infoTECH Feature

October 23, 2014

Verizon Shifts from Public Cloud to a Hybrid Model

Cloud computing usage has grown exponentially thanks to its efficiency and the ability to cater to the needs of modern businesses that need access to more complicated IT infrastructures at a fraction of the cost, as a way to provide access to companies’ resources to a diverse workforce distributed worldwide. The flexibility of cloud computing ensures that businesses always have the resources they need, as expected, to streamline their operations and boost productivity.

Thanks to public cloud computing, many enterprises have applications and online storage made available to users over the Internet ‘as a service’ – typically on a Pay Per Use model. While Public Clouds are appealing to many for a shared pool of resources, enabling users to employ new applications, it may not be for every company, because the underlying architecture is fixed with less scope for customization for security, data protection, and performance.

Therefore, shifting to the cloud only makes sense for some business owners who opt to and are fine with outsourcing part or all of their organizational IT requirements. But, they also need to trust an external provider to bring a service to them (i.e., the private, public, or hybrid cloud services), as needed with high availability or fault tolerant solutions.

However, if privacy and confidentiality are paramount, the company might want to consider alternative options like, for example, private clouds or hybrid models, where only certain business functions are outsourced and data are stored and treated on site. By using hybrid cloud computing, for instance, permits sharing only some resources but not relinquishing data control. 

This just happens to be Verizon (News - Alert) Enterprise Solutions’ cloud strategy: providing a “hybrid cloud” model with a professional service and networking layer, told the analyst firm Technology Business Research (TBR), Inc. in a recent analyst commentary.

Jillian Mirandi, a senior analyst in TBR’s Cloud Practice, reported the news in the piece “Verizon shifts cloud strategy away from public cloud, toward hybrid IT.” This commentary on Verizon’s cloud portfolio explains the reasoning behind the shift from focusing on a public cloud space to a hybrid one; it was the result of limited penetration, increasing competition (amongst AWS, Google (News - Alert) and Microsoft) and low margins in the public cloud market. Such factors have driven Verizon to realign its cloud with a mix of physical and virtual assets for a seamless hybrid IT system that is flexible, scalable and secure.

Although the provider will still offer public cloud, the most profitable aspect of cloud for Verizon – its Public cloud IaaS generates an estimated 85 percent of Verizon’s cloud revenue, as per the TBR commentary post – Verizon believes, in the end, it is making the right move in helping customers leverage hybrid IT, which comprises both public and private cloud services. Verizon foresees the majority of enterprises are going to end up with a hybrid model.

TBR's holistic view suggests the Verizon hybrid solution represents the best of both worlds as it can take advantage of resource scalability, while it keeps the services strictly private. Adding “the launch of Secure Cloud Interconnect service, which connects the Verizon Cloud with other clouds including Microsoft (News - Alert) Azure and AWS, will help Verizon meet the increasing demand for hybrid IT and multivendor environments.”

It is clear, of course, that even Verizon concurs that there is no denying it: The cloud is here to stay!




Edited by Maurice Nagle
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