Virtualization and Cloud executives share their predictions for 2017. Read them in this 9th annual VMblog.com series exclusive.
Contributed by Laz Vekiarides, chief technology officer and co-founder of ClearSky Data
In 2017: Enterprises will learn what hybrid cloud actually means, and deploy it
In the enterprise technology world, 2017 will likely see
profits increase and IPOs revive while the market stabilizes as a whole.
Mergers and acquisitions among major players such as Dell, EMC and HP created a
period of settling and unpredictability in recent years. However, as M&A
activity picks up again in 2017, startups will tackle new opportunities while
organizations adopt solutions that recently seemed to have no place in the
enterprise, such as multicloud strategies and container technology.
In the midst of this activity, below are some trends we
expect to drive enterprise priorities in 2017.
1. "Hybrid cloud"
automatically means "multicloud."
It's common sense: you likely wouldn't store all of your
valuables in the same safe-deposit box, and your enterprise would likely prefer
to avoid giving ownership of its sensitive data to a single cloud provider. Standardizing
a single vendor for something as sensitive as data assets smacks of vendor
lock-in situations from on-premise technologies of the past. To manage this
risk, organizations that venture into public cloud territory are looking for
strategies to employ multiple cloud service providers. While Amazon is the most
prominent, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, IBM SoftLayer and others are gaining
traction. While the "Clouderati" are busy turning their noses up at VMware's
recent partnership with AWS focusing on multicloud support, the new AWS/vSphere
service will be one of the most successful product introductions in recent
history from VMware.
2. Hybrid cloud
transformation is a necessity, not an option - no matter how messy it gets.
The 2016 RightScale State of the Cloud Report found that
nearly 75 percent of organizations are leveraging hybrid cloud, even though
their tactics, strategies and even definitions of the term can vary. This lack
of clarity surrounding hybrid cloud's definition can create complications and
roadblocks when it comes to deployment. However, despite any setbacks,
organizations have recognized that they are going to do something in the cloud and this, by necessity, will be hybrid cloud.
Like it or not, public/private or
public/public hybrid arrangements will be a critical part of tomorrow's
enterprise landscape, and many are working to ensure a successful hybrid
transition as a result. If you are thinking about how to approach this,
consider a "data first" strategy. Securing and managing your data uniformly
across its lifecycle is a necessary first step to guarantee the greatest number
of options down the road.
3. Containers are staring
at the trough of disillusionment.
Enterprises are increasingly investigating and using container
technology in on-premise, public cloud and private cloud environments alike. The
hope amongst the faithful is that the technology becomes more relevant than
conventional virtualization, as it turns into a mainstream option for enterprise
application deployment. Continued use will validate containers further, as will
a push for enterprises to use containers to deliver enterprise-class services.
Of course, increased container use will raise many infrastructure and
operational questions for enterprises, as many of the requirements for running
stateful applications like databases are missing from products like Docker. Expect
that a lot of new technology will appear over the next year or so to fill the
gaps, especially around storage, so that the momentum can continue.
4. As companies
increasingly outsource infrastructure, internal team dynamics are changing.
2017 will provide a more stable environment than enterprise
IT startups have seen in recent years, but changes that have been building for
years will continue to gain speed. For example, in the new hybrid landscape, IT
is finally embracing DevOps. Traditional
IT will be a DevOps practice in the enterprise, marking a shift in the scope of
job descriptions as infrastructure becomes increasingly outsourced. Although DevOps
and traditional IT are diametrically opposed in so many ways, the philosophies are
so different. As enterprises increase their focus on hybrid cloud and cloud
migration, we are going to see a world where knowledge of DevOps practices is
going to be the magic skillset that guarantees job security in the enterprise.
Meanwhile, look for data-hungry applications, especially
things like IoT and machine data, to lead to data management problems for many
organizations. Look out, as well, for security issues, already evident in
incidents like the Dyn hack, to raise the level of paranoia across the board.
Although common sense solutions are available to help organizations address
these issues, such as working with dedicated networks and avoiding reliance on
the internet for connectivity, there are still some bigger questions around
data management in a hybrid world that will continue to swirl. In these cases,
it's more critical than ever for teams to work together to achieve business
goals.
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About the Author
Lazarus Vekiarides is the chief technology officer and
co-founder of ClearSky Data, the global storage network that simplifies the
entire data lifecycle and delivers enterprise storage as a fully managed
service. Previously, Vekiarides was a member of the core leadership team at
EqualLogic and an executive at Dell. He is an expert in data storage,
virtualization and networking technologies.