Managing the Hybrid Cloud

Assuming that, by definition, all cloud computing is going to be hybrid, IT organizations need an effective way to manage virtual and physical systems that are deployed on both public and private cloud infrastructure.

That may sound simple enough. But the challenge is that the IT departments building private clouds tend to use one set of management tools, while the vendors that build public cloud infrastructure use a different set.

Naturally, the vendors that build public cloud infrastructure want customers to use their management tools because that’s part of their core value proposition. But customers will not want to have to use two sets of management tools to manage their IT assets across public and private cloud infrastructure. And CloudSwitch is betting that the tools that IT organizations want to use, versus the ones that public cloud infrastructure providers make available, will win the day.

CloudSwitch makes tools that automatically abstract the server and network settings to simplify migrating applications to cloud infrastructure. According to Ellen Rubin, vice president of products for CloudSwitch, the company will next focus on making an interface available that allows applications running on those servers in the cloud to be managed using the same management tools that IT organizations use today. CloudSwitch, she says, doesn’t see the need for two sets of management tools in the cloud, and adds that most IT organizations are going to resist learning new management tools.

In the absence of open federated approaches to managing clouds, what CloudSwitch is proposing is probably the next best thing.