With ever-changing business needs and data generated continuously in different environments, today’s data centers are designed based on demand for applications and the associated data and workflows to move seamlessly in support of those needs. Hybrid data centers must use advanced design architectures aligned with customers’ needs today, yet they also must stay agile enough to grow with them in the future, according to CyrusOne Area Vice President of Western Enterprise Caroline Brelsford-Caldarera-Caldarera.

On Sept. 14, 2022, Brelsford-Caldarera-Caldarera joined Uptime Institute Director of Client engagement Scott MacIntire and Corning Global Data Center Market Development Manager David Hessong in an unmoderated Datacloud USA 2022 open-discussion session that dove into the drivers for data center interconnection growth and developing strategy for hybrid growth and managing workloads between data centers.

A hybrid data center is not necessarily one building, but rather a platform of buildings networked to provide agility and accessibility with scale, Brelsford-Caldarera-Caldarera clarified.

“We began seeing the need for hybridization models several years prior to the COVID-19 pandemic as customers began rationalizing their public cloud adoption strategies,” she said.  “Then of course, the pandemic accelerated the need further for enterprise customers. So, we tailor solutions across our global network of data centers that provide resiliency, redundancy and scale.”

Brelsford-Caldarera discussed CyrusOne’s leading global platform of hybrid-cloud and multi-cloud deployments. CyrusOne hybrid data centers are interconnected using its IX platform – one platform of interconnected buildings and campuses along with on-ramps to public and private cloud and including to on-premise data. The majority of CyrusOne’s markets are within growing Digital Gateway Markets, which is why its data center campuses contain public cloud, private cloud and on-premise data.

“Each market has multiple buildings; in each of these markets we have buildings for public cloud, along with other buildings for private cloud and on-premise data,” Brelsford-Caldarera-Caldarera told the panel. “Each customer is unique, and we offer the best solution for a client’s situation, needs and goals. Our dynamic, scalable infrastructure enable the highest optimized technical performance and greatest reliability. Through our high-touch relationship focus on each client, we have become a trusted partner to the world’s largest companies to improve their operations, economic performance and sustainability goals.”

The panel asked what proportion of CyrusOne’s data centers host public of private clouds versus on-premise data. Brelsford-Caldarera-Caldarera said it’s technically impossible to provide a proportion, because CyrusOne does not touch or see the data and the data flows continuously between public, private and on-premise.

“But what we can see is an increased demand for cloud access among our customers as they deploy various workloads,” she added. “Customers have become more educated in terms of which applications and workflows need to reside in public cloud versus private cloud or on-premise. And we have seen greater adoption of our products that provide access to the cloud through third parties, such as Megaport and Packetfabric, enabling elastic connectivity when and where it’s needed. We provide the entire ecosystem of carriers, SaaS, IaaS and cloud on-ramps.”

CyrusOne hybrid data centers also provide three key elements crucial to success. Brelsford-Caldarera said data center users should seek:

• Resilient infrastructures in digital gateway markets. The hybrid data center foremost needs to be resilient and strategically located. Seek operators that can not only demonstrate the resiliency of their design, but also place the data center in the major digital gateway markets. It is essential. This isn’t necessarily about legacy latency challenges; it is simply more efficient and environmentally friendly for enterprises to access and process data as close to the source of where the data is generated. This is why we see the aggregating of public cloud, private cloud and on-premise in data gravity markets, such as Virginia, Arizona, and Texas here in the U.S., and in international markets, such as Germany, UK, France, and Spain in Europe.

• A robust ecosystem. When a customer sees a robust ecosystem, it is evidence of superior service and operational excellence. Operators committed to a superior service and operational excellence will naturally have a large and growing ecosystem. Seek operators who have not only on-ramps to all Public Cloud Operators and the key Private Cloud Operators but also actually have them embedded as customers within their data centers. This allows optionality for digital strategy among the different public and private operators and provides optionality for cloud adjacency solutions beyond the traditional SDWan/on-ramps when needed.

• A commitment to sustainability. This means the hybrid data center continually develops and deploys innovative technologies. A hybrid data center always invests in future designs with a sustainability commitment in mind.

Brelsford-Caldarera cautioned that ever-changing customer demands constantly reshape hybrid data centers and expectations put upon data center providers.

“We support large global companies and innovative high growth companies that are not simply placing their network hubs in our hybrid data center platform – they are placing their most critical systems in our hybrid data centers,” she said. “The customers continually evolve, and CyrusOne has evolved along with them. Our customers demand guaranteed resilient infrastructures and operational excellence. They expect us to continually explore innovative technologies to further our commitment to sustainability and while doing so, deliver and never compromise superior service.”

And finally, they also place a premium on environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues.

“They want to see our commitment and care for our employees and communities,” she said. “They want to know CyrusOne is committed to investing in a diverse workforce and community outreach and that we also extend that commitment to our supply-chain partners.”

For more on CyrusOne’s cloud and hybrid solutions, please click here to download our cloud connectivity overview.

And for more on our ESG performance, please click here to read our 2022 Sustainability Report.

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