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Technology
Artificial Intelligence CISO Hybrid Cloud Private Cloud Technology

AI Enables the Return of Private Cloud

 

Private cloud providers may be among the primary winners of today's generative AI gold rush, as CIOs are reconsidering private clouds, whether on-premises or hosted by a partner, after previously dismissing them in favour of public clouds. 

At the heart of this trend is a growing recognition that in order to handle AI workloads while keeping costs under control, organisations will eventually rely on a hybrid mix of public and private cloud. 

"With how fast things are changing in the data and cloud space, we believe in a hybrid model of cloud and data centre strategy," claims Jim Stathopoulos, SVP and CIO of Sun Country Airlines, who joined the regional airline from United Airlines in early 2023 and acquired a Microsoft Azure cloud infrastructure and Databricks AI platform, but is open to future IT decisions.

Controlling escalating cloud and AI expenses and minimising data leakage are the primary reasons why organisations are considering hybrid infrastructure as their AI solution. Most experts agree that most IT leaders will need to choose a hybrid approach that includes on-premises or co-located private clouds to provide cost control and data integrity in the face of AI's resource requirements and critical business concerns about its deployment. 

According to IDC's top cloud analyst, Dave McCarthy, private cloud platforms such as Dell APEX and HPE GreenLake, which provide generative AI capabilities, as well as co-locating with partners such as Equinix to host workloads in private clouds, could provide a solution to enterprise customers. 

“The excitement and related fears surrounding AI only reinforces the need for private clouds. Enterprises need to ensure that private corporate data does not find itself inside a public AI model,” McCarthy notes. “CIOs are working through how to leverage the most of what LLMs can provide in the public cloud while retaining sensitive data in private clouds that they control.” 

Generative AI changes the cloud calculus 

Somerset Capital Group is one company that has chosen to go private to run its ERP software and pave the path for generative AI. The Milford, Conn.-based financial services corporation moved data to the public cloud over a decade ago and will continue to add workloads, particularly for customer-centric apps. Somerset's EVP and CIO, Andrew Cotter, believes that the company's important data, as well as any future generative AI data, will most likely run on its new hosted private cloud. 

"As we are testing and dipping our toes in the water with AI, we are choosing to keep that as private as possible," he says, noting that while the public cloud provides the horsepower needed for many LLMs today, his firm has the option of adding GPUs if needed via its privately owned Dell equipment. "You don't want to make a mistake and have it ingested or used in another model. We're maintaining tight control and storing it in the private cloud." 

Todd Scott, senior vice president of Kyndryl US, recognises that AI and cost are important drivers driving organisations to private clouds. 

Buying into the private cloud

Analysts believe that private cloud spending is on rise. According to Forrester's Infrastructure Cloud Survey in 2023, 79% of the almost 1,300 enterprise cloud decision-makers polled claimed their companies are developing internal private clouds that will include virtualization and private cloud management. Over a third (31%) of respondents are creating internal private clouds employing hybrid cloud management technologies such as software-defined storage and API-consistent hardware to make the private cloud more similar to the public cloud, Forrester added.

IDC predicts that global spending on private, dedicated cloud services, which comprise hosted private cloud and dedicated cloud infrastructure as a service, would reach $20.4 billion in 2024 and more than double by 2027. According to IDC, global spending on enterprise private cloud infrastructure, which includes hardware, software, and support services, will reach $51.8 billion in 2024 and $66.4 billion in 2027. 

While those figures pale in comparison to the public cloud's projected $815.7 billion in 2024, IDC's McCarthy views hybrid cloud architecture as the future for most organisations in this space. According to McCarthy, the introduction of turnkey private cloud products from HPE and Dell provides customers with a private cloud that can be run on-premises or in a co-location facility that offers managed services. Private clouds may also help organisations better control their overall cloud costs, but he emphasises that both have benefits as well as drawbacks. 

“Enterprises are in a bit of a pickle with this,” McCarthy added. “Security concerns are what is driving them to private cloud, but the specialised hardware required to do large-scale AI is expensive and requires extensive power and cooling. This is a problem that companies like Equinix believe they can help solve, by allowing enterprises to build a private cloud in Equinix datacenters that are already equipped to handle this type of infrastructure.”
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Threat Intelligence
Cloud Security Cyber Security data security Hybrid Cloud Threat Intelligence

Three Steps to Achieve the Cloud's True Transformative Potential

 

The introduction of the public cloud in 2006 signaled a paradigm shift in not only computing but also in how business is conducted globally. The cloud opened the door to levels of agility, reliability, scalability, and speed that were previously unthinkable by allowing enterprises to acquire services at the precise time and scale they require them. 

Today, 92 percent of contemporary businesses seek to go to the cloud in order to support their efforts in digital transformation. In fact, to meet heightened performance demands, many major enterprises (82%) operate in hybrid cloud systems that combine on-premises, public, and private cloud services. For the majority of enterprises to survive in the modern world, this change is mission-critical because it offers previously unheard-of scalability, power, and resources. 

However, this transformation is taking place against the backdrop of a more hazardous threat environment, with recent assaults on businesses like Marriott, Cisco, and Toyota. The ability of enterprises to expand their cloud projects is ultimately constrained by the impending risks, rising costs, and increasing complexity of security measures. 

Hybrid cloud landscapes are far more complex than on-prem ones, despite being vital in this digital age, and working with various cloud providers makes it tough to see security concerns, spot performance bottlenecks, or troubleshoot fixes. It's time for enterprises to change how they handle cloud migration if they want to achieve the truly revolutionary potential of the cloud since 76% of IT professionals claim to have reached a wall with the cloud. 

Here are three actions that businesses could take to reduce risks and utilize the cloud's potential for improved business results: 

Reduce the void in cloud visibility 

Cloud migration is essential for operational success in today's digital-first environment. Even though 82% of major enterprises use hybrid cloud systems now, this percentage is only projected to rise, adding to the complexity and raising the danger of a security breach. 

However, there is a method for businesses to use this paradigm to their advantage. They will have to close the visibility gap, which experts recently regarded as the most crucial cloud security factor, in order to do this. Deep observability, which provides IT staff with network-level intelligence in real-time to proactively mitigate security and compliance risk, provide a superior user experience, and reduce the operational complexity of managing hybrid and multi-cloud IT infrastructures, is the only way to achieve this. 

In-depth application visibility that catches known and undiscovered dangers identifies bottlenecks, and provides consistent, high-quality digital experiences will be available to enterprises if this is done appropriately. 

Employ real-time network metadata 

The average weekly number of cyberattacks has reached an all-time high of 925, up by almost 50% in 2021. Furthermore, compared to Q1 of this year, ransomware attacks increased by 24% in Q2. It goes without saying that security teams are under pressure to cooperate in order to keep one step ahead of these knowledgeable threat actors. 

Security teams are being overrun with threats and data at a faster rate than they can even handle as a result of the rising number of adversaries. More than 500 public cloud security alerts are received daily by security professionals on average, and 38% receive more than 1,000. 

To mitigate the dangerous threat landscape and the overwhelming number of alerts, threat analysts need access to real-time data in order to make crucial, well-informed business decisions and proactively protect the enterprise. In fact, real-time metadata is required under a recently proposed law in order to make prompt business decisions. The advantages of having access to this information are starting to dawn on the government, and experts predict that more institutions will follow suit. 

Increase employee capacity 

The business can increase operational agility to make sure its efforts are coordinated and fruitful once it has narrowed the visibility gap and started turning raw data into actionable data. 

Approximately 70% of security operation center (SOC) teams suffer burnout as a result of the high-pressure situations they operate in, indicating that morale and welfare among security team members are currently worse than average. Teams receive more warnings and information than they can possibly absorb, so it's crucial to make sure they are provided with the resources they require to support them rather than overwhelm them. 

With little assistance, SOC teams are navigating through a challenging time for their sector. There are around 700,000 available cybersecurity positions in the United States alone. To prevent burnout and keep talent, organizations must give top priority to filling these gaps and caring for the staff they already have. While real-time metadata and deep observability are essential tools, the efforts would be limited without a strong, well-versed staff of security experts. 

Conclusion 

The recent advancement and widespread use of the cloud have been thrilling to observe. Nevertheless, despite its vast powers, businesses face a number of risks and difficulties. The three actions listed above will enable IT teams, who are currently overburdened by the cloud, to move from a reactive to a proactive security and compliance posture, lowering risk.
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