Digital Infrastructure Experts Discuss the Crossroads Between Hybrid IT Cloud and Edge

The next level of enterprise digital transformation is here. Businesses are evolving and innovating faster than ever before, and “one-size-fits-all” connectivity solutions are becoming a thing of the past. We’re seeing edge providers offering hybrid cloud IT services, an increased demand for customized network connectivity and data storage, and new industry collaborations and partnerships unfold, which prompts us to ask the question” What are some of the benefits a company might see from utilizing an edge-focused hybrid cloud networking strategy rather than traditional cloud strategies of the past?” Our network of industry experts weighs in below.

Josh Holst | VP Cloud Services; Involta

“Edge is purely a natural extension of any hybrid cloud strategy. Today’s enterprises require a more digitally-driven environment, and the edge empowers them to deliver. By employing an edge strategy, organizations can reap the benefits of increased transaction and decisioning time as we keep the data and the processing power closer to where the data originated. The use of low-latency, high-bandwidth connectivity options like 5G further enhances the capabilities of a hybrid cloud deployment by moving the data rapidly from the edge locations out to private or hyperscale locations for analytics or archival. With Involta’s vast dark fiber networks and 13 data centers in six regional markets, we help clients Get There – bringing them closer to the end-user and empowering them to deliver rapidly while providing scalability and innovation at scale.”

Greg Elliott | VP Business Development; 1623 Farnam

“Networking at the edge can lower latencies, and also free up your bandwidth capacity to support other applications and initiatives. By also deploying a hybrid cloud strategy, organizations are able to place their workloads in environments that better cater to them, rather than having a “one size fits all” approach. When combined, the edge and hybrid multicloud can reduce inefficiencies and help make your business more nimble and scalable, allowing you to deliver effective solutions to your end users.

Adopting an edge-focused hybrid cloud strategy is often seen as a more future-proofed IT framework for these reasons, and it’s why we’re seeing so many organizations begin to shift their strategies — especially as they incorporate more applications and platforms or move and manage more data.”

Lawrence Lee | VP of Partnerships and Allliances; Zenlayer

“An edge-focused hybrid cloud networking strategy provides businesses a way to gain entry into emerging markets, an immense source of untapped potential. The edge allows our clients to process data locally, closer to the end client, or end device, or end person. This means lower latency so applications perform better and respond faster. These edge-focused, hybrid cloud services enable use cases such as autonomous vehicles, IOT, gaming, streaming, blockchain, agriculture and more. However, when it comes to emerging markets, one thing that enterprises should consider: private cloud can enhance public cloud infrastructure. In places like China and India, public cloud access points are currently somewhat limited. What that means is enterprises choosing to use a public cloud can then be complemented and enhanced with private cloud services at the edge for even more expansive local access. Zenlayer’s edge cloud strategy positions us perfectly in emerging markets. Our clients can leverage any of our 220+ data centers worldwide and build a cloud presence at the edge in those new markets.”

Phillip Marangella | CMO; EdgeConneX

“In order to meet the demands of innovative applications and the new age of digital transformation, and as enterprise IT environments and users become more distributed, network and data center infrastructure needs to be, too. With an edge-focused hybrid cloud ecosystem, you gain it all: flexibility, agility, choice and desired proximity; it solves many challenges, not just one. The key differentiator is that the edge brings the cloud to you locally, rather than it being sourced from far away. This ultimately allows for peak performance without the loss of reliability and support needed for a better cloud experience.”

Bill Radford | CIO, EdgePresence

“It goes back to a lot of things we have been preaching as an edge data center provider. Cloud computing and edge computing have a beneficial, highly useful relationship, and this relationship has expanded to include hybrid cloud as well. A hybrid environment consisting of multiple cloud locations and workloads at the edge offers benefits to companies exploring options that provide greater efficiency and cost savings. In order to ensure self-sufficiency and low latency, it’s highly advantageous to run business and time-critical workloads. If you have the need for lowest latency possible, edge data centers obviously bring the data much closer to the market; to the end users. With hybrid, you can have a cloud presence, and with an edge data center, you can take it one step further by having this cloud nearby versus it being located somewhere else across the country. You can get a nearby cloud presence; the cloud brought directly to you, while still having your hybrid environment without the need to maintain facilities and equipment.”

To explore this topic further, check out the recording of our latest JSA Virtual Roundtable, “Positioning the Next Phase of Digital Transformation: Crossroads Between Hybrid IT Cloud and Edge.”