The hybrid IT model has dominated the enterprise IT environment for some time now. Hybrid IT combines on-premises, private cloud and public cloud platforms, giving organizations flexibility in placing their workloads. Now, more organizations are taking that a step further by incorporating colocation services.
CoreSite’s 2024 State of the Data Center Report found that 98 percent of organizations have adopted or plan to adopt a hybrid IT model using colocation, private cloud and public cloud. It comes down to simple economics. IT leaders need to control costs while delivering AI and other advanced applications. Colocation gives them a cost-efficient option for hosting these resource-intensive services. It also enables them to manage risk while better aligning IT costs with business objectives.
A More Flexible Model
The growth of the hybrid cloud model provides insight into the hybrid IT trend. Now in its fifth year, the State of the Data Center study has shown a steady move from the public cloud alone to a hybrid cloud model that uses both public and private cloud platforms.
While organizations still rely heavily on the public cloud, they have recognized its shortcomings. Public cloud services minimize capital investments, but costs can escalate quickly as compute, storage and networking demands increase. Simple deployment and on-demand scalability are two key advantages of the public cloud, but they also make it easy for IT teams to turn up more resources than they need.
Performance is another concern, particularly with latency-sensitive applications such as AI. Moving data to and from the public cloud creates performance deficits if organizations don’t have a direct cloud interconnect. Moving workloads to a private cloud can help reduce latency. Security, privacy and performance considerations may also favor a private cloud environment.
Hybrid IT Headaches
Some workloads are not suited to a cloud, whether public or private, and need to remain on premises. However, combining all three models creates a highly complex environment that is difficult to manage. In a 2023 Foundry study, large organizations cited IT infrastructure complexity as the chief impediment to successful IT initiatives.
The persistent IT skills gap adds to the challenge. Many organizations lack the in-house expertise to manage on-prem, public cloud and private cloud infrastructure. IT teams are stretched to the limit, dedicating all their time to administrative tasks rather than initiatives that could drive the business forward.
And while hybrid IT offers flexibility, cost predictability, performance and security, many organizations would rather get out of the business of running a data center. Data centers come with high capital and operational costs and physical security challenges. They also lack the direct cloud interconnects needed to optimize performance.
The Role of Colocation
Colocation gives organizations the benefits of hybrid IT without the burden of operating a data center. Organizations can save the capital costs of building or expanding a data center facility and the operational overhead of power and cooling. Organizations pay a predictable monthly fee based on the number of racks.
Colocation facilities have robust physical and logical security and redundant systems and connectivity to reduce the risk of downtime. Additionally, organizations can choose the right facilities and services for various workloads and scale as needed to meet growing demand.
Direct cloud interconnects and interconnection across multiple cloud services are primary reasons for the use of colocation. In fact, the CoreSite report notes that connectivity was the No. 1 factor driving the use of colocation for almost half of workloads. Organizations can also use colocation to move compute resources closer to the edge to minimize latency.
How Technologent Can Help
The Technologent team has expertise across on-premises, private cloud and public cloud environments, and can help you select the right colocation facility for your requirements. Let us help you maximize the benefits of hybrid IT while minimizing the costs, headaches and risks.
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