Virtualization and Cloud executives share their predictions for 2016.  Read them in this 8th Annual VMblog.com series exclusive.

Contributed by Ryan Koop, Chief Cloud and Virtualization Officer, Cohesive Networks

3 ways the data center loses the spotlight in 2016

In 2016, "Hybrid" will come to mean Interoperable

The term "hybrid" is still hotly debated in cloud computing. Is it a hybrid of on-premise and in-cloud computing? Is it a mix of private cloud and public cloud? Is it the network spread across regions or data center? Or is "hybrid" a shared space between partners, customers, and departments? We are already hybrid.

In 2016 none of that "hybrid" will matter. The 2015 Rightscale State of the Cloud survey found that more than 93% of enterprises use at least one application in the cloud. Other than a few all-cloud startups and all-hardware laggards most enterprises are already "hybrid" in the sense of resources spread across providers, regions, and technologies. "Hybrid Cloud" will come to mean cloud computing resources that are interoperable with all technologies, hardware, providers, and geographies.

In 2016, the developers of the world will be free to build applications without any thought to the underlying architecture.  A huge shift in cloud computing will finally come when end applications - from accounting software to website plugins - just work. No one will care about the underlying hardware, middleware or even the device connecting to the applications.

Security focus will shift from the data center to just the data

Traditional data centers will truly transform into private clouds in 2016.

The concept of an on-premise data center is changing. The slow process of modernizing traditional data centers has caught on, and most enterprises are transforming legacy data centers into true private cloud environments.

As data centers modernize, security will evolve as well. No longer will organizations just build massive walls around a corporate data center to keep out all potential attackers. Once hardware and software are virtualized they become part of the fabric of shared resources connected with public internet. Private cloud owners will see the value of public cloud security procedures and can avoid repeating security missteps.

Previously, internal data and systems are that were completely vulnerable to malicious "east-west" traffic. If a hacker breached the data center perimeter, they were able to move from application to application to gain access to all resources on the network.

In 2016, private data centers will reflect public cloud security realities and secure internal network traffic as well. Encrypted layers of security within a data center network will help organizations control access and encryption to limit malicious east/west movement.

This "application segmentation" at the application layer will add security within the network to strengthen existing data center hardware and virtualization layer security. Application layer security has caught on in public cloud, but 2016 will be the year for data centers to adopt  additional security that boosts existing network and physical security infrastructure.

NSX causes world collision event in 2016

In 2016 VMware's NSX will lead the charge in modernizing traditional data centers and will transform them into truly dynamic and elastic compute environments.  The change should not be surprising considering the NSX's aggressively cloud-focused go to market strategy since VMware acquired Nicira in 2013.  The rub is this adoption will be the next major disruptive event in the physical data center market. 

Increased NSX adoption will bring the foundational network capabilities or "table stakes" of public cloud networking (e.g. constructed subnets via API, user controlled Network ACLs via API, and user controller port filtering) to the private data center.  Enterprise data center owners will realize the value of true virtual networks in concept in practice. No more will data center operators believe a VLAN is actually virtual!

The limitations of the physical network architectures will be magnified once enterprises see the difference between an underlay for bulk transport and an overlay for application specific use-case tuning. The glaring security holes in physical networks once obfuscated will reveal themselves.

The collision between the cloud way and the physical data center way will be violent. The concept of an on-premise data center will change in 2016 both in how it will be built and how it will be consumed. Those with groups already working in the cloud will easily transition to a more flexible and efficient environment.  It may be called private cloud or software defined data center, but the name won't matter.

The question for 2017 is "when will the traditional physical data center way become extinct?"

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About the Author

Ryan Koop is the chief cloud and virtualization officer at Cohesive Networks. He is responsible for cloud partnerships and manages teams for project management and customer relations. His role spans the technical product development, customer support, business development and thought leadership needs of a growing company. Previously, he worked at a trading platform software company in the US Derivative Markets. Ryan attended the University of Colorado Boulder.