Hybrid cloud, in many ways, is like a strange beast with multiple personalities! It can act as local storage, it can act as a remote file server, it can be an FTP server, you can access it via tablet, smart phone or desktop and it keeps track of the work of a team including you, your colleagues, partners and customers!
In a nutshell, a hybrid cloud storage solution, the cloud, acts as an intermediary that maintains a super set of your data, with the local cloud acting as the primary storage.
- The cloud data can be accessed via a browser or a mobile device
- The local cloud storage can be a set of NAS devices or virtual appliances in your
organization (with multiple devices at different locations/branch offices) or Personal Local Cloud instances on employee’s laptops.
- Talking about what I know best, Egnyte has precisely tuned sync algorithms that are capable of syncing the Local Cloud instances with the Egnyte cloud continuously, on demand, or periodically.
- The local cloud /NAS boxes residing in the head and branch offices would be accessed by mapping drives. Users also have access to the directories they need, in any office and on the road. As the cloud syncs all the files, there is no need to send files via e-mails, or old fashioned “Sneaker-net”.
- The permissions and groups are maintained consistently and coherently across the local and remote clouds. Customers can work off browsers and access the appropriate files in the cloud, collaborating with the company’s employees.
In many ways the hybrid cloud is the answer to Paul Samuelso’s dilemma “have one’s cake and eat it too…;”
If your local NAS box (or the laptop hard disk) crashes, the remote cloud acts as backup; and the local cloud acts as backup if your cloud service goes down.
