Nationwide Building Society has announced an expansion of its partnership with Broadcom as the firm accelerates its digital transformation and hybrid cloud strategy.

As part of the move, the building society plans to adopt VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) as the company works to build a new private cloud platform.

The VMware service allows enterprises to build custom private cloud setups, combining compute, storage, networking, and security capabilities.

Nationwide said the use of VCF will enable it to deliver more resilient and scalable digital services to customers while also streamlining integration of Virgin Money assets following a £2.9 billion takeover announced in April this year.

Paul Walsh, Director of Infrastructure and Service Delivery at Nationwide, said the partnership extension represents a “significant step forward” in the company’s technology strategy.

As we continue to evolve as a business, including integrating Virgin Money into the group, it is vital that we have a resilient, scalable, and secure technology foundation,” he commented.

“A private cloud built on VMware Cloud Foundation enables us to simplify operations, accelerate innovation, and deliver seamless digital experiences for our members, while maintaining the trust and stability that define the Nationwide brand.”

Nationwide eyes long-term AI gains

While VCF will enable Nationwide to establish a private cloud setup, long-term, Broadcom said it will act as a springboard for cloud native and AI applications.

As ITPro reported last year, Nationwide ranks among a host of UK banks ramping up the use of generative and agentic AI internally, with a particular focus placed on improving workforce efficiency and productivity.

In January, Nationwide announced a partnership with Moneyhub to roll out an AI-powered transaction analytics feature for customers across the UK.

Joe Baguley, Broadcom’s chief technology officer for EMEA, said Nationwide is pursuing a “deliberate and strategic approach” to private cloud that will underpin future innovation by “balancing agility and control”.

“By extending our partnership and adopting VMware Cloud Foundation as a consistent platform across the group, Nationwide will be able to integrate operations more efficiently, accelerate service delivery, and reduce operational complexity, while maintaining the security and governance expected of a leading UK financial services brand,” he said.

Hybrid cloud innovation

As part of its hybrid cloud strategy, Nationwide also maintains close ties with Amazon Web Services (AWS).

In January this year, the bank announced an extension of its partnership with the hyperscaler to deliver “more personalized experiences” for 17 million customers across the country.

Nationwide uses AWS’ cloud-based contact center platform, Amazon Connect, for customer support, giving teams access to a raft of AI-powered tools to streamline operations.

Speaking at the time, Suresh Viswanathan, group chief operating officer at Nationwide, said the expanded partnership aims to further consolidate workloads using AWS and modernize services.

"As we continue our digital transformation, we need cloud technology that can support our ambition to deliver better customer experiences, while keeping safety and security at the forefront,” Viswanathan said.

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Veeam and HPE have announced an expansion of their strategic partnership in a bid to streamline hybrid cloud operations and minimise risk across the enterprise.

Building on the pair’s initial partnership from earlier this year, the freshly expanded alliance will focus on new integrated solutions to help organizations better protect, recover, and leverage their data.

Additions include protection for HPE Morpheus VM Essentials software, as well as various integrations between HPE products and Veeam’s Data Platform.

“Trust, resilience, and availability are the new currency of business,” commented John Jester, Veeam’s chief revenue officer, in an announcement.

“Our strengthened partnership with HPE gives customers the agility and confidence to protect, recover, and leverage their data, wherever it resides.”

HPE Morpheus plugin

Among the fruits of the partnership is a new Veeam native integration plugin for HPE Morpheus VM Essentials, which will offer hypervisor-based image-level backup for virtual machines (VMs) running on the HPE platform.

Currently in beta with expected general availability scheduled for early 2026, the pair said the addition will provide more robust protection for hybrid workloads.

HPE has also validated HPE Morpheus Enterprise Software container services as a Veeam-ready solution to improve protection for containerized workloads.

Veeam Data Platform integrations

The companies have also announced expanded integration between HPE solutions and the Veeam Data Platform.

Businesses will soon be able to deploy HPE Private Cloud Business Edition together with Veeam as a unified alternative to fragmented, do-it-yourself data protection.

Veeam will provide improved data portability and resilience between VMware and VM Essentials, the pair said, as well as accelerated deployment, streamlined support, and a “dramatically simplified experience.”

By leveraging the latest version of HPE StoreOnce Catalyst, Veeam’s Data Platform can also now achieve up to 60:1 data reduction, while reducing incremental backup limits and boosting restore speeds to help drive down cost of ownership.

Additional highlights

Elsewhere, Veeam has introduced NVMe support for HPE Alletra Storage MP B10000 with new snapshot integrations for speedier backups and near-instant recovery for critical workloads.

New reference architectures designed to deliver end-to-end immutability across the wider Alletra portfolio are “expected soon.”

HPE and Veeam are also partnering on two new joint services: a Data Resilience and Security Posture workshop and a Disaster Recovery Capability Maturity Analysis offering.

The new additions leverage Veeam’s Data Resiliency Maturity Model (DRMM) to help organizations assess and strengthen their cyber resilience strategies.

“Today’s announcement demonstrates the continuous, deep alignment between HPE and Veeam in removing friction and risk from hybrid cloud and modern application environments,” said Patrick Osborne, senior vice president of hybrid cloud technology acceleration at HPE.

“Together, we’re delivering unmatched resiliency, operational simplicity, and innovation for our customers.”

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IBM has announced plans to acquire Confluent in an $11 billion deal analysts said will rapidly accelerate the cloud giant’s AI data streaming capabilities.

In a statement confirming the acquisition, IBM described Confluent as a “natural fit” for its hybrid cloud and AI strategy, enabling “end-to-end integration of applications, analytics, data systems and AI agents”.

Confluent is an open source data streaming platform, based on Kafka, providing real-time data flows for applications, analytics tools, and AI. The logic behind the acquisition, according to IBM, lies in surging demand for real-time, high quality data required to underpin AI models and agents.

Analysis from IDC, for example, predicts that by 2028, global data volumes will more than double, with upwards of one billion new applications set to emerge. With this comes the need for seamless data streaming capabilities, the company noted.

This has been a common recurring challenge for enterprises driving AI adoption over the last three years. Data sources are often contained in disparate silos or across various cloud platforms.

Confluent bridges these gaps, IBM said, helping customers to streamline data flows and more effectively harness data “living across all IT environments”.

“IBM and Confluent together will enable enterprises to deploy generative and agentic AI better and faster by providing trusted communication and data flow between environments, applications, and APIs,” said IBM CEO Arvind Krishna.

“Data is spread across public and private clouds, datacenters and countless technology providers. With the acquisition of Confluent, IBM will provide the smart data platform for enterprise IT, purpose-built for AI.”

Confluent acquisition “strategically significant”

Forrester VP principal analyst Noel Yuhanna described the Confluent deal as a “strategically significant acquisition” for IBM – and one that will supercharge the cloud giant’s AI strategy.

“Real-time data is becoming critical for all applications, analytics, and AI,” he said.

“IBM’s purchase of Confluent brings industry-leading, Kafka-based data streaming directly into its hybrid-cloud and AI strategy, giving enterprises the ‘data-in-motion’ backbone required for modern enterprises that need continuously updated data to support AI workloads.”

IBM previously supported streaming through its Event Streams and IBM MQ platforms, Yuhanna noted. But with Confluent the tech giant now has a “unified, enterprise-grade data platform” that boasts real-time capabilities spanning both hybrid and multi-cloud environments.

“The acquisition positions IBM to simplify customer architectures through a real-time data fabric, tighten the integration between batch and streaming data, and power advanced AI systems with fresher, cleaner, and continuously flowing data,” he said.

Long-term, Yuhanna expects the deal to give IBM a “meaningful competitive edge” as demand for data streaming continues to surge.

Analysis from Verified Market Research in October 2025 found the data streaming market is projected to surge in value between 2024 and 2031, recording a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 33.56%.

This market was valued at $30.12 billion in 2024, the study noted, and is expected to reach $252 billion by the end of the forecast period. Confluent has rode the wave of growth in this sector in recent years.

Between 2021 and 2025, the company’s total addressable market (TAM) has doubled, from $50 billion to around $100 billion.

Jay Kreps, CEO and co-founder at Confluent, said he welcomed the next stage of the company’s journey under the IBM umbrella.

“We are excited by the potential to join IBM and to accelerate our strategy with IBM’s go-to-market expertise, global scale and extensive portfolio,” he said. “I look forward to the future we will build together as Confluent becomes part of IBM.”

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The cloud is inescapable in 2025. It’s a $750 billion industry that underpins the vital applications, services, and platforms that power the digital economy.

Yet after more than a decade of enterprise migration and innovation in the cloud, analysis from IT infrastructure firm Kyndryl suggests many spent that time building sprawling, splintered architectures without a clear cut end goal in mind.

In the company’s annual Cloud Readiness Report 70% of CEOs admit they built their current cloud environment “by accident, rather than by design” – this often entailed periodic upgrades aimed at addressing short-term needs, rather than focusing on longer term strategic improvements.

Kyndryl said this shows that many lacked a “deliberate strategy” when pursuing cloud transformation projects, and the effects of this are starting to show with huge workload pressure placed on cloud environments, as well as growing security threats and evolving regulatory requirements.

“If companies benefitted from happenstance in the past, those days are over,” the report states. “Cloud success is no longer a matter of luck but design. The enterprises that thrive now are those that approach cloud as the foundation for intelligence, adaptability, and trust.”

AI is among one of the key factors bringing this lack of clear cut focus to light in 2025, according to Kyndryl. Organizations have increased cloud spending by 30% on average so far this year in a bid to supercharge AI adoption and build out infrastructure capacity to meet demand.

89% said these cloud investments have “made it easier to use AI” and have proved beneficial in underpinning adoption projects. Poorly designed, piecemeal cloud environments are hampering innovation on this front, however, the study added.

Indeed, 35% cited integration challenges as a top barrier to delivering a return on investment (ROI) with the technology.

Hybrid and multi-cloud in the spotlight

According to Kyndryl, hybrid and multi-cloud represent the light at the end of the tunnel for many enterprises locked in monolithic, rigid cloud setups.

Both these approaches have gained significant traction in recent years, the study found, with 84% of IT leaders revealing they now “intentionally use multiple clouds”.

Meanwhile, 41% are switching to a hybrid approach, repatriating data to on-premises environments while still hosting non-critical workloads on public cloud. This enables enterprises to balance control, compliance, and performance, the study noted.

“The gap between a reactive and deliberate cloud strategy has never been more consequential,” said Nicolas Sekkaki, global cloud practice leader at Kyndryl.

“With AI demanding seamless data access and governance requirements rapidly evolving, a hybrid cloud model is the differentiator that enables successful AI adoption,” he added.

AI-related considerations aren’t the only driving factor behind the shift to hybrid cloud, however. Kyndryl noted that geopolitical concerns and a concerted focus on data sovereignty, spurred on by regulatory requirements, are also influencing the trend.

75% of leaders said they were concerned about “the geopolitical risks associated with storing and managing data in global cloud environments”, for example, while 65% revealed they’ve “made changes to their cloud strategies” because of compliance concerns.

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Mainframe modernization efforts are gathering momentum, according to new research, with enterprises unlocking significant performance gains and cost savings.

Figures from Kyndryl’s 2025 State of Mainframe Modernization survey show project costs have decreased significantly while returns on investment (ROI) have increased in parallel.

Kyndryl noted that respondents have reported an ROI of between 288% to 362% on mainframe modernization initiatives, which have traditionally proven costly.

Similarly, 80% said they’ve actively shifted modernization efforts in the last year in a bid to contend with an influx of emerging technologies, such as generative AI.

AI is now a “present-day business catalyst” rather than a future consideration when embarking on mainframe modernization projects, the survey found. Nearly 90% of enterprises have implemented – or plan to implement – generative AI on the mainframe.

This, Kyndryl said, is expected to deliver huge long-term benefits. Enterprises forecast upwards of $13 billion in savings alongside $20 billion in new revenue opportunities from mainframe AI integration over the next three years.

“The mainframe has become the AI-fueled catalyst of hybrid enterprise strategies, delivering billion-dollar returns while powering innovation for customers,” said Hassan Zamat, Global Practice Leader for Core Enterprise at Kyndryl.

“Organizations are taking a much more pragmatic approach to modernization to drive better business outcomes and incorporate new technologies. Working with the right partners can help them build a resilient, secure and future-ready platform.”

Mainframes are the backbone of hybrid IT

Notably, the Kyndryl survey found that mainframes now form the backbone of hybrid IT strategies.

More than half (56%) of respondents reported increased usage of the platform over the last 12 months, which now forms a “key component” within integrated hybrid environments.

“42% say they are placing more focus on modernizing directly on the mainframe and 50% are moving more towards a hybrid strategy,” the report noted. “That 50% is comprised of 34% prioritizing integration with cloud platforms, and 16% are increasing the pace of moving applications off the mainframe.”

“This clear trend toward hybrid strategies blends on-platform modernization with enhanced cloud connectivity,” it added.

Mainframes were expected to die out with the advent of cloud computing as enterprises shifted to more agile storage options. While there has been a notable decrease, recent studies have shown enterprises are coming back around.

Analysis from application modernization firm Advanced in February 2024 found more than half (52%) of companies planned to maintain or increase their dependency on mainframes.

A similar number said mainframes were their preferred platform for core applications and legacy applications hosted on mainframe infrastructure.

As with the Kyndryl survey, research from Advanced specifically highlighted the hybrid approach enterprises are now adopting. Around 92% of respondents said they favored a hybrid cloud approach with incorporated mainframes,

Advanced said that a division of deployment was emerging, with mainframes used for core applications and cloud for innovation, with 92% favoring a hybrid cloud approach.

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As geopolitical tensions mount, UK IT decision makers are getting increasingly wary about using US cloud providers.

Research from Asanti found 95% of IT leaders are concerned about data sovereignty while a similar number have voiced worries about data residency. The result is that more than half (52%) are now taking strategic steps to reduce their exposure to US providers.

45% of those currently using US public cloud platforms said they plan to actively limit their data’s exposure to US jurisdiction in light of recent political developments.

“Organizations are becoming more aware and more wary of where their data is stored and who has jurisdiction over it,” said Stewart Laing, CEO of Asanti. “It’s no longer just about performance or cost. It’s about trust, control, and strategic sovereignty.”

There were other issues, however. More than three-quarters of those using US public cloud said that the operating costs were higher than they'd expected, and virtually all said they'd faced challenges during the migration.

On top of the costs, those bringing applications back on-premise or into colocation facilities cited limited control and customization, low data transfer for real-time applications, and security, compliance, and risk management concerns.

Two-thirds said they wished they'd taken a hybrid approach rather than going all-in on public options.

"Adapting organizational processes and culture to the cloud-based way of working was a significant challenge in migrating to public cloud," said one respondent:

"One of the biggest challenges was making sure that sensitive financial data was safe, and adhered to regulatory requirements,” another added.

The rise in companies building their own AI applications is also prompting many to reconsider their use of public cloud.

With the huge amounts of data storage and processing required, subscription models can be expensive, data transfer speeds can be too low for real-time applications, and compliance can be complicated and risky on globally distributed cloud servers.

Repatriation is easier said than done

Repatriation is by no means a simple task, however, and those embarking on this process have encountered significant challenges.

Of those actively pursuing cloud repatriation, 38% cited the complexity of moving applications back to internal systems, while 36% complained about inflexible contracts or cloud vendor lock-in.

Nearly half (41%) said they were worried about a lack of internal skills for repatriation.

Overall, while most people weren't unhappy with the cloud, they wished they had kept more applications in their own IT architecture - and that they'd planned better before taking the plunge.

Half said they should have used external consultants, and 45% that they should have made sure they better understood the public cloud providers' terms and conditions.

Four-in-ten believe they should have carried out more internal due diligence.

“Cloud is powerful – but not perfect. The lesson here is that infrastructure strategy needs to be driven by business needs, not vendor hype,” said Laing.

“We strongly advise UK organizations to revisit their current and future hosting strategies with a more critical eye, especially as AI workloads, regulatory scrutiny, and cyber threats escalate.”

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More than half of organizations in the UK and Ireland are flying blind on hybrid cloud costs, making ROI measurement impossible.

In a survey of more than 1,000 IT decision makers, managed cloud and security services firm Ekco found that hybrid cloud adoption has risen from 58% in 2022 to 68% today.

However, 54% of IT leaders said they lacked complete visibility into their cloud spend. And while 82% of organizations said cloud modernization efforts have contributed to a more agile culture, only one third deliver on every goal.

One major factor holding back innovation is legacy infrastructure, with 71% of respondents reporting that outdated on-prem technology is hampering progress.

Among those still relying heavily on legacy systems, 70% believe migrating to the cloud could reduce costs yet 46% cite management failing to prioritize cloud migration as a key barrier.

“Organizations are making substantial cloud investments, but without proper cost visibility and optimization, they're essentially flying blind," said James Young, head of technical solution architecture at Ekco.

"The jump to 68% hybrid adoption shows businesses want more control and governance, but that comes with complexity – a challenge that lends itself to a ‘FinOps’ approach, bringing together internal engineering, finance and business teams to ensure smarter, and more accountable cloud spending.”

MSPs are filling in the gaps on cloud adoption

Managed service provider (MSP) partnerships jumped from 30% to 40% year-on-year, Ekco noted, claiming that projects supported by MSPs are 6.6% more likely to achieve all objectives and 8.3% more likely to stay within scope and timeline.

Gartner predicts that by the end of 2027, 90% of organizations will have adopted hybrid cloud, thanks largely to the increasing adoption of AI.

However, the consultancy warned that 25% of organizations will have experienced significant dissatisfaction with their cloud adoption by 2028, thanks to unrealistic expectations, suboptimal implementation and/or uncontrolled costs.

Organizations with a clear cloud strategy and effective execution that have successfully addressed upfront strategic focus by 2029 should find that their cloud dissatisfaction will decrease.

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HPE has unveiled a suite of new AI agents and related tools for its GreenLake hybrid cloud at its annual conference in Las Vegas..

GreenLake is HPE's hybrid cloud, offering the utility of a public cloud using on-premise infrastructure. First announced in 2018, GreenLake has been expanded with new features in the intervening years, with support for large language models and generative AI added in 2023.

Now, with the release of GreenLake Intelligence, these systems will transform into an "agentic AI powered hybrid cloud capable of learning, acting and optimizing IT in real time," the company says.

GreenLake Intelligence is an AIOps framework to enable agents in hybrid cloud operations. With agentic AI used across almost all infrastructure layers, this aims to help bolster management of networking, observability, cloud costs, sustainability, and workload optimization.

The system will be accessed through a dashboard called ‘GreenLake Copilot’ which allows users to deploy custom AI agents based on specific individual tasks. In a briefing with assembled media ahead of the conference, journalists were told how agents could be assigned to provision infrastructure, for example.

Others, meanwhile, can be tasked with optimizing workload efficiency to improve performance and reduce costs.

HPE says the AI framework will enable companies to make better use of their infrastructure by overcoming complexity, breaking down silos, and easing the burden of overworked staff — as well as dealing with the challenge of legacy infrastructure.

"HPE is reimagining hybrid IT as only we can do, catapulting organizations from the era of hybrid complexity to the era of agentic-AI-powered cloud operations,” said HPE chief executive Antonio Neri.

"HPE’s new vision for hybrid IT is fueled by agentic intelligence at every layer of infrastructure, so enterprises can realize their boldest ambitions and achieve previously impossible levels of IT operations performance and efficiency."

Agentic AI tools for the cloud

Agentic AI is being rolled across the breadth of the HPE solutions portfolio, with Aruba Networking also set for a major boost. As part of the move, the platform will now have an in-built conversational copilot assistant to help drive security, the company says.

"Accessed through the new multi-modal, conversational networking copilot, HPE Aruba Networking Central can provide precise root-cause analysis and guided or automated remediation for complex network and security issues," the company says.

Next up on the agentic AI treatment is HPE OpsRamp Software. This first received an operations copilot last year, but the company is now expanding agentic capabilities to tackle root-cause analysis, capacity planning, and more.

Using AI agents, enterprises can monitor and streamline compute, networking, storage, and virtualization, the company notes.

"While maintaining human in the loop oversight, OpsRamp will enable key agentic capabilities including conversational product help and agentic command center that enables AI/ML based alerts, incident management and root-cause assistance," HPE explains.

Elsewhere, HPE confirmed GreenLake cloud services for financial operations and sustainability will get integrated GreenLake Intelligence features. This includes new workload capacity and optimizer capabilities, as well as new agentic tools aimed at monitoring consumption analytics and sustainability metrics.

GreenLake Intelligence won't all be available immediately, but "delivered through ongoing continuous innovation across the HPE portfolio," the company says.

The GreenLake Copilot beta will be available in the third quarter of this year, as will the agentic mesh for HPE Aruba Networking Central.

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Nasuni has announced a trio of executive leadership appointments as the hybrid cloud storage vendor looks to its next phase of growth.

The move sees three accomplished industry executives join the business, with Alison Bayiates named as chief people officer (CPO), Dalan Winbush as chief information officer (CIO), and Elyse Gunn as chief information security officer (CISO).

A seasoned industry leader, Alison Bayiates brings extensive experience in scaling people strategies at high-growth technology companies. Previously, she served in leadership roles at RSA and Veracode, where she is credited with playing a key role in shaping strategically-aligned business cultures.

In her new role as Nasuni’s CPO, Bayiates is tasked with spearheading all aspects of talent and organizational development as part of the firm’s expansion ambitions.

Dalan Winbush brings more than 25 years’ leadership experience across enterprise IT, cybersecurity, data, and AI initiatives to his new role as Nasuni CIO.

Most recently, he served as CIO at Quickbase, where he led the integration of AI and generative AI into the company’s operations, as well as implemented a unified data strategy to enhance customer acquisition and retention.

In his new role, Winbush will lead the firm’s global IT operations, enterprise systems, AI strategy, data and analytics, and infrastructure.

Additionally, Elyse Gunn has been appointed as CISO to lead Nasuni’s security and compliance function. Previously, she served as director of security, governance, and risk compliance at Pax8 and Quickbase and brings expertise in leading security programs, developing AI governance frameworks, and building security-by-design cultures.

Nasuni hiring spree continues

These latest leadership additions arrive in the wake of Nasuni’s appointment of Sam King as CEO, who joined the business back in April following the retirement of Paul Flanagan.

Commenting on the appointments, King said the new-look executive team reflects Nasuni’s ongoing commitment to scaling its operations and driving innovation in hybrid cloud storage and data services.

“As Nasuni enters this next phase of growth, we are thrilled to welcome Alison, Dalan, and Elyse to our team,” she commented.

“Each brings an impressive track record in their respective fields and will play a pivotal role in driving our strategy forward, from technological innovation and enterprise security to talent development at a global scale.

“These areas will be instrumental to enable our continued innovation and growth, delivering differentiated hybrid cloud storage and data management capabilities to our customers.”

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So long, public cloud, a whopping 97% of surveyed companies say they plan to ditch the public cloud in favour of in-house infrastructure.

The growing trend of cloud repatriation doesn't mean the end of the public cloud, however, as most of those companies aren't shifting every workload over, just a few specific ones.

Node4 surveyed 601 executives at mid-market firms and found that 49% of companies plan to shift a few applications and workloads away from the public cloud over the next year, though 43% plan to move a "significant" number — and 5% want to repatriate all of their work.

"This demonstrates a clear preference for hybrid environments and a shift from cloud-first to cloud-appropriate," said Node4 CEO Richard Mosely. "We believe this will be the mid-market’s default setting for the foreseeable future."

The poll follows research from IDC last year showing that cloud migration is a growing trend, but also suggesting that only 8-9% of companies plan a full workload repatriation, with most removing selected apps instead.

The idea of cloud repatriation has gathered steam helped by the high-profile example of SaaS company Basecamp, which has said it would save $10 million over five years by ditching the cloud in favor of its own hardware.

Explaining the shift from public cloud

The main driver behind the shift is performance, according to Node4. The surveyed companies have found some workloads simply aren't suitable for public cloud, applications aren't performing as expected, and users are frustrated by application latency.

"Organizations that migrated to the public cloud several years ago have realized that while their environments provide many benefits and offer more scalable on-demand performance than other hosting options, they aren't always the best fit for every application," said Moseley.

The second most common reason for shifting workloads was data sovereignty, with 30% of those polled noting that motivation. This growing focus on data sovereignty is being accelerated by regulatory concerns, but researchers added it also reflects "broader unease" around control, jurisdiction, and access.

Beyond those reasons, the report also said repatriation was motivated by risk management (29%), technical limitations (27%), costs (26%), compliance (26%), and security (21%).

Node4 said that last point might come as a surprise given most mid-market organizations would "struggle to replicate the advanced security and access configurations available in public cloud environments."

"Cybersecurity confidence declines as organizations move further into the cloud," the report found. "94% of organizations running primarily on-premises say they’re confident in their ability to prevent and respond to cyberattacks. That number falls to 78% for fully cloud-based organizations."

The report is the latest to suggest dissatisfaction with the cloud. Research by Gartner last month revealed that a quarter of organizations are experiencing frustration with cloud adoption projects, with a separate study showing three quarters of respondents had exceeded their cloud budgets.

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IT leaders are becoming increasingly concerned about mounting strain on hybrid cloud infrastructure as a result of growing AI workloads, new research shows.

In a survey of more than 1,000 global security and IT leaders across Australia, France, Germany, Singapore, the UK and the US, Gigamon found that nearly half saw managing AI-related threats as their top security priority.

AI workloads have more than doubled network data volumes over the past two years, and almost half of respondents said they were seeing a rise in attacks targeting organization’s large language model (LLM) deployments.

As a result, nine-in-ten security and IT leaders said they’re having to make compromises when it comes to securing and managing hybrid cloud infrastructure.

Nearly half said they're missing comprehensive visibility across their environments, including lateral movement in 'East-West' traffic flowing between servers within a data center or between different parts of their network.

Notably, concerns are rising on the public cloud front. While once considered an acceptable risk in the rush to scale post-Covid operations, seven-in-ten respondents said public cloud now poses a greater risk than any other environment.

Key concerns highlighted by IT leaders included governance, data integrity, and intellectual property.

For example, more than half said they are reluctant to use AI in public cloud environments, citing fears around intellectual property protection.

Seven-in-ten said their organization was actively exploring the prospect of repatriating data from public to private cloud due to security concerns.

CISOs aren’t being supported

However, more than a third of CISOs said they didn't have enough influence over AI and security-related business decisions, complaining that they were held accountable without authority, visibility, or resources.

"They know what needs to change. They see where the vulnerabilities lie. But without control over security investments or executive backing, even the most well-informed Security and IT leaders are left in an untenable position: referees expected to enforce the rules without a whistle, while the game plays on around them," researchers said.

"Accountability without authority does not just limit their impact — it introduces risk the organization can’t afford to ignore."

Visibility was a prime concern, with more than half saying they lack confidence in their current tools’ ability to detect breaches, and citing limited visibility as the core issue.

Subsequently, nearly two-thirds said their number one focus for the next 12 months was achieving real-time threat monitoring with complete visibility into all data in motion.

"Security teams are struggling to keep pace with the speed of AI adoption and the growing complexity and vulnerability of public cloud environments," said Mark Jow, technical evangelist, EMEA, at Gigamon.

"With 88% of security and IT leaders agreeing it is critical to securing AI deployments, deep observability is fast becoming a strategic imperative."

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Red Hat has unveiled the launch of a new generative AI assistant aimed at helping enterprises streamline OpenShift environments.

Unveiled at the firm’s annual summit in Boston, Red Hat OpenShift Lightspeed will be available for users from June 2025, the company confirmed.

The AI assistant is designed to simplify application platform deployments in hybrid cloud environments. Rapid application delivery is a common friction point for enterprises, the company said, despite the crucial role this plays in driving customer experiences.

This is due to a combination of factors, Red Hat noted, including increasingly complex IT infrastructure and growing skills gaps for enterprises across a host of industries.

Indeed, analysis from IDC found that by 2026, more than 90% of organizations will experience significant challenges as a result of IT skills gaps, resulting in $5.5 trillion in losses due to product delays and loss of business due to impaired competitiveness.

“Delivering AI-enabled applications is a top priority for organizations around the globe, but many IT teams already struggle with the complexities associated with hybrid cloud computing, let alone bringing these intelligent applications to life,” said Mike Barrett, VP of hybrid platforms at Red Hat.

Red Hat believes its Lightspeed tool will help enterprises address the issue by essentially lowering the barrier of entry for IT professionals working with OpenShift.

“Red Hat OpenShift Lightspeed helps flatten the learning curve for Red Hat OpenShift users, enabling novices to get started more quickly and more experienced users to maximize efficiencies on the industry’s leading hybrid cloud application platform powered by Kubernetes,” Barrett added.

“With Red Hat OpenShift Lightspeed, organizations can improve their productivity, freeing up time and putting a greater focus on delivering innovation to their customers.”

How Red Hat OpenShift Lightspeed works

According to Red Hat, the new AI assistant will guide users through application deployments by providing “proactive, step-by-step, tailored assistance” directly within the OpenShift web console.

Throughout the deployment process, users of all experience levels will be able to draw upon the assistant using natural language queries. This could include questions about OpenShift specifically, troubleshooting queries, and prompts to investigate cluster resources.

“Users can easily share information from their environment to the chat window, allowing OpenShift Lightspeed to answer questions using real context,” the company said.

Enterprises also have the option to choose from a range of AI model providers based on their preferences or main provider. This includes OpenAI, Azure OpenAI, and IBM's watsonx, for example.

Private AI options hosted on Red Hat Enterprise Linux AI and OpenShift AI will also be available. The aim here is to provide users with “enhanced control and customization” based on their individual needs.

“This diverse compatibility ensures organizations can choose the AI models that best suit their specific needs and security requirements,” Red Hat said in a blog post.

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Businesses are facing a “cloud security crisis” fueled by increasingly fragmented hybrid environments, according to security firm Rubrik.

The company, in association with Wakefield Research, interviewed 1,600 IT and security leaders for its The state of data security in 2025 report and found 90% had suffered cyber attacks in 2024.

For some, the onslaught was relentless, with almost 20% experiencing more than 25 cyber attacks during the year.

The consequences of these breaches can be serious at both a business and personal level, Rubrik warned. Of those respondents that admitted to suffering a cyber attack, 37% said their company had suffered reputational damage and loss of customer confidence.

A further 33% said such an incident had resulted in a forced leadership change.

When it comes to the sources of attack, 28% identified cloud or SaaS breaches as the point of origin. This has led Rubrik to point the finger squarely at the use of hybrid cloud strategies as a source of the problem.

“Many organizations that move to the cloud assume their providers will handle security,” said Joe Hladik, head of Rubrik Zero Labs. “The persistence of ransomware attacks, coupled with hybrid cloud vulnerabilities shows that threat actors are always one step ahead.”

However, this seems to overlook the fact that a similar proportion of attacks came from insider threats (28%).

Nevertheless, 90% of respondents said they were managing hybrid cloud environments, with 35% saying that securing data across a variety of ecosystems was their top challenge, while 29% said it was lack of visibility and control over cloud-based data.

This issue of visibility is something IT decision makers have raised repeatedly in recent years. In a December 2024 blog, Darktrace identified limited visibility as an emerging threat that can lead to misclassification of data in terms of sensitivity and misaligned access policies.

Similarly, research from Fortinet revealed 55% of the individuals it surveyed for its 2025 state of cloud security report found loss of visibility and control to be a major issue when securing multi-cloud environments – another aspect of data sprawl.

Rubrik’s recommendations for how to combat these issues is to follow the fundamentals of cybersecurity in the 2020s: identify where the data is, what it is, and how sensitive it is, both in motion and at rest.

Thereafter, enterprises should implement policies to protect this data and establish what processes and procedures can be used to enforce it. Similarly, IT teams should use automation where possible to enable them to focus on things that need real human expertise to solve, rather than using up their time on drudgery.

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At last year’s NetApp Insight conference in Las Vegas, CEO George Kurian told ITPro hybrid cloud models would be central to unlocking the true value of enterprise AI.

Projections suggest he was right, with the hybrid cloud market set to grow at a 17.2% CAGR, reaching $414.1 billion (£308.8 billion) by 2032, according to Allied Market Research.

But hurdles remain around how businesses are shifting to hybrid models and transforming their data infrastructure, namely the innumerable silos they create each time they add a new application that inhibits the mobility of the data AI systems rely on.

Speaking to ITPro, Matt Watts, chief technology evangelist at NetApp, harkened back to the birth of virtualization and the proliferation of tooling and complexity it helped eliminate.

Watts noted it looks as if the enterprise IT space has run into the same problem with the cloud.

“Now we’re in a world where people are using on-premises technology, and they’re using stacks of technology that they're building in AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud, that’s a really similar problem that we’re creating that existed before virtualization.”

“So we’ve got a lot of companies – and they’re all at different stages – who are now looking at this [hybrid] environment where different people have gone out to build different environments, across different clouds, using different tools.”

Reimagining this data infrastructure to unify their data and simplify this environment will be key, Watts argued, and NetApp is positioning itself to capitalize on this demand.

“I think for most companies, they’re looking at it and saying, would there be layers of standardization that we could create that would simplify this kind of new hybrid, multi-cloud environment that we’ve built.”

Hybrid cloud is the way to go, that “key challenge” still remains

This year at NetApp Insight 2024 in Las Vegas, Harv Bhela, CPO at NetApp, invited a number of customers on stage to provide their AI-adoption stories and where hybrid cloud fits into this picture.

Monica Jain, director of R&D for data science at pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson, outlined the specific challenges she faces orchestrating the company’s data strategy.

Jain specifically highlighted difficulties concerning the firms’ distributed operating model, as well as its place in a heavily regulated industry bound by stringent data protection responsibilities.

The key capabilities she looked for when designing this AI infrastructure revolved around providing agility alongside scalability, which she said was critical for supporting the evolving needs of the firm’s data scientists and AI applications, all while maintaining robust security,

Hybrid cloud’s mixture of on-prem and cloud storage presented an enticing solution for Johnson & Johnson, with the scalability and flexibility of the cloud being complemented with the cost efficiency and security of on-prem.

But Jain stressed the implementation process has not been simple. First among these challenges was ensuring its AI tools had access to clean, good quality data that could be used to generate accurate insights, This is vital when the consequences of drift could be potentially life threatening.

Jain added that data silos were another key factor inhibiting her organization’s data mobility and ability to meaningfully leverage AI.

“Another key challenge is the data silos, we have data coming from different departments and systems, and integrating it into a unified, accessible format for AI applications can be very complex, especially in the R&D world,” she said.

Shortcuts lead to silos – unified data is the true AI enable

Speaking during a media briefing at Insight 2024, Kurian posited that enterprises taking what appears to be the easy route leads to them struggling with siloed data architectures and wider dysfunction down the line.

“Silos are the result of taking a shortcut. The right way to do something is to unify it, but when it’s organizational expedient, easier technically or budget-wise, [firms say] ‘Hey I’m just going to stand up my old silo, and the result of that is usually it works for a short period of time and then collapses.”

Silos have long been a problem plaguing IT estates globally, but Kurian speculated that the ongoing AI boom could be the driving force the industry needs to finally tackle the problem.

He laid out NetApp’s philosophy in what he described as the ‘third wave’ of the modern data revolution: unified data that’s wide in scope as well as long in trend to unlock the true power of AI.

“We have always believed that you need to unify your data, because to derive insight from it, it’s better to have a wide scope of data, not just a long trend of data,” he explained.

“That has been proven completely true, especially in the advent of generative AI because what you find is you can analyze the unstructured data that is about 90% or 85% of an organization’s data.

“As a result if you are only analyzing 20% of the data, you’re way behind.”

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) and Barclays have agreed a new private cloud services deal that will cement HPE GreenLake Cloud as a key element of the bank’s hybrid cloud strategy.

The move builds on the pair’s existing cloud partnership – struck back in 2021 - that has seen HPE support the migration and deployment of over 50,000 workloads to Barclays’ private cloud estate, with a trajectory to double the figure over the coming three years.

Now, the new agreement will see the companies look to leverage AI and other new technologies to enhance customer and user convenience.

In an announcement, Stephen Flaherty, Barclays’ chief technology officer and head of group technology infrastructure services, said GreenLake Cloud has already enabled “significant acceleration” of the bank’s hybrid multi-cloud journey, as well as driven key innovations in its digital experience.

“The increased agility and operational performance enable our technology colleagues to deliver consistently excellent outcomes for our clients and customers,” he explained.

“The next big step for us will be to increase customer convenience with the help of AI tools, we are testing the new technologies with our major partners to help ensure we adopt it responsibly.”

Barclays’ ongoing cloud migration will allow it to decommission legacy systems, free up rack space, as well as save several megawatts of power. Its aim is to reduce technical debt to bolster the bank’s underlying infrastructure and increase workload density, while also modernizing its workloads.

Barclays said this will help facilitate a reduction in power and cooling consumption, which, in turn, will help reduce the carbon footprint of its workloads.

During the next phase of the partnership, HPE will work with Barclays to unearth new opportunities for innovation and improve the private cloud environment.

As part of this progression, HPE said it will focus on leveraging data and exploring the potential of emerging technologies, while introducing new optimizations that will enhance the developer experience.

“In today's rapidly evolving digital landscape, a data-first approach that spans hybrid cloud is crucial to accelerate enterprises’ digital transformation and unlock long-term growth opportunities through AI,” commented Matt Harris, HPE’s senior vice president and managing director for the UK, Ireland, Middle East and Africa.

“We are looking forward to further supporting Barclays’ efforts to create better experiences for clients and customers.

“With HPE GreenLake Cloud at the core of their cloud operations, Barclays will have the resilience, scalability, efficiency, and data insights necessary to drive innovation, delivering new and enhanced personalized banking experiences for its customers.”

UK organizations are increasingly moving away from on-premises environments in favor of managed hosting services.

According to technology research and advisory firm Information Services Group (ISG), both large and mid-market firms are shifting their cloud environments away from the public cloud and back to the private cloud, or to a hybrid model.

The 2024 ISG Provider Lens Private/Hybrid Cloud – Data Center Services report found that change is being driven in large part by the growing need for strengthened security and compliance with changing regulations.

"Service providers can assist mid-market enterprises in developing these hybrid cloud strategies," said Anthony Drake, ISG partner, North Europe.

"They offer reduced deployment costs, disaster recovery solutions and access to modern computing technologies such as serverless architecture, database as a service and DevOps practices."

Many UK enterprises are gradually shifting their focus from on-prem environments to outsourced services such as managed hosting for data storage and business continuity purposes.

This, ISG said, reduces the burden of operating a private data center while maintaining control over the hosted data. It also provides enterprises with extra flexibility and features, such as multi-cloud connectivity, low-latency network connectivity, bare metal services, platform-agnostic operating systems, and database support.

Meanwhile, the report noted that data centers in the UK are positioning themselves as connectivity hubs, offering access to advanced communication infrastructure such as fiber, dark fiber, internet exchange points (IXPs), and subsea cables.

"Large enterprises in the UK are looking for providers who can offer reliable uptime, secure data storage and high-performance network connectivity," said Jan Erik Aase, partner and global leader, ISG Provider Lens Research.

"The priorities for midsize enterprises lean toward comprehensive technical support, including 24/7 monitoring, rapid incident response and proactive maintenance that will ensure maximum uptime and availability."

With rising energy costs and general economic pressures, ISG found many UK companies are struggling to achieve the sort of financial stability they need to adopt new technologies such as AI.

The firm advised focusing on cloud optimization, with FinOps offering the best solution. Organizations should also resist the 'London-first' approach and consider data centers in other regions such as Manchester, Slough, and Birmingham, which may be more cost effective.

Similarly, rather than hiring new staff, they should train their existing workforce, perhaps with help from their cloud service provider. They should also keep a careful eye on potential security gaps in their infrastructure.

"Enterprises that grow complacent about security may face a rather rude awakening," the researchers warned.

Cloud storage firm Nasuni has won a new majority investment by Vista Equity, KKR, and TCV, boosting the company’s value to $1.2 billion.

Boston-based Nasuni enables customers to simplify file data management for hybrid cloud environments through its Nasuni File Data Platform. 

The company competes with the likes of NetApp in the cloud storage space, and has long term partnerships with Google, AWS, and Microsoft. Alongside its Nasuni File Data Platform, the company offers virtual machines - Nasuni Edges - that can run on-premises. 

Its 850-plus customers include organizations within the manufacturing, construction, energy, consumer goods, and public sectors, with its services available in more than 70 countries.

Nasuni said the investment will enable it to further accelerate product innovation and commercial expansion in the global hybrid cloud market. 

"At Nasuni, we care first and foremost about the success of our customers, partners, and employees," said Paul Flanagan, CEO of Nasuni. 

"We are maniacal about our commitment to delivering quality in every aspect of our business and interaction with our customers. 

"This investment and our strategic partnership with Vista, TCV, and KKR will allow us to build upon that commitment, scale with purpose and continue to innovate as we look to take Nasuni to the next level."

BofA Securities served as the exclusive financial advisor, with Goodwin Proctor acting as legal advisor to Nasuni. Kirkland & Ellis LLP served as legal counsel to Vista and TCV. 

KKR is making the investment through its Next Generation Technology III Fund.

Vista exclusively invests in enterprise software, data and technology-enabled organizations across private equity, permanent capital, credit and public equity strategies, and currently has more than $100 billion in assets under management.

TCV, meanwhile, has invested more than $20 billion in 350 technology companies worldwide and has supported over 150 IPOs and strategic acquisitions, while KKR sponsors investment funds that invest in private equity, credit and real assets, and has strategic partners that manage hedge funds.

"Nasuni's platform offers a highly differentiated approach to consolidating, protecting, and managing data at scale with performance that is critical to supporting AI applications and other high-volume data use-cases," said Martin Taylor, co-head of Vista's Foundation Fund and senior managing director. 

"We are thrilled to partner with the Nasuni team as they work to help businesses optimize their expanding and complex data needs with solutions that are fast, secure, and highly cost-effective."

Cloud storage provider Wasabi Technologies has announced a new collaboration with Dell to provide customers with affordable hybrid cloud solutions.

The flexible offerings cover backup and data protection and have been designed to help customers optimize their data management processes while reducing their overall costs.

Dell’s PowerProtect Data Domain appliances now natively tier data to Wasabi to create a complete data protection solution for on premises storage with long-term cloud retention, while Wasabi also now integrates with Dell NetWorker CloudBoost to provide existing Dell customers with long-term retention in the cloud.

Formed via Dell’s Extended Technologies Complete (ETC) program, Wasabi said the collaboration will provide increased efficiency, security, and scalability while extending its reach across the customer base of a prominent industry leader.

"Dell is a clear industry leader with a broad and deep portfolio of transformative technology,” said David Friend, co-founder and CEO at Wasabi. "This collaboration will extend the reach of Wasabi's cloud storage to a broader audience, catering to users in search of dependable, economical solutions for safeguarding their data archives over the long haul."

Wasabi’s offerings now have validation for products from Dell’s Data Protect Solutions (DPS) group as well as its Unstructured Data Solutions (UDS) group. 

Wasabi said the integrations address the operational and financial challenges businesses are experiencing due to exponential data growth, with conventional on-site storage solutions becoming frequently overwhelmed by data sprawl and first-generation cloud storage services being too expensive and complex.

By combining with Dell’s PowerProtect portfolio, users can now send data directly from PowerProtect to Wasabi cloud object storage for long-term retention as well as tier-deduplicated data to the cloud without necessitating a second cloud gateway or virtual appliance. 

Ultimately, customers can automate the process of offloading aging data automatically to Wasabi Hot Cloud Storage directly from PowerProtect to help drive down total cost of ownership (TCO) and optimize resource allocation and data lifecycle management.

Commenting on the collaboration, Dave McCarthy, research vice president at IDC, said the combined offering presents a “powerful solution” for those looking to get a grip on their data growth. 

"Organizations need a hybrid cloud infrastructure that is efficient and cost-effective, and that has the ability to scale with them during their data management journey,” he said. “This collaboration meets these challenges head-on."

Lenovo has expanded its hybrid cloud portfolio with solutions aimed specifically at optimizing generative AI deployments as firms ramp up adoption efforts.

The expansion will see new products including Lenovo’s ThinkAgile hybrid cloud solutions and ThinkSystem server platforms rolled out to customers, as well as expanded services for AI applications.

The ThinkAgile and ThinkSystem infrastructure solutions are built on the 5th generation Intel Xeon Scalable Processors, featuring Intel’s AMX technology that promises to increase efficiency and support AI inferencing and training on models up to 20 billion parameters.

Alongside its infrastructure solutions, Lenovo will provide Professional Services for AI and TruScale as-a-service offerings to assist businesses lacking the knowledge base that AI implementations require.

With its new hybrid cloud package, Lenovo appears to be priming up to capitalize on an expected spike in demand for AI-ready platforms that will support businesses looking to accelerate generative AI deployments.

Kamran Amini, vice president and general manager of server, storage, and software at Lenovo Infrastructure Solutions Group emphasized the importance of providing businesses with solutions that can support their generative AI ambitions.

“The new portfolio is designed to support today’s AI, virtualization and multi-cloud workloads while increasing energy efficiency and agility with one seamless platform.”

Is hybrid cloud the key to generative AI success?

With organizations of all shapes and sizes exploring use cases for generative AI across their operations, the infrastructure and software solutions to facilitate implementing AI models are becoming increasingly important. 

Public cloud solutions present a tempting option for businesses looking to minimize the work on their end, with this approach allowing organizations to avoid managing their own infrastructure and giving them access to pre-configured models to test and deploy AI applications.

Yet the public cloud is not without its drawbacks. Large enterprises who need to prioritize security and privacy, for example, will not want their private data hosted on the public cloud.

As such, hybrid cloud solutions will still have an important role to play in bringing generative AI to businesses.

Employing a mix and match approach between on-prem and public cloud solutions means businesses can benefit from its simplicity, and the raft of modern tools available for AI models, while also being able to train their models with private data in a secure environment.

This is a trend that is expected to continue across 2024 and beyond, according to industry stakeholders. Speaking to ITPro in October, NetApp chief executive George Kurian said he believes hybrid cloud will be “the only way” for businesses to capitalize on generative AI, highlighting the flexibility this model can provide.

“Customers will want to try proof of concepts on the public cloud where all the modern tools are available, and once they understand which makes sense, they can scale it in their own data center.”

A number of hybrid cloud solutions tailored for generative AI workloads have been announced recently, anticipating a surge in demand from business of all types.

HPE, for example, announced their ‘enterprise computing solution for generative AI’ that offers a full stack solution for enterprises to tune pre-trained models with their private data on-prem, and then deploy custom models across their organization via their GreenLake hybrid cloud platform.

While the distributed nature of hybrid cloud has long been its appeal, there is value in bringing one’s cloud assets together in a more organized way. The idea of standardizing a heterogeneous environment might sound like a contradiction in terms, but working to eliminate silos and supercharge interoperability to control cloud costs has now become essential.

Industry observers tell ITPro that organizations increasingly need to standardize hybrid-cloud infrastructures, either in part for better automation and services or across the board. This isn't easy, warns Grant Caley, chief technologist UK&I at NetApp.

"When people broke away from the mainframe, they went for standardizing compute on x86, networking on Cisco at that time. They were still locking themselves into a vendor to some degree because it's really hard not to," Caley explains.

"This may be one way of achieving less of that. At least you can choose where you want to build rather than having to be focused into a particular cloud."

More flexibility can result from appropriate standardization across horizontal layers and while public cloud alternatives offer "great" services and capabilities, Caley argues they vary in how they are delivered.

"There's value, typically from a cost or security perspective of being able to build services in your own data center," he adds. "But choosing the right layers [to standardize] is hard."

Analyzing and offsetting certain operations such as automation, provisioning, backup, disaster recovery, or compute without "rewriting the run-book" for every change means saving resources, Caley adds.

Standardization for governance and compliance

Tina Howell, chief cloud officer at Xdesign, agrees that deploying services like Google Anthos on AWS or using AWS Outposts and Microsoft Azure Stack Hub on-prem, has made standardizing hybrid cloud easier.

"The main thing is investing upfront, ensuring consistency by building to standards and principles," she says, noting that one’s specific approach depends on cloud strategy. Do you want to be on AWS in five years, or have best-of-breed across a poly-cloud?

With the right configs and tools, you can build it exactly the same way: with one capability, only training people once and ensuring consistency while holding people to account. This makes what can be a difficult process much easier.

"If they can't govern themselves then, realistically, this is where it all starts to fail," Howell warns. 

If config is out of sync or versions become incompatible — for example, if your version three is sitting in the cloud while version one sits in the data center — you can effectively have multiple "clouds" to manage while your hybrid cloud remains unstandardized.

Instead, organizations often jump into the chosen cloud setup or on-prem, realizing only afterward that it won't fill their requirements. In 18 months or so, these firms are forced to start over again. "With a lot of clients, they have been going round in circles," Howell adds, noting that “cloud can be cheap” if correctly architected.

Benjamin Brial, founder of engineering platform Cycloid, says achieving governance can mean "owning all" your automation in GitHubs, instead of relying on the cloud provider.

"Secondly, use open source software and new automation to make a new database, to reduce how people need to accelerate in the DevOps area. This also reduces the number of tools and the number of clouds, because automation and open source is one piece you need to modernize in cloud infrastructure and to bring more governance," Brial says.

“Choose and use only one configuration management approach, with no overlay on top, whether it's Ansible, SaltStack, Puppet, or whatever. The last part is the continuous integration/continuous delivery (CI/CD) path, which should also be rationalized.

"Centralize whatever CD tools you're using. There is no project on the top of older CD that can centralize JFK [files], GitHub, and the one from the cloud provider. You can't bring governance if you have multiple tools. It's not possible," Brial warns.

Continuous costs along the pipeline

Brial adds that hiring for cloud and devops at scale can also prove hard and that such projects are less likely to succeed, especially in budget. Organizations must also tackle carbon emissions and sustainable transformation, with environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) pressures only growing, so it's critical that cloud projects and costs are better governed.

Anthony Kesterton, principal solution architect at Red Hat, notes that standardizing can make it easier to monitor and secure one’s data, instead of having to manage multiple different offerings that perhaps don't play well together and exposing an organization to risk and even financial liability.

"It's even more important as you look at more exotic architectures — for instance, ARM is becoming so much more popular as a server," Kesterton says. "You see [standardization] happening now in containers."

Salesforce is migrating 200,000 out-of-support CentOS Linux 7 systems to standardize on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9, which Kesterton says offers "portability and comfort". 

Matthew Parin, Hyperforce senior product director at Salesforce, says it enables the provisioning of streamlined integration across its various cloud platforms, minimizing complexities in data management, security, and compliance. The firm is also leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) across the infrastructure.

"Within our service-owner driven approach to engineering, (we) require individual service teams to not leak implementation-specific details through their application programming interface (API), enabling individual service teams to move quickly with greater confidence that their changes won't slow or impact other service owners," Parin tells ITPro.

David Walker, EMEA field chief technology officer (CTO) at Yugabyte, explains that hybrid cloud standardization is a market phase ultimately driving further innovation. In a brand new market, such as the cloud market around 15 years ago, vendors rush ahead to develop the very best differentiated cloud offerings and reap rewards through first-mover advantage.

"But having done that, it's hard to move things from there unless you start to get some standard centralization in the middle. It's very hard for that whole market to innovate across the top," Walker says. 

Agnostic cloud architectures needed

The infrastructure sitting underneath shouldn't be a matter of whether you're on Amazon, Google, or any other vendor. They should just be models, which means the move to standardization is about opening up the market as a matter of principle.

"Regulators will come in eventually if there's an unfair market advantage in any industry," Walker says. "So you may as well start thinking about how you're going to standardize and embrace all this. And so 'standardized hybrid cloud' is not a contradiction, it's a creative tension."

Des Hudson, chief operating officer at Advania, emphasizes that customers want more consistency in the hybrid cloud environment, and organizations should heed this.

"We have a lot of capability and skills in Microsoft 365 and equally in Azure. We're taking our clients to public cloud, we don't have significant amounts of hybrid cloud," he says. 

Before confirming further investment in hybrid cloud, consider the type of applications in your portfolio and your estate, in part to be sure standardization is the right solution for future iterations of your environment, Hudson suggests.

Tom Fairbairn, distinguished engineer at Solace, notes that with the right messaging approach moving data between legacy apps, cloud-native apps, and services can be easier. But integrating cloud-native tech, microservices, the Internet of Things (IoT), and mobility remains challenging.

"If you can move workloads across your public cloud environment, you can pick the cheapest place to run your tasks, get access to the latest technologies in the cloud, and have easy scaling," he says.

Fairbairn notes that data sovereignty is another driver. "Sure, if you're super-large, you might tell a hyperscaler exactly where you'd like data to reside, while it might not be so easy for others. But [hybrid cloud] is not easy because there's not a great deal of standardization."

Getting data in order can have a huge effect on whether businesses can harness the power of AI. Where your data is stored, in what form, as well as where and how it is processed, really can make the difference between successful and unsuccessful implementations of the technology.

At NetApp Insight, these challenges were placed front and center, with a strong focus on the concerns of customers regarding data in the cloud and how it can be best harnessed by firms to power and provide context to their generative AI models.

In this episode, Jane and Rory are joined by Ross Kelly, ITPro News Editor, to hear about NetApp’s strategy on AI and hybrid cloud, and what he learned from his 1:1 with the company’s CEO, George Kurian.

Highlights

“I think what's evidently clear from NetApp’s perspective in terms of their messaging at the Insight conference is that they view this almost confluence of hybrid or multi-cloud and the rise of generative AI, this boom period, as being perfectly placed in parallel to one another. There seems to be a common recurring theme from NetApp, that you need to get the basics done right from the get-go, and that starts with storage, it starts with your data architecture.”

“NetApp itself seems to be really focused on enabling partners, enabling clients and customers, to unlock the value of their data. In the opening keynote, again, we heard about the fact that one of the key hurdles now for a lot of companies exploring the use of AI are these disparate datasets, they're not actually able to unlock a lot of value from the data that hold, vast quantities of it. Only a certain percentage of it are they actually able to derive any value from at all. ”

“What's really interesting in terms of NetApp’s position in the broader space is their integration with the three large hyperscalers. So AWS, Azure, Google Cloud… they have deep, deep ties with all three of those. It's quite a unique a unique relationship that they have with them. No other storage provider has that level of integration with these hyperscalers.”

Footnotes

• What is generative artificial intelligence (AI)?
• NetApp CEO: Hybrid cloud will be the only way to capitalize on generative AI
• NetApp aims to become ‘true data pipeline’ for enterprises with latest AI updates
• NetApp Insight 2023: All the news and announcements
• In the age of AI, leaders need to scrap “monolithic” data transformations
• Storage, sustainability, and AI in the spotlight at Pure Storage Accelerate 2023
• Pure Storage: Generative AI has a friend in flash

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For a long time, public cloud dominated the conversation with enterprises seeking the benefits of migrating to a flexible and scalable model – as opposed to maintaining IT infrastructure on-premise. 

Billed as a third way for cloud computing, Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) launched its flagship GreenLake platform as a means to offer the benefits of both models in one. HPE GreenLake is a suite of infrastructure as a service (IaaS) tools that allow customers to consume IT resources on a pay-per-use basis.

HPE GreenLake provides customers with a set of public cloud-like services on more traditional on-premise-type setups – with both the hardware and software provided in a subscription mode. Its capabilities include cloud management, cost management, and compliance tools which are all accessible through a central console, with tools and services including computing, storage, networking, data protection, and security. 

It’s designed to be flexible and scalable to meet the needs of businesses of all sizes. HPE GreenLake also includes a number of tools and features to help customers manage and optimize their use of these IT resources, including real-time billing, usage reports, and automation capabilities.

When did HPE GreenLake launch?

HPE launched its flagship GreenLake hybrid cloud service in June 2018. On its launch, HPE GreenLake was billed as a way to offer a more flexible and scalable way to consume IT resources versus the traditional cumbersome on-premises model. 

In the three years prior to the launch of HPE GreenLake, HPE primarily sold hardware and software products, with customers then needing to build, deploy, and maintain these products themselves. With the launch of HPE GreenLake, however, the company began offering a full range of IT services on a pay-per-use basis.

Since its launch, HPE GreenLake has continued to evolve and expand, with the addition of new services and features to meet the changing needs of its customers. In 2019, for example, HPE announced it was widening its GreenLake offering to include a range of managed services, including database management, application development, and data analytics. 

In 2020, HPE also announced that it was extending the reach of its GreenLake offerings to include a range of edge computing solutions designed to help customers process data closer to the source.

In June 2023 HPE brought a range of services to GreenLake in order to support customer demand for generative AI. HPE GreenLake for Large Language Models allows customers to train and deploy models through the HPE’s as a service platform.

Where does HPE GreenLake sit in the hybrid cloud market?

HPE GreenLake is designed to deliver the advantages of the flexibility and simplicity of the public cloud alongside the compliance and security benefits of on-premise IT infrastructure. This hybrid approach allows organizations to adopt digital transformation with minimal risk and complexity.

HPE positions GreenLake as a unified solution allowing organizations to take a relatively simple and risk-free approach to their digital transformation efforts. It offers a streamlined path for businesses to manage and optimize their IT environments, regardless of where their resources are deployed. This capability helps reduce complexity and costs while enabling quick adaptation to changing business needs.

HPE GreenLake competes with solutions like Dell Apex, which offers similar hybrid cloud benefits with a focus on flexibility and operational efficiency. Apex operates on a consumption-based model, allowing its customers to pay for the resources they use. Apex's platform is built to scale with business needs and includes a range of services such as storage, data protection, compute, and infrastructure. 

Additionally, HPE GreenLake competes with Pure Storage’s Evergreen, known for its subscription-based model that is designed to provide continuous innovation and non-disruptive upgrades for enterprise storage systems. This approach ensures that customers can keep their storage infrastructure current without the need for costly or disruptive overhauls. Hyperscale cloud providers such as AWS, Azure, and Salesforce also present competition, each bringing their own strengths in cloud services, scalability, and extensive ecosystems.

HPE says that GreenLake provides a single platform for IT resource management and optimization, enabling use across on-premises and cloud environments. 

How does HPE GreenLake work?

It’s the combination of hardware and software – not just each in isolation – that defines HPE GreenLake. Regardless of which services a particular company needs, these needs must be married with hardware systems, which are provided as part of the subscription fee.

To use HPE GreenLake, customers first select the types of IT resources they need, such as computing, storage, networking, or security. They can then specify the specific configurations and capabilities they require, such as the number of CPU cores, the amount of memory, or the type of storage. Once the customer has selected the resources they need, HPE GreenLake provisions these resources and makes them available for the customer to use.

Alongside the hardware and software provision, the firm also packages these with in-house experts who get involved in the implementation of these systems and their maintenance during the life cycle. This comes in the form of the HPE Pointnext service.

Customers can also gain access to HPE GreenLake through channel partners, notably managed service providers (MSPs). In 2020, HPE partnered with Wipro to deliver GreenLake across the latter’s managed service portfolio.

HPE GreenLake uses a range of technologies and tools to manage and optimize the use of these IT resources. For example, it includes real-time billing and usage reports to help customers track their consumption of resources and automation capabilities to help customers manage and optimize their use of these resources. 

GreenLake also includes a number of security and compliance features to help protect customers' data and systems.

Which services comprise HPE GreenLake?

Compute

HPE GreenLake offers a range of scalable computing resources tailored for various workloads.

 Enterprises can manage and scale their computing needs dynamically, enhancing operational efficiency. The service includes virtual machines (VMs), containers, and bare-metal servers, providing flexibility for different applications. With its pay-per-use model, enterprises can optimize costs, scaling resources up or down based on demand. 

Integration with AI and machine learning (ML) tools further enhances performance, enabling predictive maintenance and automation. Recent updates emphasize improved security features, ensuring data integrity and compliance with industry standards.

Storage

HPE GreenLake offers storage in a range of types and performance categories, including block storage, object storage, and file storage. HPE GreenLake customers are promised enterprise-grade storage at every level to be used for intensive processes with extremely low latency response.

In February 2024, HPE announced the third release of HPE GreenLake for Block Storage, a modular, scale-out block storage service meant to create agile cloud environments for businesses. It supports NVMe scaling up to 5.6PB on the company's Alletra hardware – a series of specialized block storage appliances available only through GreenLake.

This system delivers an on-premises cloud experience that is managed through the HPE GreenLake Cloud Platform. Customers get a combination of a block storage architecture with AI-driven management capabilities. Users are promised 100% data availability, a high level of resilience in mission-critical workloads, and efficient scale. 

HPE says the service will simplify a user's cloud environment "with an AI-driven cloud management experience" built on artificial intelligence for IT operations (AIOps). The service is meant to deliver an operational experience that mitigates "firefighting" needs by predicting potential disruptions using AI-driven intelligence. 

Networking

HPE GreenLake offers networking solutions from edge to the cloud. Customers can protect devices, users, and applications by transforming their network into a security solution for zero trust and secure access service edge (SASE). HPE has emphasized the single point of visibility within GreenLake, through HPE Aruba Networking Central, so that administrators can easily control costs and network settings.

The networking resources available include virtual networks, load balancers, and virtual private networks (VPNs). Options for configuration include the type of network topology, the level of security, and the level of performance.

Security

HPE is integrating security into all its operations to protect its customer's digital supply chains. One of the key ways in which it approaches this is by helping customers to adopt a zero-trust framework, allowing them to reduce complexity and close gaps.

By embedding security technologies into GreenLake, HPE ensures automatic verification of the integrity of data infrastructure. Such integration simplifies the process of maintaining security and compliance for their customers.

AI & ML

One of the newest service platforms HPE has released is HPE GreenLake for large language models (LLMs). This is powered by high-performance computing (HPC) and allows customers to train AI and create models tailored to their enterprise use cases. 

HPE offers its customers a full-stack and open solution to run an AI-powered business. HPE aims to help its customers become AI-ready, scale and automate complex data pipelines, and accelerate their ability to develop and deploy AI models. HPE GreenLake allows customers to efficiently access and manage their data across the edge-to-cloud. 

Managed Services

In addition to these core services, HPE GreenLake also offers a range of managed services, including database management, application development, and data analytics. 

These services are designed to help customers manage and optimize their use of IT resources and can be customized to meet the specific needs of each customer. HPE GreenLake Management services remotely monitors and operates customers' infrastructure and applications from core to cloud and edge, detects and helps resolve any issues, and offers advice to customers on ways to improve continuously.

How does HPE GreenLake’s consumption model work?

GreenLake’s pricing structure looks more like a typical cloud service, rather than a hardware leasing service. The firm installs the IT infrastructure in customers’ environments then offers the services on top of that – all for the agreed subscription fee. 

These fees are also metered, meaning customers pay for services used, rather than the totality in, say, a fixed monthly fee.

There are a handful of factors that can influence the pricing, such as whether a customer selects computing, storage, networking, or security. The configurations and pricing for computing resources will depend on the number of CPU cores, the amount of memory, and the type of storage required, while the configurations and pricing for storage resources will depend on the amount of storage, the type of storage media, and the level of performance required.

Customers who require more CPU cores or more memory will generally pay more for their compute resources than customers who require fewer CPU cores or less memory. 

Similarly, customers who require faster storage or more bandwidth will generally pay more for their storage or networking resources than customers who require slower storage or less bandwidth.

Finally, the length of the contract a customer signs with HPE GreenLake can also impact the configurations and pricing for their IT resources. Customers who sign longer-term contracts can potentially negotiate more favorable terms, such as lower pricing or additional discounts.

Dell Technologies has unveiled the general availability of its Dell Apex Cloud Platform for Microsoft Azure as the firm fosters deeper ties with the tech giant on hybrid cloud and edge computing. 

The platform, which has been developed in collaboration with Microsoft, marks the first available solution designed specifically for Microsoft Azure Stack HCI, Dell Technologies said in a statement. 

In its announcement today, the firm said the launch of the platform will enable customers to “simplify” on-prem workload storage, support greater flexibility for organizations adopting hybrid cloud, and accelerate application development. 

“Dell APEX Cloud Platforms are the next-generation infrastructure that deliver consistent operations and more control over workload placement by extending your choice of cloud ecosystem on-premises,” the firm said.  

“These platforms offer our customers greater flexibility and investment protection over time by combining the best of Dell innovation and automated Infrastructure management and orchestration, software-defined storage, and next-generation compute.” 

Dell said the extension of Azure cloud services to on-prem environments represents a “significant” opportunity for organizations exploring the potential of hybrid cloud.  

An ESG study on multi-cloud application deployments conducted by the firm revealed that nearly half (48%) of customers plan on expanding on-prem deployments in the near future. 

"More of our customers are asking us to bring the power of Azure wherever they need it out in the real world, whether that is in their factories, retail stores, quick service restaurants, or distributed locations. Through our partnership with Dell, we can project just enough Microsoft Azure to those locations at the edge,” said Douglas Phillips, corporate vice president, Azure Edge and Platform.  

“This new solution gives our mutual customers a seamless experience from cloud to edge, wherever their data lives, so they can spend less time managing infrastructure and focus more on transforming their business.”  

“Enhancing hybrid cloud”

According to Dell, the new cloud platform for Azure is “designed to address several key IT priorities” outlined by partner organizations. 

The platform will deliver “consistent Azure operations” spanning on-prem locations and public cloud, as well as “simplified management” and enhanced automation capabilities. 

“Deep integration and extensive automation enabled by Dell’s Apex Cloud Platform Foundation Software allows us to deliver benefits to our customers that far exceed past solutions,” the firm said. 

According to Dell, organizations leveraging its automated deployment wizard function can unlock an 88% reduction in deployment steps compared to the existing Dell Integrated System for Azure Stack HCI. 

This, the firm added, will enable customers to “save more time when deploying the platform”. 

Application development and delivery improvements were also touted by Dell as a key talking point in the launch of the new platform. The firm said that integration of the platform with the Azure Kubernetes Service will help rapidly accelerate application delivery.

“Customers will be able to simplify management with deep integration and familiar tools,” Dell said. “Users can also enforce consistent security and compliance policies across the Azure landscape through integration with centralized Azure management and governance services.” 

The launch from Dell follows a commitment earlier this year to embark on its “largest ever” expansion of the Apex product line.  

Chuck Whitten, co-COO at Dell, unveiled the plans at Dell Technologies World in May this year. Whitten told attendees at the conference that the sharpened focus on its Apex platform aims to provide deeper integration of the line with firms such as Microsoft, Red Hat, and VMWare.  

Open source giant Red Hat has announced that Salesforce is standardizing its global hybrid cloud infrastructure on the Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) platform.

The customer relationship management (CRM) specialist will migrate more than 200,000 systems from CentOS Linux to RHEL 9 in a bid to streamline IT operations and free up developer resources to generate improved business outcomes for customers.

In an announcement, Red Hat said its platform will provide a more flexible and consistent foundation for security-enhanced hybrid cloud deployments.

“As pioneers and leaders in our respective fields, Red Hat and Salesforce have a deep understanding and appreciation for constant transformation and relentless innovation in driving improved customer success,” said Matt Hicks, president and CEO at Red Hat

“This collaboration highlights this shared commitment, as Salesforce can remain laser-focused on the customer experience, while Red Hat brings its decades of expertise in enterprise open source technologies and hybrid cloud infrastructure in support of their efforts to address dynamic customer needs.”

A leader in the CRM market, Salesforce said its IT footprint continues to grow larger as it continually adopts new and emerging technologies such as AI, automated self-service tools, and real-time data insights.

It manages a large number of systems required to deliver its products and services. Part of its sprawling operations estate is CentOS Linux 7, which has come to require additional maintenance, and with the migration to RHEL Salesforce said it’s aiming to improve the efficiency of its IT operations, enhance developer productivity, and fuel innovation across the customer experience.

Red Hat and Salesforce said the migration will help facilitate optimized performance and efficiency across various hardware and software architectures, including ARM, which enables Salesforce teams to efficiently adopt new technologies without incurring new infrastructure demands. 

It also aims to drive more consistent innovation across the hybrid cloud with the capacity to support unique customer use cases, as well as improve system security measures through RHEL’s layered approach to IT environment security. Additionally, Red Hat’s support team will be on hand to provide enhanced customer support.

“Customer centricity lies at the heart of everything we do. With Red Hat Enterprise Linux, our global IT operations will innovate faster than ever to deliver the reliable, scalable experiences our customers demand,” said Srini Tallapragada, president and chief engineering officer at Salesforce.

Cloud computing has transformed the business landscape, introducing unprecedented scalability, remarkable flexibility, and cost-efficiency. 

In fact, according to analyst firm Gartner, worldwide public cloud spending will grow 20.7% to total $591.8 billion in 2023, up from $490.3 billion in 2022. Analysts found that cutting costs was a major factor in the move to cloud. 

"Moving operations to the cloud also reduces capital expenditures by extending cash outlays over a subscription term, a key benefit in an environment where cash may be critical to maintain operations," Sid Nag, vice president analyst at Gartner said when the predictions were published at the end of October 2022. 

“Cloud computing will continue to be a bastion of safety and innovation, supporting growth during uncertain times due to its agile, elastic and scalable nature.”

A similar study by fellow analyst firm IDC also found that the global revenue generated by public cloud services topped the $500 billion mark in 2022. IDC found that organizations are relying more on the cloud for distributed computing, AI, and app frameworks.

“First, it unlocks the next wave of migration for enterprise applications that have previously remained on-premises. Second, it creates the foundation for new AI software that can be quickly deployed at scale. In both cases, these investments are resulting in market growth opportunities," says IDC research vice president Dave McCarthy in the report.

However, despite this growing momentum, it’s important to remember that cloud is not a one-size-fits-all solution, and there are situations where on-premise infrastructure may be more suitable or even necessary. As such, it’s clear that the decision is not always straightforward.

Cloud vs on-premise: What are the differences?

Cloud computing involves providing a range of computing services via the internet, encompassing servers, storage, databases, networking, software, analytics, and beyond. Cloud providers, such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, or Google Cloud Platform (GCP), offer various types of cloud services, such as Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), or Software as a Service (SaaS), that allow customers to access and use these resources on demand, without having to invest in or manage their own physical infrastructure.

On-premise infrastructure, on the other hand, refers to the traditional model of hosting and maintaining your own servers, storage, and other hardware in your own datacenter or office. This means that you have full control and ownership of your IT environment, but also bear the responsibility and cost of purchasing, installing, updating, securing, and managing it.

Cloud vs on-premise: What are the advantages and disadvantages?

Both cloud and on-premise have their own benefits and drawbacks, depending on your specific needs and preferences. Here are some of the main factors to consider when comparing them:

Cost

Cloud computing can help save money by eliminating upfront costs and reducing ongoing operational costs. However, it may not always be cheaper than on-premise, especially for predictable and stable workloads. 

Cloud services may have hidden fees or complex pricing models that can make it hard to estimate or control spending. 

On-premise infrastructure can be more cost-effective overall if you have a large initial investment, but you also must factor in the costs of hardware depreciation, software licensing, security patches, backups, disaster recovery, and staff training.

Performance

Cloud computing can offer high performance and reliability but is also subject to network issues or outages. 

On-premise infrastructure can offer more consistent and predictable performance but is vulnerable to hardware failures or disasters.

Security

Cloud computing can offer high security and compliance, but also introduces new security risks and challenges. 

On-premise infrastructure can offer more security and control but requires more resources and expertise to maintain. 

Scalability

Cloud computing can offer high scalability and flexibility, allowing easy adjustment of resources and services according to changing needs and demands. However, it also requires more planning and management to ensure optimal use of resources and services.

On-premise infrastructure can offer more stability and consistency but requires more foresight and investment to support current and future workloads. 

Unraveling the conundrum: on-premise vs cloud storage

The decision between these two options isn't a mere binary: it's a spectrum. The ideal choice hinges on comprehending your business's unique demands. It's about striking equilibrium between the allure of cloud's accessibility and scalability, and the fortitude of on-premises storage's control and latency management. Synology's Hybrid Cloud Solution emerges as the bridge, harmonizing these two realms for optimum data management.

As you weigh the merits and drawbacks, remember that Synology offers a third path. An integrated approach, fusing the agility of cloud with the solidity of on-premises storage, is within reach. Synology's innovative solution empowers your business to sculpt a storage strategy that aligns precisely with your aspirations.

In the grand tapestry of data management, the threads of on-premises and cloud storage intricately weave together. The final masterpiece lies in your hands, a tapestry tailored to your business's unique essence.

Introducing Synology's Hybrid Cloud Solution

Synology's Network Attached Storage (NAS) transcends conventional data storage. It empowers you to construct a private cloud - a secure hub for data storage, sharing, backup, and retrieval. But what sets Synology NAS apart is its hybrid cloud approach, fusing the advantages of on-premises and cloud storage thanks to the capabilities of Synology C2.

A spectrum of capabilities

• Data management: Synology NAS is your private cloud's core, centralizing data storage. It's adaptable for start-ups and enterprises alike.
• Collaboration tools: Unite teams with Synology's collaboration suite, featuring private mail, instant messaging, and concurrent document editing. Businesses can benefit from seamless cross-office collaboration through synchronized data, which is key for remote and hybrid teams.
• Ransomware protection and business continuity: Shield crucial data from ransomware with Synology's backup and snapshot tech, ensuring resilience and the ability to continue business as usual should the worst happen. 
• Physical security: Ensure premises safety with Synology's Surveillance Station VMS and Synology Cameras. Real-time alerts, IP camera compatibility, and remote management.

Customers can testify to their success as a result of working with Synology, too. 

"We used to use Windows file server combination, and had a hard time managing such a big amount of growing data. Then we looked for private cloud solutions which support quick data restore and easy file sharing,” said Võ Văn Phương Tú, IT Manager, TTT Corporation. “That's why we choose Synology as our partner. Synology NAS is the best alternative of traditional file servers and public cloud storage."

A hybrid horizon

In the quest for optimal data storage, the answer isn't black or white; it's a hybrid shade. Synology's hybrid cloud solution marries the agility of cloud storage with the strength of on-premises solutions. As you contemplate your data management strategy, consider Synology's offerings, where storage transcends into empowerment.

To embark on a journey of enhanced efficiency and security, discover Synology's recommended models at Synology's official website. You can also find more information about C2 Hybrid Share here.  If you seek answers to FAQs or want to explore the ideal Synology NAS model for your business, Synology has got you covered.

Remember, data storage is no longer a choice between two extremes. It's about the synergy of on-premises and cloud storage to design a more resilient future for your business.

In the years after public cloud first emerged, debate raged about whether full public cloud was the best option for businesses, or if they should seek to keep everything locked down in their own data center. As it turned out, the answer was a third way: Hybrid cloud.

Once seen by some as just a step on the way to full public cloud adoption, hybrid cloud’s flexibility, manageability and adaptability have seen it come out on top. Organizations are able to create a bespoke mix that suits their business needs and modify it as they grow and evolve.

According to the Cloud Industry Forum’s 2023 Breaking new ground with cloud report, 55% of the IT decision makers surveyed said their organization was taking a hybrid approach to cloud. When it comes to the reason why they are adopting elements of cloud computing, approximately 28% said hybrid was a business need.

Not all clouds are created equal, however, and over the course of this journey many businesses have encountered problems such as cloud lock-in, unexpected costs, and less data control.

What makes a hybrid cloud?

At its most basic, hybrid cloud is the strategy of placing data and workloads in a mix of public cloud, private cloud, on premises data center, and colocation provider. Where these reside may change; perhaps a workload that once required ultra low latency can now withstand greater response times. Over time, data often moves from being hot to warm to cold – and sometimes back the other way – so where it’s stored and in what medium will change.

A hybrid approach can also help with data sovereignty and regulatory challenges. For example, when handling data relating to EU residents that’s governed by GDPR, you may wish to keep it in a location within the bloc.

For a hybrid set up to truly be a hybrid cloud, however, it needs to be scalable - and this is where complexities can arise.

The private and on premises elements of this mix are often entirely rigid. There’s a predefined number of servers available and IT managers try to manage their IT estate as best they can depending on needs.

Adding hardware to a data center or private cloud can be expensive and overprovisioning in the rare event you need some extra capacity can be difficult for a business to justify. Yet storing data permanently in the cloud can ultimately cost more money in the long run than the price of a few extra racks.

This is a challenge understood intimately by Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) and is one of the motivating factors behind its flagship HPE GreenLake offering.

Bringing the public cloud to the data center

Described by HPE as “the cloud that comes to you”, HPE GreenLake is a secure private cloud that resides either in your data center or with a colocation provider. What makes it different from traditional private cloud environments is that it’s elastic, just like a public cloud. If you need to add extra storage or compute modules, it’s as easy as a few clicks in HPE GreenLake Central, the platform’s management console.

Whereas with other providers such private cloud provisioning can take days or even weeks, HPE GreenLake reduces that to just minutes. Through HPE GreenLake edge-to cloud platform, it’s also easy to manage your organization’s IT assets more broadly, including things like identity and access management, device management and subscriptions. In this way, HPE GreenLake offers a holistic hybrid cloud approach that can help you manage your entire IT estate.

Partnerships with Microsoft and Amazon Web Services mean it’s possible to run cloud-native applications, such as Kubernetes, in HPE GreenLake infrastructure and migrate the workloads between private and public environments with ease.

Additionally, the company’s partnership with colocation provider Equinix makes it easy to spin up instances of HPE GreenLake for Private Cloud Enterprise and HPE GreenLake for Private Cloud Enterprise Business Edition off premises as well.

What’s more, organizations only pay for what they use in much the same way as they do public cloud infrastructure, meaning private clouds are now truly available as an op-ex rather than cap-ex cost.

Extending to the edge

A truly hybrid cloud should also take into account what’s happening at the edge of a business’ network. This could include sensors, robots, remote servers, or something as simple as a corporate laptop used by a remote worker.

HPE’s edge-to-cloud philosophy means that even these sometimes overlooked network components are manageable within the HPE GreenLake platform. It also allows for data analysis at the edge, where it’s created, meaning quicker response times when you need them.

Edge computing can also help increase the security of your network, allowing you to apply the necessary rules and restrictions to every endpoint effortlessly.

Building a hybrid future

The future of cloud computing is now undeniable and for businesses around the world that future is hybrid. With the right partner, you can make the most of every aspect of cloud, both now and in the future. With features such as HPE GreenLake for ML Ops and HPE Machine Learning Development Environment, HPE GreenLake is also ready for our increasingly AI-focused world.

Ultimately, what a hybrid cloud looks like will vary between organizations and will likely change over time – there will be occasions when more private capacity is needed or more public, when storage is more important than compute and vice versa. With HPE GreenLake, that flexibility is quickly available and, with a broad range of additional services on offer through the HPE GreenLake marketplace, it’s the ideal foundation on which to build and manage a hybrid cloud.

For more information, visit Edge to Cloud | HPE GreenLake | HPE United Kingdom

In 2020, the academic journal Science estimated that, in 2018, data centers constituted approximately 1% of global energy consumption – in the region of 205 terawatt-hours (TWh).

While advances in energy efficiency have meant the percentage of global energy consumption attributed to data centers has stayed roughly steady since 2011, this is still a colossal energy draw. 

Given most of the world’s energy (80% according to the US Environmental and Energy Study Institute) is generated by fossil fuel sources such as coal and gas, however, data centers are a significant contributor to global carbon emissions.

With the explosion of complex artificial intelligence (AI) technology, such as generative AI and large language models, the volume of carbon emissions generated by data centers is in very real danger of increasing quite rapidly.

Not your average workload

These advanced AI systems require heavy duty hardware to run on. These may be top-spec traditional servers or, for some of the most intense workloads, specialist infrastructure like supercomputers.

These are hungry beasts, drawing a significant amount of energy when carrying out intense workloads. A supercomputer, running several processes in parallel, can use over 10 megawatts of electricity, the equivalent of tens of thousands of households.

It’s not just the energy needed to run the infrastructure that needs to be taken into account either, but also other elements – notably cooling.

With this technology resurgent, is it possible to balance the need for progress against the need for sustainability and environmental protection?

This is a question ITPro put to several executives at HPE Discover 2023, after the firm revealed its big high performance computing (HPC)-powered AI play, GreenLake for Large Language Models (LLMs).

Sustainability is a core principle

The company clearly isn’t blind to this problem, with almost everyone who spoke about GreenLake for LLMs talking up the green credentials of the facility housing it – it’s carbon neutral and runs on almost 100% renewable energy.

Asked when HPE started thinking about the importance of sustainability in the project, CEO Antonio Neri said it wasone of the organization’s “core principles” and forms part of its environmental, social, and governance (ESG) goals.

“We laid out a very ambitious agenda to achieve net zero by 2040,” Neri said. Nevertheless, he recognised the problems inherent in HPC and AI’s energy demands.

“Remember crypto? Crypto was a massive consumption of energy everywhere. And this is not that different in many ways,” he said. “If you think about the Frontier system for a moment …  just one rack of GPUs and accelerators and everything we have [put] into that traditional data center right, 19in, actually consumes 450 kilowatts. That system has 75 racks just for the compute.”

Even though Frontier uses water cooling, which is much more efficient than air cooling, the pump associated with that system also requires power – about 35 megawatts, according to Neri.

“That's why we thought about sustainable AI from the beginning [for GreenLake for LLMs], because if you're going to build these massive AI clouds which are capability clouds, it has to be sustainable by design,” he said.

Wastewater recycling and secondary possibilities

ITPro asked Justin Hotard, executive vice president and general manager of HPC at HPE, about the potential for the AI explosion to turn into something that’s potentially environmentally damaging.

“I think this is why we are so fundamentally committed to delivering a carbon neutral service,” he said. “Because there's no question, if you've looked at the compute cycles for HPC or AI and you apply any kind of model out to some of the potential demand for these services both in a commercial sense or in a research sense, there's going to be a significant amount of incremental consumption.

“If that incremental consumption doesn't start off with a sustainable premise, it actually will become a massive problem.”

HPE, Hotard said, is therefore starting with the “fundamental principle” of net neutrality for supercomputing clusters. He also pointed to some facilities it’s involved in that are going beyond the carbon neutrality goal by reusing wastewater from the cooling system. One such example is the LUMI supercomputer in Kajaani, Finland, that is putting the hot wastewater from the cooling system to use heating nearby municipal areas.

Other motivators

While HPE says there’s a lot of interest in energy efficient AI and HPC infrastructure as customers seek to fulfill their own sustainability goals, that’s not the only reason an organization might be looking for this kind of offering. Notably, with the cost of energy on the rise, companies are looking to reduce their energy consumption.

CTO Fidelma Russo told ITPro: “Let's be honest, some people are driven by the carbon footprint and the planet, and some people are driven by energy prices. I think there's dramatically more interest, since the price of energy went up, in sustainability and knowing how much each of your IT assets is using and then aligning that with the power usage equivalency of your colo or  your datacenter and trying to manage those bills.”

“It's not all altruistic,” she continued. “A lot of it is determined by, you know, power consumption and electricity costs, especially in Europe. That's where we see the bulk really leaning into wanting to know what their IT infrastructure is pulling.”

Whatever the motivation, the need to balance the use of HPC and growth of AI is clear. The genie can’t be put back in the bottle, and nor should it be, so organizations must be proactive in mitigating any potential negative impacts before they take root.

HPE Discover is back once again in fabulous Las Vegas, with the company eager to show off its latest developments, products and strategies.

Six years after the company’s first outing as Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), following its split from HP Inc in 2015, the business has changed quite significantly – in strategy if not in what it’s actually selling – with HPE GreenLake becoming its central focus for almost everything.

HPE GreenLake, for those not familiar, is the company’s ‘as a service’ offering. It allows organizations to use HPE’s hardware on a consumption-based model; you only pay for what you use and can spin instances up and down as you see fit, much like you would in a public cloud. 

The difference is the hardware is located either on-premises or perhaps with a colocation provider, rather than in the data center of a hyperscaler such as AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud.

While it started small in 2017, with just a handful of applications, GreenLake has grown to become the focus of the company’s headline announcements year after year. You would almost be mistaken for forgetting HPE sells enterprise hardware, were it not for the fact that any cloud has to run on some kind of infrastructure.

Show me the AI

What does all this mean for HPE Discover 2023, then? Given CEO Antonio Neri bet the farm on GreenLake in 2021, it’s probably safe to say we’ll hear very little about new hardware launches and a lot about new HPE GreenLake offerings. 

HPE’s latest big announcement here came in the form of GreenLake cloud services for high-performance computing (HPC), launched in December 2020. HPE has some serious HPC chops – supercomputing granddaddies Cray and SGI have been HPE brands since 2016 and 2019 respectively – and I would be excited to hear more of what they’re doing in this area. 

Of course, the trend currently swamping the tech industry (and everything else) is artificial intelligence (AI), or more specifically generative AI; the DALL-Es, Chat-GPTs, and Bards of this world all rely on top-end hardware. 

HPE has already made moves in the AI space, with Ezmeral for ML (machine learning) Ops and GreenLake for ML Ops, as well as swarm learning and a partnership with NVIDIA for enterprise-focused AI. With Dell Technologies partnering with NVIDIA for enterprise AI too, as announced at Dell Technologies World in May, surely it’s time for HPE to make some additional moves in this area if it wants to stay ahead.

Are HPE's acquisitions coming into their own?

It’s always worth keeping an eye on what comes out of acquisitions – for example, 2019’s big hardware announcement, Primera, came out of HPE’s acquisition of Nimble Storage two years prior.

There haven’t been any acquisitions on the scale of Nimble, Cray or SGI in recent years, but an intriguing one is the recent purchase of OpsRamp. From a GreenLake point of view (because everything is from a GreenLake point of view these days), this acquisition makes total sense given OpsRamp was an IT operations management company. 

Boasting automation capabilities and the ability to work across on-premises infrastructure as well as cloud, it’s an easy fit for HPE’s flagship strategy. If there’s no nod to how this will integrate into GreenLake services – even in the abstract – I’ll be very surprised.

With Dell Technologies once again snapping at HPE’s heels in consumption-based computing with Project Apex announcements in May, I hope the company in the green corner has something of interest to counter with next week.

ITPro will be covering HPE Discover 2023 between 20 June and 22 June. Stay up-to-date with the latest news and updates by following our live blogs, and subscribe to our newsletter to catch the latest in-depth stories.

Hybrid cloud was supposed to be a stepping stone on the way to full public cloud adoption, or so we were led to believe. Yet as time went on it became apparent that, for many, hybrid was the destination rather than just a temporary stop along the way.

The flexibility offered by hybrid cloud, particularly when it came to things like data sovereignty, IP protection, and running workloads in the optimum location – as well as some cost benefits – were key influencers in this. For enterprises across the board, the benefits of retaining a mix of colocation, public cloud and private cloud environments, often outweighed the lure of the “full public cloud” mantra.

There are certain specialisms and roles that really thrived in the public cloud infrastructure provided by hyperscalers, however, with DevOps being one notable example. The ability to quickly spin resources up and down as and when you needed them enabled this discipline to really come into its own and become the mainstay of development it is now. As such, it’s a discipline that’s very much rooted in the public, hyperscale cloud. Factors such as data portability, responsiveness, and agility (or lack thereof) have made it a challenge to make DevOps work in a private cloud environment.

Is it possible to square this circle and make DevOps truly work as part of a hybrid strategy? Or do IT decision makers have to choose between leaving it languishing on its own in the public cloud or abandoning the practice altogether?

DevOps vs Waterfall

DevOps and continuous integration and continuous deployment (CI/CD) have been a huge leap forward for software development, enabling organizations to move much more quickly through and improve services continuously. Trying to roll these advances back is both impractical and undesirable – they took off because they made a positive impact on business.

Whereas what’s now known as waterfall or linear development follows a predictable, often siloed approach, DevOps and CI/CD are far more dynamic and collaborative. This led to greater productivity, efficiency and creativity, but their less predictable nature is what leads them to struggle in a pre-defined, on premises data center: It’s not typically possible to access additional resources on the spur of the moment unless there’s serious overprovisioning in place, which comes with its own cost and resource problems.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) has been sensitive to these issues for some time. Marrying up the need for modern cloud-native development practices with the need for some businesses to prioritize private cloud in their hybrid mix has been one of the areas HPE GreenLake for Private Cloud Enterprise has been seeking to address.

Cloud native wherever you need it

Launched in June 2022,  HPE GreenLake for Private Cloud Enterprise is among the newest elements of the HPE GreenLake portfolio and was built with DevOps in mind.

According to David Crozier, head of portfolio marketing for HPE GreenLake, Services, one of the challenges when it comes to operating a hybrid cloud environment is it rarely has the same feel, functionality, and ease of use that the public cloud does.

“Containers and Kubernetes have increasingly become the go to for enterprises wanting to run cloud-native apps, with options to run on VMs or bare metal deployment,” he says. “This is overshadowed, however, by the complexity and management demands of running them in a hybrid cloud environment.”

“What dev teams want is to be able to create cloud-native apps that offer exceptional digital experiences from edge to cloud. Whether it’s in a public cloud hyperscaler or in a more bespoke private cloud doesn’t really enter into the equation. They want to innovate and they want to be able to do it quickly and easily,” Crozier adds.

What this means in practice is an environment that gives a public cloud feel to DevOps teams through integrations with the likes of Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Services (EKS) Anywhere from AWS, as well as other infrastructure-as-code and cloud-native toolchains. As with the public cloud, HPE GreenLake for Private Cloud Enterprise is self service, meaning users can easily self-serve the management of APIs, command line interface (CLI), VMs, containers, bare-metal and infrastructure-as-code.

It also offers six workload-optimized instances for compute, memory, general purpose and storage.

And because HPE GreenLake for Private Cloud Enterprise is part of the wider HPE GreenLake portfolio, there’s no need for overprovisioning. The consumption-based pricing means users can spin instances up and down as they need them, just as they would in the public cloud, without the data leaving the corporate environment.

An accessible environment

HPE GreenLake for Private Cloud Enterprise makes the power of cloud computing more accessible than ever. Organizations that may have shied away from cloud-native development due to data sovereignty and security concerns can now take full advantage of it without making compromises.

Additionally, HPE understands that what’s generated in a private cloud environment may not need to stay there forever. Through other HPE GreenLake services, it’s easy to move workloads between the private and public cloud as needed.

Cloud computing services are now ubiquitous, used by the very smallest organizations to the very largest but one size doesn’t fit all. A trusted partner such as HPE can help you navigate the cloud landscape and discover what best suits your business needs. And through services like HPE Greenlake for Private Cloud Enterprise, you can be sure you’re getting the full advantages and flexibility of hyperscale cloud computing without ever having to worry about where your data is and who has access to it.

Learn more about HPE GreenLake

In today’s working environments, where many businesses have adopted a hybrid working policy, CISOs have the additional challenge of not only ensuring the security of their internal infrastructure, but also their remote employees. And with cyber threats becoming more sophisticated, it can be difficult to prioritise security networks.

This resource shares five network security practices that CISOs can adopt to mitigate these challenges. From ensuring visibility, to implementing a Zero Trust network, to establishing safety in the cloud, CISOs can ensure they’re covering all security needs.

Download now to learn how there are no shortcuts when it comes to security compliance, and discover a cloud-native network security solution that can keep all networks safe.

Provided by

This automatically-generated transcript is taken from the IT Pro Podcast episode 'What's next for cloud security?'. We apologise for any errors.

Rory Bathgate

Digital transformation has been at the forefront of so many company strategies in the past few years, and moving to the cloud has been a core element of this. Hybrid cloud in particular has become an all-important offering, but with increased presence in the cloud, businesses have also had to quickly adapt to the risks that cloud environments can present. Today, we’re speaking to Stan Markov, CEO and co-founder of risk remediation and mitigation provider Runecast, about the state of cloud security, and what’s next for the sector. Stan, thanks so much for being on the show.

Stan Markov

Thanks for having me, Rory, great to be here.

Rory

So just to start off with a general question, what are some of the key security challenges currently facing organisations in the cloud?

Stan

There are quite a few. But if I have to pick some, I would say the first thing is that even though Cloud has been out there for few years it is still, in a sense, new for a lot of larger organisations that are just starting to embrace it really on a overall enterprise organisation level, where they realise that they have to integrate it with their processes that they already have like security, compliance vulnerability assessment processes that they already have, for their on-prem environments. And a lot of them, what they're facing now is a bit of lack of experience, I would say, and maybe some skill shortage when it comes to how to integrate all the cloud security processes into what they already have, and have it as one cohesive thing. And as we know, the rules, that the cloud environments play by are a little bit different than the on-prem. Of course, the underlying hypervisor layer is already managed by the cloud, hyperscaler. But you're given so many, so much configuration freedom, that you could pretty much expose anything over to the internet. So I think this is still something that a lot of organisations are basically struggling to embrace, and to make sure to have the confidence that they're compliant and they have certain level of security, using their and consuming their cloud infrastructure. So I think this is really one of the most important challenges that everyone has to solve in some shape and form. And the second one I would say, is that as organisations started to use cloud years ago, but maybe only certain teams within the organisation, they also started to use various different security or operations tools to make sure that they manage their cloud and their cloud security in a proper way. So they've created, even within a single organisation very often, a number of silos that use different tools. And now linking back to having to consolidate it all and to have a more unified view on how they're secure, and manage their whole hybrid cloud. They have to take decisions on basically how to achieve that considering most organisations now have multiple tools, some for one type of clouds, others for another type, and a third silo, which is for on prem. So that's another challenge that organisations are facing, and a lot of it has to do with security.

Rory

So you wouldn't say that organisations have necessarily moved to the cloud too quickly through digital transformation, but that some organisations, maybe even if it was a very slow transition, along the way through these silos there has been a lack of a unified response or lack of a unified strategy. And the result of that is a bit of chaos when it comes to security?

Stan

Yeah, I would say so because cloud is so easy to consume. So if a particular department within the organisation has budget, they could just go ahead and start using some services from the cloud. And I think that's exactly what happened over the years with many organisations, and they think different departments even didn't know about each other that they're using, for example, one was using AWS and other Azure another GCP. Maybe they using it in a different way. So only when the organisation takes a decision on an enterprise level — "this is going to be now part of our strategy and we're going to have a certain amount of infrastructure run out of the cloud" — only then they start to see, okay, what do we already have in the cloud? And yeah, how do we make sure we actually run all of that in a unified way? So yeah, I believe that kind of organically, everybody started really using the cloud, but not really in an organised way, or in a way that really fits their processes for on prem.

Rory

Right. And then, is there — I guess it's a simple sort of answer — but is there an easy fix to this problem? Or is this more of an involved case by case basis problem that's going to require a case by case basis solution?

Stan

I think it's, I mean, the approach should be similar. But of course, everybody's solving slightly different problem, because everyone's processes are a bit different. And it should be both, as in our cloud, should we also have a mindset change, not just not just the change of tools, or, or processes. But I think the overall approach should be, first of all, to see what they currently use. So what kind of clouds are being utilised? For what purpose? And then to really set some strategy for the particular organisation? What are we going to run in the cloud? And what are we going to run on prem? Because there are good use cases for both. And I think over the years now, more and more customers are starting to realise the pros and cons of cloud versus on-prem. Because really, both of these have pros and cons. And once the strategy is set up, all of the organisations need to also think about what type of tooling they're using, how are they making sure they're automating the security and compliance, also their cost estimation, continuously to make sure that they're not going over budget when using both cloud and on-prem. So this is really the overall approach and the different steps. And, but of course, it will be for each individual organisation, there will have to have some specific tasks they have to basically accomplish, but the overall path is the same really. Just to discover what they have, think about the strategy, what should be in the cloud and which cloud exactly, and what should be on prem? And, to agree on a common toolset that spans across public clouds and on prem so that they don't end up with multiple silos of tens of different tools.

Rory

So organisations maybe could look to tools and solutions like SIEM threat detection?

Stan

Yeah, I would say that. I mean, there is — when we talk about security, of course, there's anything that you can imagine, especially these days, but what I really like and where Runecast actually plays a big role in is the new category that Gartner coined last year, which is CNAPP, or cloud native application protection platform. Because it's more or less an umbrella term, it's a set of capabilities, that provides integrated approach to security and compliance all across not just the public clouds, but also on-prem. And within that umbrella, you have capabilities like CSPM, or KSBM, also a cloud workload protection platform. Infrastructure as a code scanning, API scanning, cloud infrastructure entitlement management, so all of these are really important, important capabilities. And it's important to have them as much as possible within one single platform, so that you don't have to try to always integrate tens of different tools. And also, ideally, to have all of these capabilities both for clouds and on-prem also in one single place. Because essentially, as an organisation you will have one strategy when it comes to security and also security compliance standards you have to abide to. And that's why as much as possible, all organisations need to think how to consolidate tools and vendors within either one platform or really smaller number of tools or platforms.

Rory

So when you're talking about businesses maintaining control across a range of different tools, or maybe a range of different cloud offerings, would you also say that security and observability are crossing over here? And that a lot of security issues are also comprehension or observability issues, when it comes to things like detecting threats in the first place?

Stan

Yeah, I think these two things are very connected, absolutely. And, in fact, there it's very often also from the perspective of who should be handling the hardening of the environment, and really should have the grasp of what's happening in the cloud environment, it's often the cloud team or the let's say, the operations team, which is ensuring that everything is configured properly in a in a secure way. And also, they have to be involved if troubleshooting something or hunting for some threat. But often, these teams are separate; the security team and the cloud operations team. However, it very often happens, especially for example if we're talking about security compliance, that the security team is demanding from the operations team that they have to ensure their cloud environment is configured in a certain way, to make sure it's compliant. So they have to also do the remediation, they have to discover or see what the security compliance posture is all the time. And it is really ideal if both of these teams, or both of these roles, are able to look in the same interface and to see really all the necessary data about potential gaps in the in the security posture. And maybe also privileges that were provided, that shouldn't be there of certain users, which which happens very often, especially in cloud environments, and even assets that they didn't know about. So identifying the true attack surface, which in a dynamic and ephemeral environment, like clouds, it's quite challenging actually, to observe or to see all the time, so. But this is something that these capabilities should be available both for the security and for the operations teams. And in some organisations, these roles are really merging as well. In others, they still keep it quite separate. But one thing is for sure, everybody would benefit from having one interface, that will give them both security information and observability information as well.

Rory

You'd say this is true across a multi-cloud or a hybrid-cloud environment, that the core dashboard or controls would really be beneficial to a team to have that centralised view?

Stan

Yeah, absolutely. Because essentially, you know, whether whether we call it public cloud or private cloud, or there's always it's just the flavour of infrastructure, it's a place where you launch certain services, where your apps are running. Of course, as cloud was something new as it is kind of is with Kubernetes now, it was inevitable that there would be new separate teams that were created, that were taking care of just that new thing. But essentially, as this becomes more of a commodity, and more of something that people perceive as just a flavour of infrastructure, or like a place where your apps are running, you know, these teams should also merge into one. So, especially when it comes to operational security, they should always be looking at their IT as a whole, not just a specific part of it, because they need to be able to protect it from security and availability perspective, in its entirety. And really, most customers out there are having a hybrid cloud setup where they typically have some on-prem plus one primary cloud and one secondary cloud. So in that sense, yeah, whether it's just purely multi-cloud, without on prem, which is rarely the case, or cloud plus on-prem, this is universal. It's great to have, it's an absolute benefit to have one interface for both security and observability.

Rory

And with this in mind, would you say that organisations are really taking this into account, and making this a part of their, say, digital transformation strategy? Or is is there a kind of a worrying trend of businesses putting the cart before the horse, and advancing into these cloud environments without this strategy before they're ready, and therefore kind of reaping the the real attacks as a result?

Stan

I think what we've observed this year is that organisations are becoming more, I mean, they're becoming definitely smarter about it, especially as they're embracing their hybrid cloud future from an enterprise architecture perspective, because then they can take more overall enterprise decisions, rather than having individual teams take their own decisions. So if you look at it from a high level, for the whole organisation, then it absolutely makes sense from multiple points of view. One is definitely consolidating the tools, having one interface so that everybody is more informed when it comes to security and observability perspective. Even if you look at it from a cost perspective, and total cost of ownership, it also makes a lot of sense especially in nowadays environment where one of the top priorities for any C-Level is really how to be very cost effective. So consolidating multiple tools into one platform brings also that benefit of reducing the total cost of ownership. And certainly, this works only when these decisions are taken more on a C-Level or VP level, for organisations where cloud is now part of their lives and part of their enterprise strategy, so then they can start to think from a more global perspective "what should I do to run things in a more optimal way, in a more holistic way, and with the reduced total cost of ownership?" And I see as cloud has become more and more important, part of the enterprise strategy of most organisations this year, they certainly start to think in this way, which is really a good sign I think.

Rory

That is good sign. It's good to, I guess, hear that people are really taking these these worries into account. So we've talked a bit about specific concerns. And we've talked a bit about maybe what businesses are seeking, what they need in terms of observability. In your own work, you've identified the usefulness of AI in detecting and remediating threats in cloud environments. I was wondering if you could expand a little on this about where exactly AI and machine learning fits in to these solutions and and just just expand on that level?

Stan

Yeah, we actually use AI in a very unique way compared to other organisations. The common way how AI is used in observability security platforms is collecting a lot of big data from even single customer, but also multiple customers, and having the algorithms learn what is natural, what is unnatural behaviour, and then pointing out to some deviations from natural behaviour. And then a security operations person or expert needs to then dig deeper, and potentially find out if that's really a problem or not. And this is really an approach which is, you know, good in some ways, because it can really help you find a problem either from a security or availability perspective. But also it can create a lot of noise because it's never exact. Some unnatural behaviours might actually turn out to be harmless. The way that we use AI is a bit different. So the whole idea about Runecast is that we realised very early on years ago that there's a lot of valuable information out there on the internet, in knowledge bases, vulnerability databases, known exploited vulnerability databases, even documentation or blog articles. But all of that data is human readable and unstructured. And it's typically used reactively. So whenever a security breach happens, or maybe an outage, a service outage, then there's usually a team of experts that are troubleshooting and looking for the root cause maybe for days or weeks until they find it and remediate it. So back there and then we realised that if we were to find a way how to continuously harness all that human readable, unstructured data and turn it into machine readable rules continuously, we could help customers protect against the latest known issues out there the latest vulnerabilities or security and compliances or other problems that could cause availability or even performance problems. So that's what we do, even as we speak our internal platform is crawling multiple sources of online data, and detecting whenever there is a new knowledgebase article or a new vulnerability, or new exploit, or a new piece of documentation that's relevant, that's documented out there, and then transforming that into a machine readable rule. And we have over 9,000 of them now, and the number keeps growing. And continuously, our customers based on the latest current rules, they can detect any potential threats or misconfigurations, or vulnerabilities in their environment. So, the place where we use AI is in that platform that's continually crawling these sources of knowledge. We have a number of natural language processing modules, which are detecting the relevant pieces of knowledge and then automatically translating this human readable unstructured knowledge into machine readable rules. So instead of using fossil algorithms to kind of try to detect some unnatural behaviour, which may or may not be harmless, we create continuously these rules that are very deterministic. And if an issue is detected based on one of the rules that we've created, then it's definitely a problem. So it's definitely a security gap, or maybe another issue that could lead to availability problem. So yeah, overall, we have a quite different and unique way on how we leverage AI as opposed to other other companies out there.

Rory

So do you think there's a there's a great deal of potential for AI to be used in non-traditional automation sense? Do you think that AI is currently being used in too similar fashion to more traditional scripting say, and that these kind of, maybe more out of the box solutions for processing and digesting information for security teams has a lot of potential?

Stan

Yeah, I think it definitely has a lot of potential because the way we use the AI really, if you think about it, just online, there's so much information, and it's in human readable, unstructured format, and it's being updated on a daily or hourly basis. And nobody else that I know of is really using AI in the same way that we do. And the way that it's traditionally being used, I think its accuracy is improving all the time, over time. But still, there is a lot of noise that's being created by these tools or platforms that are using the AI in such a traditional way, which doesn't fully solve the problem for security, or security or operations professionals out there. Because I think a lot of them are kind of, to a certain extent tired of having tools that maybe create more work for them, or create more more noise that they have to go through and figure out what is really a problem and what is not. So certainly I think there's a lot more to our approach. And it really makes a lot of sense. Ideally, I think that the two approaches can coexist, absolutely. It's just that this traditional approach with AI, certainly, vendors should be careful with it to implement it in such a way that doesn't create additional noise for customers. Because then it defeats the purpose of why it's actually there.

Rory

So would you say that currently, AI, maybe machine learning as well, are in more more of a position to perform information gathering tasks rather than maybe action on the kind of threat edge. So, passing huge amounts of information to humans in order for individual security teams to carry out actions as opposed to detecting and automatically quelling threats as they happen.

Stan

Yeah, I think the level of accuracy in in many cases probe is not sufficient for the data to be combined with an action. But there are some, I think, less intrusive actions that can be implemented out there. For example, decreasing the level of access to a network or to certain assets, if some potentially malicious behaviour is detected. Of course, every time customers need to evaluate whether it's working properly, whether there are not too many false positives, but I think at least reducing or cutting the access for the time being if allegedly malicious behaviour is detected, I think it's okay. Because if it's not too drastic, I believe that we have the information coming in with the help of AI. If it's accurate enough with a certain level of certainty, and the action is not too intrusive, I think it's okay to use it now.

Rory

Fantastic. There's clearly a lot of potential there. On a similar level in terms of maybe cutting edge threats, as opposed to cutting edge solutions, there's been a lot of talk, especially this year around lateral security. I know that it was a big focus at VMware Explore, obviously it's better known as east-west security in the past. But would you say that currently there is too much focus on endpoint security, and not enough on the kind of lateral threats that organisations are vulnerable to? Or is there a pretty good balance of of knowledge of those kinds of threats among organisations?

Stan

I think this year, especially the lateral security topic, and east-west, has become more popular. So if you were to ask me, maybe in 2021 definitely, endpoint security was the number one. It's still I would say, the number one in terms of popularity and what organisations focus on. But I do see what would be my experience other other conferences, even RSA, that lateral security is being addressed more and more, I think it's something that was considered and was pushed by VMware, also even years ago with with the release of NSX, back then, mainly for on-prem environments. But now with NSX-T is used also in cloud environments, and in general, the same principles of protecting yourself on the east-west layer, they of course, have to be applied in any environment, as mentioned earlier, whether it's on-prem cloud, or private cloud, or public cloud. It's the same, the same potential tactics or the same potential threats should be prevented, basically. So yeah, I still think that a lot of the focus is on endpoint security or malware, and you know, these traditional things. But I think organisations are starting to get smarter and look things from a different angle as well, also from the east-west angle.

Rory

And has there been an equivalent step-up in lateral attacks from threat actors, are we seeing evolving tactics with the evolving cloud landscape? Or is there a pretty consistent threat landscape right now?

Stan

I would say that, you know, a lot of the attacks are pretty well, the more sophisticated ones certainly are, are using all different methods, and they've been using it for for forever. I mean, we are now just starting to talk more about lateral security, but actually, this type of breaches and using really, or penetrating the organisation more from from an east-west way, or at least moving deeper into the organisation in such a way, this has been observed for a long time, in terms of the breaches out there. Especially the more sophisticated ones. but I would say still, a lot of the breaches that are happening are pretty simplistic, I would say, and they come from very basic errors that are done, it's usually a human error and there is still a lot of the breaches are happening for example, because of some exposed inadvertently exposed resources out there. And that could be, of course, the beginning of the breach and once you get into our organisation then you can move within the organisation in the east-west layer afterwards. But the typical entry points for a lot of these breaches is something very, very simple and very easily avoidable. For example, if you have just a continuous CSPM solution that really makes sure that for example, all of your S3 Buckets are not exposed directly to the internet, that they are encrypted and such simple things, then that would already prevent a big part of the breaches nowadays.

Rory

And that kind of circles back to what you were saying earlier around, a real need to have eyes on, and understanding of, all of your layers, all of your tools, really knowing if anything is exposed, not losing track in that sense. And kind of on that point, and maybe to round off the discussion, I was wondering if you could give some general pointers for other ways, other avenues that IT decision makers can look to secure their cloud environments, heading into 2023.

Stan

I mean, one of the things that may be a couple of things to mention is that I think the clouds infrastructure and title management capabilities and solutions are not as popular as they should be. Because there's really a lot of, both human and service users, that have privileges that they shouldn't have. In the various clouds and cloud services that customers are using, really having a solution which can give them continuous auditing and monitoring, making sure that only minimum required privileges are assigned to all the users that need to have access to specific services. This is something that a lot of customers are really not paying enough attention to. And it's only now the CIEM, or cloud infrastructure, entitlement management solutions are on the rise. And, I think we will see more and more of these in 2023. And they're really solving I think, quite important problems when it comes to security, because a lot of the breaches that are coming can come from really, accounts that were basically exposed, and they might have access to really too much services. So CIEM capabilities, I think it's something that everybody should look into in the new year, and how they will solve that ideally within the same platform that they're already using. But it's something that I think all organisations need to look into. And the second thing to mention is, and we actually heard it a lot that VMware Explore and other conferences out there, is about sovereign clouds. With the ever changing and difficult geopolitical situation out there and ever growing regulatory compliance standards, it is obvious that a lot of organisations are looking for it. So having some sort of sovereign cloud, or some sovereignty of the data, at least for the sensitive data that they have. So when they're choosing cloud providers, or if they're choosing security or operations solutions, they always need to think whether the particular cloud provider or security operations solution can provide that data sovereignty that was going to be required by them by, for example, European authorities or local authorities.

Rory

Well, thank you so much for that insight. And thank you so much for being on the show.

Stan

My pleasure. Thanks for having me.

Rory

As always, You can find links to all of the topics we've spoken about today in the show notes and even more on our website at itpro.co.uk. You can also follow us on social media, as well as subscribe to our daily newsletter. Don't forget to subscribe to the IT Pro Podcast wherever you find podcasts. And if you're enjoying the show, leave us a rating and a review. We'll be back next week with more insight from the world of IT but until then, goodbye.

Hybrid and multi-cloud infrastructure has become such an important aspect of digital transformation, but it brings its own potential risks. It’s important that businesses maintain a macro view of their environment, with centralised dashboards proposed as an option to provide adequate observability to security teams.

With the increasing pressures of data sovereignty, and concerns surrounding lateral security, it’s more important than ever that siloed teams are brought together under clear security strategies in order to keep infrastructure safe.

This week, we spoke to Stanimir Markov, CEO and co-founder of risk remediation and mitigation provider Runecast, about the state of cloud security, some of the biggest challenges right now, and what’s next for the sector.

Highlights

“Of course, it will be for each individual organisation they will have some specific tasks they have to accomplish, but the overall path is the same really. Just to discover what they have, think about the strategy, what should be in the cloud and which cloud exactly, and what should be on-prem? And to agree on a common toolset, that spans across public clouds and on-prem, so that they don't end up with multiple silos of tens of different tools.”

“This traditional approach with AI certainly, vendors should be careful with it to implement it in such a way that doesn't create additional noise for customers. Because then it defeats the purpose of why it's actually there.”

“In the various clouds and cloud services that customers are using, really having a solution which can give them continuous auditing and monitoring, making sure that only minimum required privileges are assigned to all the users that need to have access to specific services, this is something that a lot of customers are really not paying enough attention to.”

Read the full transcript here.

Footnotes

• Multi-cloud vs hybrid cloud – what's the difference?
• What is cloud security?
• Managing a blend of legacy and modern IT during digital transformation
• Network detection and response market to hit $5.3bn by 2028
• What are the pros and cons of AI?
• Benefits of AI and machine learning for cloud security
• What to look for in a secure cloud system
• VMware brings XDR capabilities to Carbon Black in a push for lateral security
• Five reasons why digital transformation is essential for business growth
• Data sovereignty: A boon for MSPs?
• How to use machine learning and AI in cyber security
• VMware enhances Sovereign Cloud services in a push for easier compliance
• Oracle to build sovereign cloud regions in the EU for 2023
• Microsoft wins contract to build Singapore's first sovereign cloud

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As we transition through a new era of hybrid work, employees are becoming more discerning in the options available to them for flexible or remote work. As a result, IT professionals' roles are becoming increasingly important to provide the right infrastructure to enable secure, remote connectivity.

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Cloud-based services have experienced a higher than anticipated growth since the start of the pandemic, and the market is predicted to grow by a further 19.9% between 2022 and 2029, according to a new report.

Nearly 90% of large companies also now use a combination of cloud services - rather than hybrid cloud that utilises both private and public clouds - according to the latest multi-cloud trend report from Fortune Business Insights, which is a clear majority next to those businesses that choose a mix of vendors and technologies instead.

To complicate matters further, the majority of these companies with multi-cloud strategies have IT environments that are made up of multiple hybrid clouds. The 4th Annual Enterprise Cloud Index Analyst Report from Nutanix found that 75% of these organisations agree that an operating model with multiple private and public clouds - a hybrid multi-cloud model - was beneficial as it mitigated challenges relating to cost, security, and data integration.

It's also important to note that this only includes the clouds that IT executives are aware of. Shadow IT and cloud services used without official authorisation are a growing issue and mean the actual number of clouds used in businesses may be higher than the IT department reports.

Over the next three years, Microsoft predicts that nine in ten companies will increase spending on multi-cloud or hybrid cloud. However, as the number of multi-cloud environments increase, and with multiple workloads running, departments are at risk of cloud sprawl, where fast and unchecked cloud adoption can cause issues with security and compliance.

Many businesses also have multi-cloud environments without necessarily realising it, i.e. through the acquisition of other companies.

It’s clear that what’s next for multi-cloud will be the growth of operations teams to manage and integrate these environments with the use of formal procedures and tools - multi-cloud management - to choreograph workloads and fully embrace the benefits of multiple clouds.

And although formal multi-cloud management may currently lag behind adoption, this will start to change as more vendors start to offer multi-cloud management services to ensure their security, performance, and reliability.

This article was first published on 07/08/2019 and has since been updated.

Businesses must foster Gen-Z’s sense of meaning through important goals such as sustainability targets, in order to maintain competitiveness and spur growth, according to industry experts.

In order to attract young talent, businesses should choose to offer roles in which individuals feel like they’re making a difference to the world, and maintain a culture of communication, business leaders have suggested. Organisations that follow this, and foster a culture that supports overlaps with sustainability schemes, could future-proof their business strategies and remain competitive in a market increasingly reliant on new talent.

Younger workers require a clear understanding of the moral value in their job, and sustainability schemes that include contributions from individual employees could fill this need. As Gartner recently identified sustainability as the key tech trend for 2023, and businesses increasingly bet on sustainability to tackle disruption, the field could offer returns in both investment and employee satisfaction.

However, sustainability schemes that amount to little more than greenwashing can be met with negativity and a feeling that the organisation in question lacks the trust in its employees to be transparent.

Alongside purpose, young workers increasingly demand honesty from employers, so maintaining a young workforce amidst growing drives for net zero carbon will require a transparent approach.

At a roundtable discussion, representatives from Dell, Red Hat, and Kyndryl spoke to a changing strategy in hybrid cloud, driven in part by the onboarding of younger workers, and gave examples of tasks that can meet these demands.

“It’s got to be something we can bring to life, and imagine,” said Tosca Colangeli, UK and Ireland president at Kyndryl.

“When we launched Kyndryl, we joined up with One Tree Planted, and for every employee that we had, we planted a tree. We wanted to do that to recognise the importance of the environment, and we all voted for One Tree Planted; choice is part of the cultural shift - it’s important on a personal level to be able to contribute.”

Firms were also urged to use clear language in order to communicate the effectiveness of schemes such as those implemented to reduce energy demand. For younger workers, this can feed into the wider needs for transparency and a sense of progress in work, but it can also prove the value of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) schemes to C-suite executives.

“They're super intelligent people, but they're not experts in zettabytes and kilowatt hours,” Dayne Turbitt, UK general manager and SVP at Dell.

“So, if you put it in context for them, in terms such as “by doing this, you save as much electricity as a million houses”, that really brings it home.”

Members of the panel said the shift in generational priorities has happened alongside a gradual slowing of growth in the cloud market, as businesses have begun to take stock of the systems they have in place before expanding further.

“There’s a period of consolidation now, which says “how do I manage these costs I have?”, said Colangeli.

“There's economic pressure, there's a demand for real-time information... the real prize is about the data we're unlocking in the cloud, and that's what we're really seeing coming to life right now, around artificial intelligence (AI) and insights. We're going to get from having all of this data in the cloud.

“You're going to have to get your house in order. You're gonna have to get some control over the cost, so you can reinvest in the data and the insights that really will game-change your organisation.”

Increased automation, whether in the back office or through robotic process automation (RPA) systems that share tasks with human workers, is one cost-effective way for businesses to maintain efficiency amidst economic downturn.

If implemented correctly, automation can also be used to improve employee experience, allowing workers to get on with more meaningful work in lieu of tiresome manual processes.

“The case for the return on investment and the case of the environment have never been closer,” Simon Wright, director, strategic solutions team at Red Hat UK.

“It’s the small gains, and I think automation and self-service are two key things which will help drive us in the right direction.”

Microsoft and Kyndryl announced an expansion to their strategic partnership in October, with the aim of helping customers improve mainframe data access. Dell and Red Hat continue to work closely on containerisation, and the Dell APEX consumption model to improve customer scalability in a landscape increasingly demanding real-time reaction to macroeconomic shifts.

As organisations continue to migrate to, or manage their, private, public, hybrid cloud or multi-cloud environments, security should be an integral part of the process. Unfortunately, embedding security in every step of your organisations' cloud journey can be challenging.

The 3rd annual report by IBM Security X-Force helps organisations learn how they can prepare and react to security incidents involving their cloud environments more effectively.

Download this report now to learn more.

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VMware and HPE have announced an upgrade to the firms’ existing partnership, in the form of a unified cloud solution combining HPE GreenLake and VMware Cloud solutions.

With HPE GreenLake for VMware, GreenLake customers will gain access to VMware solutions such as its intelligent cloud delivery platform Aria, or its network security platform NSX, which offers granular protection and manages security policies on both public and private clouds.

Announced at VMware Explore Europe, the company’s annual conference in the region, both firms stressed the importance of the deal in the face of growing complexity within the hybrid cloud market. Companies are increasingly seeking to integrate hybrid clouds and multi-cloud solutions, while avoiding the old threat of cloud sprawl.

VMware argued that its unified solution, which can offer customers the services they require through one trusted source, is the answer to these concerns. Customers will be able to use HPE GreenLake for VMware to deploy kubernetes and integrated security on-premises, at the edge, or through colocation.

“Organizations are looking to evolve from a state of cloud chaos where cost and complexity reign, to a more cloud smart approach,” said Raghu Raghuram, chief executive officer at VMware.

“VMware Cloud is the trusted platform for enterprise workloads on private and public clouds that gives customers the flexibility and choice to become cloud smart. VMware and HPE will enable customers to combine VMware’s state-of-the-art multi-cloud software with HPE GreenLake’s cloud operating model and consumption economics to support any workload on a modern hybrid cloud.”

Once implemented, HPE GreenLake will be available on a ‘pay-as-you-go’ consumption model. HPE credits this model with increased insight for customers, with prices tied directly to demand, on a case-by-case basis. Consumption models have been suggested as more flexible alternatives for customers by companies such as Laiye, which recently predicted the end of subscription models within five years.

Facing the climate crisis and economic pressures, companies could benefit from consumption models as they allow spending to be tracked in line with resource usage, which helps to identify areas that can be cut back. It has also been suggested that such a model, combined with universal measurements for carbon impact, could help firms achieve software sustainability and curb energy demand on data centres.

“We’re right in the middle of transitioning our way of licensing from perpetual, into a kind of pay-as-you-go, in a kind of SaaS subscription,” said Luigi Freguia, senior vice president and general manager EMEA at VMware. He identified the economic uncertainty customers facing European customers in particular, with the war in Ukraine and growing economic crisis prompting companies to seek shorter-term solutions.

“It depends on the specific company but it's an additional flexibility that we’re bringing to the table, and we see a positive response. I mean actually we need to cope with the demand and get enough structuring of the offerings to accommodate. So financially, it's working. And as I said before, in terms of a valuable position, they really see the value of our platform because they are, they see the flexibility.”

HPE GreenLake currently provides access to more than 70 cloud services, supporting over 120,000 users and in excess of one exabyte of overall customer data.

In June, HPE GreenLake was expanded to include a new private cloud platform, alongside eight new cloud services. These included GreenLake for Data Fabric, a hybrid cloud managed service that gives insight into productivity, GreenLake for Disaster Recovery to assist firms bounce back from ransomware attacks.

Multi-cloud data integration helps ensure that the right data gets to the right people at the right time. But this is only possible when the right tools are in place.

This whitepaper reviews the growing complexity of hybrid cloud environments alongside multi-cloud data integration building blocks such as data virtualisation, replication, cataloguing and automation which can help tame the sprawl.

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As organisations' data and analytics efforts become more mature, they collect more diverse data and perform more sophisticated analytics.

Today most organisations have either moved to the cloud or are planning to move to the cloud to modernise their data and analytics infrastructures. And in a recent IDC survey, nearly 80% of organisations said they stored more than half of their data in hybrid and multi-cloud infrastructures.

Download this report to learn more about multi-cloud environments and how to achieve seamless cloud data management across them.

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Cloud adoption is growing exponentially, and it is a key enabler to every digital transformation. As organisations move to the cloud for agility, scalability and flexibility, they are adopting cloud-native, intelligent, automated solutions, and multi-cloud platforms.

At the same time, they're consolidating and modernising their traditional on-premises data warehouses and data lakes to take advantage of cost savings and operational efficiencies of the cloud. Cloud and analytics modernisation go hand-in-hand.

Download this report to appreciate how today's focus is less on justifying the move to the cloud but more on how to get there faster, and learn how to overcome the common data management mistakes that can hinder analytics modernisation.

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For as long as organizations have had IT systems, managing data across systems that are often disparate and disjointed has been a battle for IT professionals.

Over the past 15 years, many vendors have unveiled their take on infrastructure as a service (IaaS), embracing servers, storage, and various other cloud-based hardware units, packaged up and made available to organizations to pay as they go.

Among these options available to businesses is Dell Apex. The anything as a service (XaaS) project, launched in October 2020, aims to consolidate the firm’s offerings and goes toe-to-toe with HPE’s GreenLake platform. The services available range from on-premise consumption-based storage to custom cloud-based managed solutions.

What services does Dell Apex offer?

Dell Apex covers a wide range of enterprise services, including multi-cloud, AI, compute and high-performance computing (HPC), cyber security, and device services.

There are three main parts to Dell Apex’s offerings: Apex Data Storage Services, Apex Cloud Services, and Apex Custom Solutions.

Apex Data Storage Services

This is Dell’s on-premises storage as a service offering, based on Dell’s storage hardware and software portfolio. It’s customer-operated with Dell-owned and Dell-maintained infrastructure.

It features a shared responsibilities model that demarcates the roles played by the customer and Dell on a function-by-function basis. Overall, there is an application delivery strategy that enables a customer’s IT team to concentrate on day-to-day operations while Dell looks after the underlying infrastructure for the service.

Customers find and subscribe to services in an online catalog available through the Dell Apex Console. Dell can then match services and other technology to deliver the outcomes wanted by the customer. This console offers monitoring and management of the subscribed services. Customers can create usage and spending reports, status, and predictive analytics to anticipate problems. The hardware managed by Dell can be deployed on-premises or in Equinix colocation sites.

Apex Cloud Services

This offers streamlined and reliable multi-cloud services based on VMware technology. The solution is akin to hyper-converged infrastructure (HCI) and delivers Dell Technologies VxRail as a service in a full-stack enterprise infrastructure bundle.

Dell lets administrators manage Apex Cloud Services infrastructure through its Apex Console. This is a cloud-based management tool allowing customers to oversee procurement, deployment, and even health monitoring of its deployed infrastructure. This console can be run alongside operations interfaces provided by VMware software. Apex Cloud includes:

Apex Cloud Services with VMware Cloud: This is a joint engineering endeavor between Dell and VMware that offers a scalable, flexible multi-cloud infrastructure with compute, storage, and networking delivered as a service.

Apex Hybrid Cloud: Based on VMware Cloud Foundation, this allows workload automation, and automation across the organization's entire cloud environment. Organizations can manage their own automated infrastructure, with Dell assistance in areas such as proactive monitoring and maintenance.

Apex Private Cloud: This uses VMware vSphere Enterprise Plus and VSAN to provide an entry-level infrastructure as a service with an emphasis on edge computing, remote/branch offices (ROBO), and remote locations usage.

Also, within Cloud Services, are Apex Backup Services and Apex Cyber Recovery Services. The former is a cloud-based data protection solution with a web-based console that offers visibility and management across workloads and users. The latter is a cyber recovery solution encompassing hardware, software, and service to protect critical data.

Apex Cloud Platforms

Apex Cloud platforms was announced at Dell Technologies World 2023, as part of Dell’s largest-ever Apex expansion. This is turnkey on premises infrastructure, across a range of common public cloud options including Microsoft Azure, Red Hat OpenShift, and VMware.

Alongside cloud platforms, Dell announced new support for AWS in the form of Apex Block Storage and Apex File Storage. Both allow customers to harness Apex storage solutions within their AWS environments.

Apex Custom Solutions

Dell also offers custom solutions that can be tailored to an individual business’s needs. These can be ideal for companies looking pay on a consumption basis or those with specific hardware needs.

Automated tools monitor usage to enable Dell to react rapidly to new service requests, workload variations and changes driven by business needs to enhance IT flexibility. Organisations can also customise their infrastructure based on workload to avoid over-provisioning and curb costs by paying for flexible resources as and when they are consumed. Apex Custom Solutions are available in the following options:

Apex Custom Solutions falls into two main categories:

Apex Flex on Demand: This is a flexible consumption model that enables organisations to only pay for the infrastructure they need. and provides immediate access to buffer capacity. This is available with storage, server, converged and hyper-converged infrastructure, data protection and services. It also caps billing at 85% usage of total installed capacity. Organisations can select their total deployed capacity and minimum usage commitment and at the end of the usage term, organisations can go month to month, extend the term, or return and refresh equipment. Total deployed capacity is made up of what Dell calls “Committed” and “Buffer Capacity.” Access to Buffer Capacity is instantaneous and does not necessitate a hardware deployment.

Apex Data Centre Utility: This is billed as a “highly customizable way to move part, or all, of your data centre operations into a pay-per-use model.” It couples Dell’s portfolio with professional services and support to fully manage an organisation’s data centre and its operations. Organisations receive a single-invoice monthly payment based on their actual usage. With this solution, Dell works with customer organisations to outline capacity needs and growth prospects and create a rate structure with consistent usage-based pricing. There is also automated monitoring that records actual consumption levels. This data is provided to organisation on a regular basis for review.

What are the use cases of Dell Apex?

Organizations can use Dell Apex to optimize their cloud instances and make full use of a multi-cloud approach. It’s intended to give as much or as little as users need, depending on if it’s in the hands of an enterprise with a well-established cloud presence or a firm that still has many on premise workloads.

Specific use cases include data analytics, preparing one’s environment for AI, making use of containers, managing databases, or keeping on top of data protection.

Through its recent expansions in the public cloud space, Dell Apex is intended as an end-to-end management solution for enterprises, working well with organizations that have a presence on Microsoft Azure, VMware, RedHat OpenShift, or AWS.

As far as AI use cases go, for example, organizations can deploy image recognition capabilities among a handful of options including fraud detection and natural language processing (NLP). HPC use cases, meanwhile, include applications in public safety, personalized medicine, and structural analysis. There are plenty of other applications, too, such as data virtualization in the database component, and accelerating image processing in the container element.

What is the Dell Apex Console?

The Dell Apex Console is a web portal through which Dell customers can oversee their infrastructure and cloud plans. It is intended as a unified point of access for administrators, through which they can monitor services, manage user authentication to prevent identity-based attacks, or track cloud spending.

Businesses can get started by selecting from the central catalog which Apex services across the breadth of the portfolio they wish to deploy. They can then choose service options based on their optimal performance, and request a quote. Once subscribed, Dell claims it’ll handle everything else from set-up to the deployment of hardware to your own data center or co-location facility.

At this stage, administrators can use the Apex console to track performance metrics in order to understand the health of the service taken up. Analytics and reporting also provide visibility to scale cloud and infrastructure capacity, as needed. The Apex console also gives real-time feedback for expenses, with overall business spending better aligned with IT costs. The hub also allows businesses to add more compute instances, regardless of the services they’re subscribed to.

At Dell Technologies World 2023, the firm announced the addition of Apex Navigator, a software as a service (SaaS)-based deployment and monitoring tool for multi-cloud environments within Apex Console. Dell customers can leverage Navigator across their Kubernetes and 

IBM is acquiring the data observability software provider Databand.ai, as the tech giant moves to bolster its data, artificial intelligence (AI) and automation portfolio.

Tel Aviv-based Databand provides a proactive observability platform, which is designed to help organisations fix issues with their data, including errors, pipeline failures and poor quality – all before it starts to affect their bottom line.

In an announcement, IBM said the acquisition – the value of which hasn’t been disclosed – will help it address the full spectrum of observability to help keep businesses moving.

"Our clients are data-driven enterprises who rely on high-quality, trustworthy data to power their mission-critical processes. When they don't have access to the data they need in any given moment, their business can grind to a halt," explained Daniel Hernandez, general manager for data and AI at IBM.

To tackle this, data observability uses historical trends to compute statistics about data workloads and pipelines directly at the source. This then determines if they are working and helps pinpoint where any problems reside.

Available either in a software as a service (SaaS) format or as a self-hosted software subscription, Databand’s extendable approach will allow data engineering teams to easily integrate and gain observability into their infrastructure, IBM said.

"With the addition of Databand.ai, IBM offers the most comprehensive set of observability capabilities for IT across applications, data and machine learning, and is continuing to provide our clients and partners with the technology they need to deliver trustworthy data and AI at scale," Hernandez added.

“Joining IBM will help us scale our software and significantly accelerate our ability to meet the evolving needs of enterprise clients," commented Josh Benamram, co-founder and CEO of Databand.ai.

The Databand addition marks IBM’s fifth acquisition of 2022, as it continues to strengthen its range of hybrid cloud and AI capabilities. With data observability, the company said it has identified a market it expects will continue to grow rapidly as data teams look to better understand the health of data in their systems and troubleshoot issues in real time.

For Databand, the acquisition will expand its resources and capabilities, enabling broader integrations across more of the modern data stack.

Today, cloud computing provides many opportunities to run your enterprise infrastructure more effectively. Whether you’re creating an on-premises private cloud, leveraging multicloud or taking a hybrid cloud approach, cloud infrastructure capabilities can expand your business opportunities.

Given this, how can IBM Power users - running IBM AIX®, IBM i and Linux® enterprise apps - understand these capabilities and create a technology roadmap in an approachable and methodical manner?

Download this resource now to understand how to navigate a complex IT infrastructure, and discover several hybrid multicloud motivators and use cases.

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HPE has expanded its GreenLake hybrid cloud platform with a host of new cloud services alongside a fully-fleshed out private cloud module.

The firm claims it has ‘reimagined’ the private cloud experience with its HPE GreenLake for Private Cloud Enterprise platform, because it offers a modernised experience on a pay-as-you-go and pay-per-use basis.

Coming in September 2022, the platform will be released alongside eight additional cloud services for HPE GreenLake, which span hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI), to disaster recovery and payments.

“We took a few design principles [when building Private Cloud Enterprise],” said Vishal Lall, SVP and GM of HPE GreenLake Cloud Services Solutions. “One was the fact that the user experience (UX) needs to be really similar to that of the public cloud. Not just the UX, but the ability to provision infrastructure fast, consume it on the fly, get access to infrastructure quickly, run applications – whether it’s virtual machines (VMs) or containers – on one platform.

“The second design principle that we had was optimising for the workloads that run on it, not just from a hardware perspective, but a hardware and software perspective.”

Designed to support enterprise customers’ hybrid cloud journeys, GreenLake’s private cloud component is the company’s answer to what it’s picked out as a litany of problems with current crop of private cloud offerings.

Traditional platforms, the firm claims, have failed to deliver on their promise due to complexity, manual processes, lack of visibility and governance, and narrowly-focused platforms that don’t scale to meet enterprise demands.

HPE GreenLake for Private Cloud Enterprise plans to address this by providing what the company describes as an automated, flexible, and scalable private cloud environment. This will be suitable for both cloud-native and traditional applications, while including modular infrastructure. The new platform also supports the deployment of bare metal, VMs, and container workloads.

‘Reimagining’ private cloud

HPE GreenLake for private cloud enterprise comes with enterprise-grade service-level agreements (SLAs) that covers the full lifecycle including installation, provisioning, firmware updates, maintenance, and support.

The platform is also designed to support the modern DevOps model, and can be programmatically provisioned, configured, and scaled. It can also integrate into an organisation's approved configurations, toolchains, images and networks.

With the private cloud module, customers can take advantage of the HPE GreenLake marketplace, too, which comprises an ecosystem of more than 80 vendors alongside service providers and colocation partners. This would allow them to deploy pre-tested and approved software in private cloud environments with ease.

Finally, HPE says its consumption analytics can help customers keep track of costs, with users able to view expenditure by service type, location, or business unit. They can also obtain an aggregated usage figure across the breadth of the private cloud deployment.

HPE GreenLake: Eight new cloud services

Alongside Private Cloud Enterprise, HPE has bolstered GreenLake with an array of new cloud services, which join an already substantial portfolio. All will be available as part of the upgraded HPE GreenLake platform from September 2022.

HPE GreenLake for Data Fabric: This is a managed service for hybrid cloud environments that comes with an analytics-ready data fabric. The service is designed to increase productivity with a single data store by granting companywide access to data.

HPE GreenLake for HCI: This service offers cloud operations with a software as a service (SaaS) base that serves as an interface to simplify VMs and IT infrastructure management in hybrid cloud environments.

HPE GreenLake for Disaster Recovery: Users can unlock a recovery process in a single platform with limitless scale, according to the company, which paves the way for recovery in a matter of minutes. This is billed to combat disasters that range from ransomware attacks to natural disasters.

HPE Backup and Recovery Service: This is specifically tailored for use with Amazon Web Services’ (AWS) Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) platform as well as Elastic Block Storage (EBS) volumes. Customers can use this to protect their VMs, with HPE claiming it can eliminate the collective complexities in managing and operating backup hardware, software and cloud infrastructure.

HPE GreenLake for Block Storage: Touted as the industry’s first block storage as a service platform that delivers 100% data available on a cloud model, this offering includes service tiers in order to optimise storage for general purpose workloads.

HPE GreenLake for Compute Ops Management: This new service provides a cloud experience that simplifies and automates compute lifecycle management.

HPE GreenLake for Payments: The end-to-end, pay-per-use payments service is a secure and low-risk cloud-based platform that lets customers modernise their payments environment, especially with an eye on evolving regulations.

HPE GreenLake with FIS Ethos: The company says it’s working to achieve a collaboration with FIS Ethos to provide real-time customer data as well as engagement analytics. This aims to improve the digital engagement of customers on-demand, with real-time access to data that sits across multiple platforms.

As businesses across all industries emerge from the pandemic, with new ways of working, it’s clear that adoption of new technologies has played its part in ensuring business continuity.

Those that have benefited the most from their new-found digital flexibility and agility have done so by unlocking the capabilities of the cloud. However, IT professionals know that putting everything in the public cloud isn’t practical.

Download this whitepaper to discover how your business can benefit from both the public cloud and an on-premise, as-a-service model, bringing the advantages of the cloud to you, without sacrificing the security and compliance your organisation needs.

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Amid constant changes, businesses must move rapidly to embrace new work styles. Recent research suggests that over 90% of enterprises are accelerating cloud adoption plans due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

While no two transformations are the same, breaking down the effort into two stages has proven beneficial.

Download this whitepaper to uncover the many ways AWS can help.

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Open-source specialist Red Hat has unveiled details of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9, which it says will provide a springboard for more consistent innovation across the open hybrid cloud.

From bare metal servers to cloud providers and the farthest edge of enterprise networks, the operating system has been designed to drive enterprise transformation in line with the latest automation requirements.

This latest version of the platform is the first production release built from CentOS Stream, the continuously delivered Linux distribution that tracks just ahead of Red Hat Enterprise Linux. The open-source giant says this approach helps the broader Red Hat Enterprise Linux ecosystem provide feedback, code and feature updates to the platform.

“As the world’s leading enterprise Linux platform, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 extends wherever needed across the open hybrid cloud and beyond, pairing the trusted backbone of enterprise Linux with the innovative catalysts of open source communities,” explained Matthew Hicks, Red Hat’s executive vice president of Products and Technologies.

“Linux is positioned at the epicentre of rapid technological evolution and that Linux is Red Hat Enterprise Linux.”

Red Hat says this latest iteration incorporates key enhancements specifically designed to address evolving IT needs at the edge – including comprehensive edge management delivered as a service to oversee and scale remote deployments with greater control and security functionality.

There’s also automatic container control with Podman, the platform’s integrated container management technology, which can detect if a newly updated container fails to start and then roll it back to the previous working version.

Red Hat has also introduced a new image builder service which supports image creation for customized filesystems and major cloud providers and virtualization technologies – including AWS, Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure, and VMware.

Among its security perks, RHEL 9 incorporates features to help address hardware-level vulnerabilities like Spectre and Meltdown, as well as capabilities to help user-space processes create memory areas that are inaccessible to potentially malicious code.

That’s alongside integrity measurement architecture (IMA) digital hashes and signatures, through which users can verify the integrity of the operating system. Red Hat says this will help detect rogue infrastructure modifications and limit potential system compromises.

Elsewhere, the platform also adds an expanded set of Red Hat Enterprise Linux System Roles, as well as support for kernel live patching from the Red Hat Enterprise Linux web console.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 will be generally available in the coming weeks via the Red Hat Customer Portal and major cloud marketplaces, the firm said. The platform will also be accessible through no-cost Red Hat Developer programs.

“The platform is designed for an automated world, where the operating system forms the connection point between otherwise disparate and disconnected environments and technologies,” said Ashesh Badani, senior vice president of Products at Red Hat.

“Whether it's extending existing skills into new IT footprints or helping to bring cloud-native workloads to production, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 provides the innovation engine for the modern and future enterprise.”

Red Hat and Accenture have announced an expansion of their strategic partnership which will see the pair look to drive open hybrid cloud innovation for enterprises.

Building on their 12-year alliance, the companies are jointly investing in the co-development of new solutions that they say will help organizations better navigate a multi- and hybrid cloud world, define their strategy, and accelerate innovation.

The new solutions will be developed over the next year and will initially focus on four key areas: open hybrid cloud application and mainframe modernization, automation, edge computing, and sovereign cloud.

In an announcement, Stefanie Chiras, senior vice president of Partner Ecosystem Success at Red Hat, said that operating in the hybrid cloud enables customers to optimize their existing systems with the “added layers and capabilities necessary to support innovation and efficiency at scale.”

“At Red Hat, we believe that success not only lies in the technical components we bring to the cloud but also with the impactful partnerships that drive successful implementations and business outcomes,” she said.

“Our long-standing collaboration with Accenture means that customers have access to the open-source solutions they need and expertise they can trust to navigate the complexities of open hybrid cloud and grow their business where it needs to be - in the cloud.”

As part of its four key focuses, the partnership is aiming to help clients develop a holistic hybrid cloud strategy to enable greater operational efficiency and drive innovation based on Red Hat OpenShift.

The range of offerings will also include solutions that automate and orchestrate workloads across the IT infrastructure to reduce risk and lower costs of technology operations. This includes the development of Accenture solutions on Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform to deliver stable, automated cloud computing capabilities.

In terms of edge computing, there will be solutions focused on analyzing and processing data where it is generated to help improve the customer experience and reduce latency. With Red Hat OpenShift and Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform, applications can be deployed and automated at the edge - reducing dependency on a physical footprint.

Additionally, Red Hat and Accenture said they are also developing offerings that will help clients control the location, access to and processing of their data in the cloud through open-source technologies and services.

“Organizations are increasingly turning to hybrid cloud to help overcome complex challenges around core business functions like customer service and supply chain, and to drive growth and innovation,” commented Raj Wickramasinghe, Accenture’s Hybrid and Emerging Platform lead.

“Through our expanded alliance with Red Hat, we can further help clients embrace the cloud continuum to enable greater operational efficiency and drive innovation.”

Based on the number of tech events taking place there every year, Las Vegas has long been considered the industry’s Mecca, with many a coworker sharing stories filled to the brim with nostalgia and intrigue. Dell Technologies World, which this year made its triumphant return to the the city of sin, has always been a particular highlight, and was driven by the twin themes of data and multi-cloud.

Having opened the conference with his annual keynote address, founder and CEO Michael Dell called for the end of the on-prem vs cloud rivalry, instead declaring the future as multi-cloud. Day one announcements largely reflected this, with Dell unveiling a multi-cloud collaboration with Snowflake Data Cloud alongside new data protection offerings for Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services (AWS), as well as updates to its flagship Apex portfolio.

The presentation, delivered by Dell’s co-chief operating officer Chuck Whitten, was informative as well as entertaining – an adjective rarely thrown around many spec-heavy tech events, yet the buzz factor has become almost synonymous with Dell Technologies World. After all, there isn’t much of a tougher act to follow than Michael Dell when trying to retain the attention of thousands of jet lagged attendees. Every exec who graced the stage, nevertheless, did just that, with perfect diction, memorised details and even, at times, comic timing. After a prolonged absence, it’s good to see tech conferences get back into the swing of things.

Day two belonged to Dell's product management VP, Caitlin Gordon, who unveiled a slew of updates to the tech giant’s storage solutions portfolio, which includes the PowerStore and PowerMax offerings. Equipped with the new Dell Latitude 9330 2-in-1 laptop, Gordon demonstrated some of the best hardware and software features the tech giant has to offer, such as an innovative touchpad with video conferencing controls, the shoulder surfer-tackling Intelligent Privacy tool, and its CyberSense ransomware detection platform. Although Dell Technologies World 2022 was centred around cloud computing and storage, the tech giant also made it clear why it’s still considered the reigning king of Windows laptop manufacturing.

Lacking, however, were face masks and social distancing measures, which would've been desperately welcomed in the queues to the main stage hall. With Nevada's requirement for people to wear masks defunct as of February, COVID-19 cases in Clark County (home to Las Vegas) surged by almost a quarter between the last week of April and the first week of May. Although it’s unlikely to be a direct consequence of the event, given the incubation period, the uptick was nonetheless a symbolic reminder the industry hasn’t navigated the choppy waters just yet; we’re but one nasty mutation away from a return to virtual events.

Although organisers scattered numerous signs throughout the venue urging sick people to stay away, I personally witnessed one attendee cough every minute or so for almost four hours. Unfortunately, he was met with nothing more than a few raised eyebrows and was allowed to further contaminate the dining table of the press room (yes – the table at which we were supposed to eat our meals) for the entirety of the day. I know the world, including the tech industry, would love nothing more than to finally put COVID-19 behind us, but if I test positive and I’m forced to miss the haircut appointment I’ve been patiently waiting for since mid-April, I might just go ahead and publish the coughing attendee's identity out of sheer vengeance.

Despite this mishap, Dell Technologies World 2022, with its engaging programme and slew of new announcements, can still be considered one of the best tech conferences out there – unless you’re immunosuppressed, that is.

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