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More organizations are embracing hybrid cloud architecture, particularly those that rely on private clouds for legacy infrastructure and mission-critical apps.

A hybrid cloud architecture combines public and private clouds via a wide area network or broadband connection. Hybrid cloud architecture enables the sharing of applications and data in a single managed IT infrastructure. The model has many benefits as well as a few challenges to keep in mind if you are thinking of transitioning.


Hybrid Cloud Architecture Benefits

Flexibility

The main benefit of hybrid cloud architecture is its flexibility. On-premises IT infrastructure requires time and money. Additionally, adding capacity involves advanced planning.

Whenever you need IT resources on short notice, the cloud is ready and able to provide them. Cloud bursting refers to the use of public clouds when demand exceeds private cloud resources. Some businesses have seasonal spikes that can put an extra strain on private clouds, which the public cloud can then handle.

Demand can also change depending on geographic location and events. With the public cloud, your organization can deal with these and other unanticipated IT loads without having to invest in expensive and inefficient on-premises IT resources.

 

Disaster Recovery

By using a hybrid cloud, you can take advantage of the economies of cloud-based backup without maintaining a separate disaster recovery site. Should your primary data center or private cloud crash, you can “spin up” snapshots stored in the public cloud and resume your apps with minimal problems.

 

Cost Savings

A hybrid cloud can provide cost-effective IT resources without incurring capital expenses or labor costs. Finding the right configuration, service provider, and location can cut costs by matching on-demand resources with tasks that fit them best. When you need to scale, redeploy, or reduce services, you can save money through increased efficiency and by avoiding unnecessary expenses.

 

Seamless Migration

With hybrid cloud architecture, you can move front-end and stateless applications to the cloud first. Later, you can move other applications either in virtual machines or containers. You can also still maintain legacy applications that you cannot transfer to the cloud on-premises for regulatory compliance, governance, or other reasons.


Hybrid Cloud Architecture Challenges

Legacy Applications

The compatibility of legacy applications with new services and environments can be a bit challenging when using a hybrid cloud. Migration to the cloud can also be complex for some apps that work well with a specific system. Even if legacy applications perform critical functions, they may not be suited to the cloud.

Most legacy applications are designed to run on-premises, with network dependencies and connections pre-integrated. In modern cloud apps, you typically use loosely coupled microservices, which minimize latency and downtime. Rewriting legacy apps for the cloud can be somewhat expensive and time-consuming.

 

Compliance

Complying with regulatory requirements and industry standards can pose another challenge for hybrid cloud deployments. In addition to using a secure cloud provider, you must ensure your organization complies with laws and regulations. 

Regulations like the U.S. Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) require that data be kept secure and private. If your organization must comply with these regulations, you will need data encryption in storage and transit. Hybrid clouds don't automatically protect your data, rather they require your help.

Data locality is another compliance challenge for hybrid clouds. Depending on legal requirements, you might have to store data locally. Major cloud providers may support local data in some situations, but you must enable them to do so first.

Additionally, some cloud providers may not be able to support your data locality requirements. In such cases, you might use a hybrid cloud strategy to keep your data locally while outsourcing the processing to the public cloud. You would need a low-latency connection for this type of deployment.


Synopsys Teams with IBM on Hybrid Cloud

Synopsys has teamed with IBM to implement hybrid cloud architecture into chip design. With IBM, we have run our Proteus tool in hybrid cloud mode and have seen impressive results.

The Proteus tool helps chip design companies to perform optical proximity correction (OPC). OPC is a next-generation approach to prove the manufacturability of extremely complex chips. Since Proteus runs on a distributed computing system, it is ideal for hybrid cloud environments.


Synopsys, EDA, and the Cloud

Synopsys is the industry’s largest provider of electronic design automation (EDA) technology used in the design and verification of semiconductor devices, or chips. With Synopsys Cloud, we’re taking EDA to new heights, combining the availability of advanced compute and storage infrastructure with unlimited access to EDA software licenses on-demand so you can focus on what you do best – designing chips, faster. Delivering cloud-native EDA tools and pre-optimized hardware platforms, an extremely flexible business model, and a modern customer experience, Synopsys has reimagined the future of chip design on the cloud, without disrupting proven workflows.

 

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Synopsys technology drives innovations that change how people work and play using high-performance silicon chips. Let Synopsys power your innovation journey with cloud-based EDA tools. Sign up to try Synopsys Cloud for free!


About The Author

Sridhar Panchapakesan is the Senior Director, Cloud Engagements at Synopsys, responsible for enabling customers to successfully adopt cloud solutions for their EDA workflows. He drives cloud-centric initiatives, marketing, and collaboration efforts with foundry partners, cloud vendors and strategic customers at Synopsys. He has 25+ years’ experience in the EDA industry and is especially skilled in managing and driving business-critical engagements at top-tier customers. He has a MBA degree from the Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley and a MSEE from the University of Houston.

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