The document discusses how hybrid IT infrastructure combining on-premises and public cloud capabilities allows enterprises to maximize flexibility and performance. Nearly three-quarters of enterprises now use a hybrid model. When developing a hybrid strategy, organizations should consider how to better control "shadow IT," manage fluctuations in application demand, ease application development and testing, handle varied workloads and user bases, and meet changing workload demands through a flexible network. Workload awareness is also important, with most critical "Tier 1" workloads run on-premises where there is better control and security.

1. eGUIDE
Hybrid IT - A Winning Strategy
Hybrid IT infrastructure that combines on-
premises and public cloud capabilities is a
strategy many enterprises are embracing to
maximize flexibility and performance. In fact,
Rightscale’s fifth annual State of the Cloud
Survey finds that nearly three-quarters of today’s
enterprises are using a hybrid infrastructure —
the study indicates that the adoption rates have
increased from 58% in 2015 to 71% in 2016.
But how do you know if hybrid is right for you?
It used to be that enterprises fell into
two distinct camps when it came to cloud
computing.
ƒƒ One camp valued the scalability and agility
inherent in the public cloud.
ƒƒ The other avoided the cloud, instead
focusing on the control, security and
stability inherent in private IT infrastructure.
Read more...
FEATURE
Considerations for a
Hybrid Cloud Strategy
Most organizations
have some sort of cloud
deployed, but do you
have a strategy as the
hybrid cloud is gaining in
adoption?
Page 3
CASE STUDY
City of Minneapolis
As a trusted, hybrid IT
partner of the City of
Minneapolis, OneNeck
hosts and manages their
IT infrastructure, ensuring
they’re always on.
Page 5
FEATURE
Reigning in Hybrid
Cloud with Governance
Hybrid cloud is here to
stay, there’s no denying
it. But how do you control
it? Now that’s the million-
dollar question.
Page 7
FEATURE
Hybrid Cloud Risks that
Business Must Manage
Hybrid cloud adoption
is rising, but is it the
right solution for your
enterprise? How can you
be sure?
Page 9
FEATURE
Defining the Hybrid
Cloud in 2017
Hybrid cloud adoption
grew significantly. But as
adoption grows, so does
the confusion about what
really defines a hybrid
cloud infrastructure.
Page 11
presents

2. eGUIDE
2
(855) ONE-NECK | www.OneNeck.com
Today, more enterprises are realizing the cloud is
no longer an either/or choice. With hybrid cloud,
they can get the best of both worlds and ensure
their IT infrastructure closely aligns with the needs
of their business.
As more organizations consider a hybrid IT
strategy they should keep seven key factors in
mind.
1. Better control over Shadow IT. Many times,
line-of-business (LOB) managers and end
users with pressing business needs are
unwilling to wait for internal IT and instead
look to public cloud vendors to provide
new applications and services. Referred
to as Shadow IT, this type of environment
is usually the first step toward a hybrid
environment. Acknowledging its existence
and bringing it under centralized IT
management ensures the business sees
IT as a valued service provider and not a
hindrance.
2. Manage swings in app demand and
performance. Organizations with
highly-dynamic applications that spike
unexpectedly in demand and usage can
easily and cost-effectively use the public
cloud to spin up new resources and scale
to support peak loads, then scale back
down to on-premises once demand drops.
3. Ease app development and test. Rather than replicating
the production environment on-premises for testing,
organizations are leveraging the cloud for quick iterations
and rapid development, then running apps on-premises only
when they are production-ready.
4. Handle varied workloads. Organizations often find it more
cost-effective and secure to run the front-end interfaces for
large public-facing applications in the public cloud, while
supporting the back-end services (and critical data) for those
on-premises, where they have better control and security.
5. Support varied user bases. As more enterprises support both
on-premises and mobile workforces, they find a mix of cloud
and traditional IT solutions work best, as they can provide
the ultimate in mobile access via public cloud services, while
keeping users of more performance-intensive, sensitive or
compliance-oriented applications on-premises.
6. Meet workload demands. Hybrid infrastructure forces
enterprises to re-evaluate their network to ensure it can
support the demands of workloads that are constantly
shifting from on-premises to the cloud and back again.
7. Manage hybrid environment. With hybrid IT, administrative
tools must be able to manage both cloud and on-premises
assets, using the same set of security, user and application
policies.
What is your cloud strategy? Whether it’s public, private
or hybrid, OneNeck IT Solutions can help ensure your IT
infrastructure is optimized to support your business needs.

3. eGUIDE
3
(855) ONE-NECK | www.OneNeck.com
A recent study from Forrester Research shows that 58
percent of the responding companies already have some
type of hybrid cloud deployment. The study highlights the
fact that the majority of companies now view a hybrid cloud
– some combination of public and private cloud usage – to
be optimum for an effective IT strategy. In another study
from IDC Research, the most commonly cited reason for a
hybrid cloud strategy was the need for business agility. In
fact, 73 percent of the IDC study respondents cite agility as
the primary reason for moving to the cloud.
While most private cloud production workloads center on
large scale data volumes and infrastructure needs, workload
awareness and management is often ignored in the hybrid
strategy, but is on one of the biggest factors affecting its
success.
Workload Awareness and Tiers
Managing and balancing workloads is crucial to an effective
hybrid cloud strategy. The decision to deploy solutions
on public or private clouds should be directly linked to
the business requirement and the SLA. As an organizing
principle, many companies segment their workloads
into tiers, with Tier One workloads most likely to be in
the private cloud for performance and control. Tier One
workloads are usually those that require large scale data
volumes or heavy infrastructure needs. Examples might
include content serving and management, database
management, big data and analytics, or virtual desktop
management.
White Paper
Cloudy with a Chance of
Confusion
The objective of this paper is
to take a simple approach and
describe the benefits of cloud and
clarify for the reader the different
shapes of the cloud. It focuses
on what it takes to eliminate the
potential pain of transformation
to the cloud and why initiatives
such as virtual private clouds are
gaining popularity. While the
cloud elicits a broad range of
topics and concerns, this paper
focuses on cloud architectures
that address computing
infrastructure, or Infrastructure
as a Service (IaaS) rather than
Software as a Service (SaaS) cloud
computing.
Download Now
When segmenting workloads for your organization, factor
the following characteristics into your decision. The more
of these factors inherent in a workload, the more likely
it should be a Tier One workload with closely managed
performance.
ƒƒ Need to keep information confidential
ƒƒ Regulatory or security requirements
ƒƒ Need for reliable consistent performance
ƒƒ Revenue generation
ƒƒ Audit or change control requirements
ƒƒ Data volume and scale
Workload Priorities
Many companies find that their Tier One applications
cluster in specific business areas, especially commerce,
mobility and collaboration. Commerce solutions
deserve a high priority because even slight differences
in performance can adversely affect a customer and
negatively impact revenue.
Users have little or no patience for delays in mobile
solutions and many experts recommend a maximum of
one to two seconds response time for mobile apps to
keep users engaged. Go beyond two seconds and users
will likely move on to another site, making it critical that
mobile apps be served quickly.
Considerations when Developing a Hybrid Cloud Strategy