Hybrid cloud computing environments are here today and represent the future for deploying IT solutions going forward. Most IT organizations implement a hybrid IT environment because it balances traditional IT requirements and infrastructure with the capabilities and flexibility of the cloud. These hybrid environments represent both opportunities for and challenges with protecting and managing company data that is stored in multiple locations, from on-premises to the cloud.

Support for multi-cloud environments is a more recent trend as solution vendors and cloud providers recognize that IT organizations can’t be locked into a single cloud provider. Applications and solutions are being developed to help customers navigate the complexities of a multi-cloud environment and leverage the potential. As IT organizations re-evaluate their data protection strategies around the use of multiple clouds, they should consider all aspects of managing their data including security and compliance, optimization and future growth, and application and data migration between on-premise and cloud environments.

The definition of what constitutes a “hybrid cloud” varies depending on perspective. There is no standard definition nor one all-encompassing hybrid cloud product one can buy. Evaluator Group defines a hybrid cloud as a cloud computing environment with a mix of traditional on-premises, private cloud and public cloud resources with orchestration and interfaces between. We believe the on- premises aspect of a hybrid cloud has a long future for most IT organizations and needs to be part of the conversation. Ultimately, the goal is to combine the features of on-premises backup and recovery solutions (location, performance, security, etc.) with the advantages of cloud resources (flexibility, economics, separation, etc.).

In this Technical Insight, we look at IBM Spectrum Protect and IBM Spectrum Protect Plus, IBM’s solutions for data protection and data management for physical, virtual, software-defined and cloud environments. IBM Spectrum Protect has been delivering enterprise backup and recovery for decades while IBM Spectrum Protect Plus is one of the newest solutions for protecting, retaining and reusing data in virtualized environments. Together, these products provide a foundational component of using hybrid clouds – knowing that data is protected and recoverable.