Hybrid IT on the rise: welcome, hybrid backbone

Let's welcome a post from Frank Lyonnet, VP Product Marketing at Ipanema Technologies, who talks about hybrit IT and hybrid networks.

The question is not whether organizations will adopt the Cloud, it's about when and how. Enterprises prepare for a long transition period in which they will see a hybridization of their IT between private and public components. Whatever the application delivery model, the network will be at the heart of IT. Enterprises can now get the best of both private and public worlds through unified hybrid networks.

There is nothing impossible for the Cloud, every single piece of IT can be put into the Cloud from servers to desktops, from security to application delivery. Enterprises will start adopting one or another of those Cloud capabilities. Sometimes this will happen at a strategic level, like VALEO, a leading car equipment manufacturer that moved from Lotus Notes to Google Apps "to reduce significantly office infrastructure costs while simultaneously improving user collaboration and productivity". Sometimes it will be happen at a less visible level, like this chemical company that switched to a SaaS application for days off management and got a better service than with their legacy in-house system.

The Cloud is an evolution that will require transition periods. The older IT model - the private IT model - will seamlessly co-exist with the newer Cloud model - the public IT model. Enterprises need appropriate tools for a seamless coexistence of public and private components; they will need to think their IT as a hybrid IT. So were to start? IT of a distributed organization can be oversimplified: users across the globe (in branch offices, at home or at the hotel …) use various devices (PCs, Pads, Phones) to access, through the network, to multiple applications running on servers across the globe. Whatever the delivery model, public or private, the network is at the heart of IT.

All international organizations own a VPN, typically built around an MPLS backbone. The Virtual Private Network is perfect for secured communications between private IT components. Is it able to support the transition to the hybrid IT? Not in its actual format, just because it has been optimized for … private communications. Does it make sense to carry the ever growing public Internet traffic, sometimes business critical, sometimes not - like social networking - through high quality and pricey MPLS pipes? The answer is clearly no and this is why enterprises will adopt hybrid networks.

Gartner defines Hybrid Networks as the combination of MPLS VPN with broadband Internet links on which the enterprise is setting-up a secondary, secured but less reliable network using IPSec technology. While hybrid networks exist for years, they are not widely adopted as they were cumbersome to setup and manage. Until now there was no solution to easily and seamlessly unify MPLS and Internet VPNs into one.

Times they are a-changing. With Ipanema's hybrid network unification an enterprise no longer have to make a choice between fast or large pipes, between pricey and cheap networks, between business grade or standard grade links. A fast and XXL network is able to serve all applications whatever their business criticality and delivery model: private datacenter, private Cloud, public Cloud, SaaS … A dynamic, automated, application aware, sense and respond approach to WAN selection. Far from what legacy technologies like Policy Based Routing can deliver.

Immediate benefits from the hybrid IT is the reason why this Valeo switched to GoogleApps and to a unified hybrid network at the very same time. To the savings and productivity gain achieved with GoogleApps, they added extra savings and x3 overall capacity increase through their hybrid network.

A unified hybrid network is the backbone of a hybrid IT, the one that enterprises will use to seamlessly transition to the new world. Will everything ultimately collapse into the Cloud? Will enterprises definitely turn their head from IT burden to focus on their core business? Nobody would bet on this happening in a 5 year time frame. But in 10 or 15 years? Remember, there is nothing impossible for the Cloud.

Illustrations: Cyclone Catarina from the ISS on March 26^th, 2004 – High above the cloud the sun stays the same.

Comments

[Thierry Grenot]

Dear Tony, thanks for your comment. I do agree that 'new technology' does not always mean 'great technology'. Actually, hybrid networks are not new at all. What's new is the ability to manage them in a simple and efficient way, allowing to deliver their benefits in a cost effective manner. Ipanema's Hybrid Network Unification is about making a hybrid [MPLS+Internet] network behave like [One network]. It proved its benefits (performance, simplicity and low cost) in many situations. For example just have a quick look to the Valeo case study in www.ipanematech.com. They work in automotive which is a pretty challenged sector in our trouble time, and the (reached) objectives was... to save money. Cheers - Thierry

[Tony Sygrove]

Whilst I agree with what is being said in this article, history has shown that although everyone would like to move to the latest technology, as in this case hybrid IT, for all the benefits it will bring, unfortunately, we do not live in a perfect world and due to the effects the recession has, and is still having on many companies, I believe that it will be some time before we see a major move towards this technology. I have always maintained that the network regardless of what technology is or has been used is the key element within the IT department, but in many cases CIO's and IT Managers have concentrated on the business applications which has proven their down-fall, as they have not realised the impact this decision has on their networks ability to handle the increased traffic/bandwidth. Hybrid/Cloud technology will erase this issue but at what cost to the company. Can the CIO justify the huge cost of implementing such a project in these difficult times?