percentage of their
applications would be in the cloud in three years time. The responses support the proposition that
hybrid cloud is the new normal, with private cloud on equal footing as on-premises infrastructure
for both data and application. Interestingly, public cloud, while doubling its share, will remain a
minor element of the whole, according to the respondents prognoses at least.

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Integrating the hybrid cloud

Fig. 2 : What percentage of applications and data will be held in the

following environments in 3 years time?

42%

45%

Applications in private cloud (%)

Applications in public cloud (%)
Applications on-premises (%)

13%

44%

44%

Data in private cloud (%)

Data in public cloud (%)
Data on-premises (%)

12%
There is a common perception in the IT community that cloud deployments happen by accident.
This is partially borne out by the survey results with a quarter of interviewees indicating that they
had acquired their current cloud infrastructure as a result of ad-hoc initiatives by different parts of
the business, and four percent saying that their current mix is a result of a structural changes and
mergers and acquisitions.
However, almost two-thirds (65%) said that they had planned their cloud deployment, which as
we have seen is overwhelmingly hybrid, as part of their IT strategy. Clearly, most organisations
are now well aware of the pros and cons of the various cloud and on-premises options and are
structuring their systems accordingly.
Of all the potential benefits cited as reasons for moving from a fully on-premises set-up to a
hybrid cloud environment, better disaster recovery and fault tolerance and on-demand flexibility
for hosting workloads on-premises or in the cloud, were the two items that were top of the list.
6 Computing | research paper | sponsored by Talend

Integrating the hybrid cloud

Security and governance concerns

Despite the appeal of cloud, the old reservations about data security and governance remain (Fig
3). Almost three out of five respondents (58%) said that they were very concerned about the
security implications of storing data outside the firewall in the cloud. A significant number (40%)
were similarly concerned about the governance of cloud data. Others were very worried about
establishing performance and quality of service for cloud applications (36%); getting value for
money from their cloud platforms (25%) and the cost of integrating their cloud and on-premises
environments (22%). Smaller numbers were very concerned about the need to re-architect
applications to work in a hybrid cloud environment (14%), and creating and managing shared
networks between the data centre and public cloud provider (14%).

Fig. 3 : How concerned are you about the following issues?

Very
concerned
1

Not
concerned
2

The security of data residing outside

your firewall in the cloud
Governance of the cloud data
Establishing performance and
quality of service for cloud
applications
Your cloud platform being value for
money going forward
The cost of integrating your cloud
and on-premises environments
Your cloud platform meeting your
future business needs
The need to re-architect applications
to work in a hybrid cloud architecture

7%

Creating and managing shared

networks between the data centre
and public cloud provider
Supporting access from mobile
users and branch offices to cloud
applications
Building consistent visibility and
control of virtual applications across
the data centre and the cloud service

00% 20%
20
40
60
80
100
40%
60%
80% 100%
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Integrating the hybrid cloud

In a related question, the survey asked hybrid cloud which aspects of managing their infrastructure
they find most challenging.
Difficulties with integration were an over-riding theme integration. Forty-two percent mentioned
difficulties with integrating data across different platforms, while 33 percent did the same with
reference to applications.
Meanwhile others referred to the effects of incomplete integration. Two-thirds (68%) of
the respondents said they were struggling to improve data governance in their hybrid cloud
environment, and a similar number (64%) mentioned difficulties in enforcing security policies
across applications and workloads. Forty-two percent were attempting to establish performance
and quality of service parameters for cloud applications (Fig. 4).

Fig. 4 : Which of the following issues do you find most challenging?

Data governance in a hybrid
environment
Ensuring security policies on
applications/workloads are enforced
on-premises and in the cloud
Establishing performance and
quality of service for cloud
applications

68%
66%
44%

Integrating data from on-premises

and cloud-based systems

42%

Integrating applications in a hybrid

cloud environment

33%

Re-architecting applications to work

in the cloud

27%

Providing access for mobile users to

on-premises and cloud applications

27%

Managing your on-premises and

cloud resources

23%
*Respondents could select multiple answers.

8 Computing | research paper | sponsored by Talend

Integrating the hybrid cloud

Problems and solutions

There is no question that hybrid cloud computing is set to be the dominant model. According to
a recent study by Microsoft and 451 Research, 68 percent of organisations are set to adopt some
kind of hybrid cloud model over the next two years, a figure supported by the current survey.
But it is not always easy to create an IT environment where cloud-based and on-premises
infrastructure can thrive as one. Security can be compromised when data is crossing operational
boundaries. Managing workloads in two different environments can be a fiendishly difficult task.
Then there is the whole challenge of securely integrating applications and data across on-premises
and cloud platforms.
Integrating applications and data across cloud and on-premises platforms is one of the biggest
challenges facing companies moving to hybrid cloud environments. So how can organisations
overcome these integration hurdles and get the most out of their hybrid cloud platforms?
For many organisations the simple answer to this question is to write new code or to hire a third
party to do that for them. But this brings challenges of its own. New code takes time and money
to create, de-bug and roll-out. And theres always the possibility that the new code will not work
as expected.
Alternatively, instead of writing expensive code, organisations can try to adapt existing systems
to solve hybrid cloud issues. Take monitoring. An organisation with an existing on-premises
monitoring system might be able to extend its reach into the cloud.
Insights gleaned from these tools can also be put to further use. Workload balancing is a prime
example. Once an organisation has visualised and quantified how its cloud assets are being used,
it can use the information to prioritise workloads based on business goals.
At first sight this approach is appealing, but it is only likely to favour organisations with an
extensive range of cloud compatible tools. Even companies with these tools in place may only be
able to use them in very prescriptive ways.
Organisations can also use pre-defined templates and technologies to tackle this issue. A company
might, for example, want to route information from a Salesforce application situated in the cloud to
a SAP application running on-premises. To carry out this operation it could use a template with the
necessary logic to perform the routing.
There is no question that templates and point solutions can be used to solve particular issues in a
hybrid cloud environment. But in the longer term, these quick fixes can create more problems than
they solve by introducing complexity. Hybrid cloud environments containing lots of templates are
harder to manage and service.
There is a complementary approach for organisations to explore. They can use open source cloud
management frameworks to manage their hybrid clouds. These offerings provide a common
framework to manage resources, both on-premises and in the cloud, and are free to deploy.
Open source products have the added benefit of being backed by proactive teams of developers.
Release cycles tend to be shorter, feedback loops between users and developers are tighter,
and new features and fixes generally come on stream very quickly.

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Integrating the hybrid cloud

Conclusion
There is no doubt that hybrid cloud, arrived at either by accident or design, is becoming the
new normal, as the use cases and best practice for the various types of cloud and on-premises
environments are becoming clearer. But despite widespread enthusiasm for cloud platforms,
many companies continue to harbour reservations around security and control.
Many of these concerns revolve around the central issue of integration. As our exclusive survey
reveals, todays executives are all too conscious of the difficulties involved in combining onpremises and cloud environments. Many of the interviewees said that they were wrestling to
improve corporate governance in their hybrid clouds. Others indicated that they were deeply
concerned about the security implications of combining on-premises and cloud resources. And
a large number of respondents told us that they were struggling to integrate data across both
environments.
Clearly, these issues need to be resolved in a satisfactory manner if the hybrid cloud set-up is not
to create as many problems as it solves as a result in increasing overall complexity. While there are
plenty of tools and point solutions on the market that can provide a partial fix to common hybrid
cloud integration issues, their limited scope may just end up adding to the complexity. However,
as hybrid cloud integration platforms are maturing and start to address the complexity and
specific security concerns of the space today. Open source solutions integrating data, applications
& processes provide a viable option.
Longer term, however, organisations will need to re-think the way they approach hybrid cloud
implementations. It is all too easy for businesses to get caught up in the technology and miss
the bigger picture. Enterprises should focus on creating an organisation that transcends silos and
brings everyone impacted by the implementation on board. By focusing on people and processes
from the start, businesses can unlock the full potential of cloud and get a rapid return on their
investment.

10 Computing | research paper | sponsored by Talend

Integrating the hybrid cloud

About the sponsor, Talend

Talends integration solutions allow data-driven organizations to gain instant value from all their
data. Through native support of modern big data platforms, Talend takes the complexity out
of integration efforts and equips IT departments to be more responsive to the demands of the
business, at a predictable cost. Based on open source technologies, Talends scalable, future-proof
solutions address all existing and emerging integration requirements. Talend is privately-held and
headquartered in Redwood City, CA.
For more information visit:
www.talend.com
Twitter:
@Talend

Computing | research paper | sponsored by Talend 11

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