Cloudonomics: The Business Value of Cloud Computing, + Website

Hybrid Architecture Implementations

As we’ve seen, even if the unit cost of cloud resources is higher than that of “owned” ones, a pure cloud-based solution still can deliver a lower total cost. Generally, a hybrid of dedicated, flat-rate resources and on-demand, pay-per-use cloud resources will be cost optimal. However, additional architectural elements required to implement the hybrid can alter the cost structure and therefore the points of cost optimality. We can distinguish a few major variations of the hybrid architectures illustrated in Exhibit 12.1(c) through (f).

Colocated Hybrid

When we visualize the hybrid clouds shown in Exhibits 12.1(c) through (f), we tend to think of an enterprise data center networked to a cloud service provider. However, some service providers offer hybrid hosting, a mix of colocation, managed services, and cloud services. An enterprise customer can maintain owned, dedicated, and thus flat-rate resources in a single facility. These resources can have a flat-rate cost based on a variety of financing mechanisms: a capital expenditure with straight-line depreciation from purchase price through to residual value, or as a constant operating expense stream via leasing or financing options. These resources can interoperate with managed services elements, such as managed servers or managed storage, where a slightly higher flat rate is paid, but value delivered can include everything from basic server monitoring and management up through performance-managed ...