In the era of flexible resource scalability without exceeding the budget, Cloud Bursting offers an effective solution. In a recent article, Dr. Christoph Dietzel, Global Director of Product and Research at DE-CIX, highlighted the importance of understanding and planning the dynamic scalability of IT resources, from local servers to public cloud, to handle temporary spikes.
The Challenge of Cloud Scalability
While fully cloud-based operations promise infinite scalability, many companies prefer to keep critical data on local servers or private clouds for security and compliance reasons. Additionally, high costs and long infrastructure payback periods have led to hybrid configurations, using the cloud only for some workloads. However, these hybrid scenarios face difficulties during sudden capacity demands for critical tasks. For example, a sudden increase in the company’s website demand can overload internal resources, requiring additional capacity that Cloud Bursting can provide.
What is Cloud Bursting?
Cloud Bursting is a configuration method that leverages cloud computing resources to handle excess capacity when local infrastructure reaches its limits. When an organization’s internal data center runs out of computing resources, it seamlessly transfers (or “bursts”) additional workload to third-party external cloud services. This on-demand activation of additional resources significantly reduces costs. However, it requires precise network planning to avoid high latency, interoperability issues, and high cloud egress fees. In this regard, the importance of direct and private connectivity solutions ensuring robust and low-latency access to cloud services, as well as cloud routing services to overcome interoperability challenges, cannot be underestimated.
Advantages of Cloud Bursting
Done correctly, Cloud Bursting not only supports sporadic and data-intensive tasks like AI analysis and training but also provides a solution to the high costs associated with cloud egress fees. By using private direct connections, companies can bypass the public internet and reduce cloud egress costs, making Cloud Bursting efficient and cost-effective. Additionally, the DE-CIX Cloud ROUTER ensures network-level interoperability, enabling a seamless transition between local infrastructure and public cloud infrastructure, which is a crucial requirement for Cloud Bursting success.
Maintaining Performance and Cost Efficiency
Cloud Bursting offers companies a solution to manage sudden increases in customer demand. This strategy ensures that companies can maintain optimal performance and cost efficiency, aligning with the requirements of modern digital infrastructure.
The Cloud Bursting approach thus becomes an essential tool for organizations looking to maintain agility and responsiveness in an increasingly dynamic and demanding IT environment.