50% of Critical Enterprise Applications to Reside Outside Centralized Cloud Locations by 2027: Gartner

According to Gartner, Inc., approximately 50% of critical enterprise applications will be located outside centralized public cloud locations by 2027. As cloud computing markets and data center infrastructure continue to evolve, and interest in migrating workloads grows, enterprises are faced with the challenge of identifying the right partners and solutions.

Dennis Smith, Distinguished VP Analyst at Gartner, noted that many organizations are seeking placements for workloads that have not transitioned to the public cloud. This represents about 70% of all workloads. However, the increasing number of vendors, technologies, and overlapping markets makes it difficult to determine the optimal infrastructure choice for each organization’s unique needs.

When seeking infrastructure services for on-premises workloads, enterprises have several options, ranging from vendors’ server virtualization offerings to comprehensive services provided by public cloud providers. To determine the most suitable placement strategies, Gartner recommends that infrastructure and operations (I&O) leaders follow three key steps.

Evaluate Infrastructure Requirements: Enterprises looking to implement cloud-inspired solutions for on-premises workloads must ensure that deployments align with public cloud requirements. Many cloud-inspired solutions offer hybrid capabilities, allowing shared infrastructure elements and APIs to be deployed both on-premises and in the public cloud.

Embrace Hybrid Capabilities & CIPS: The need to support workloads located outside public cloud regions necessitates a mix of cloud and non-cloud infrastructure. While public clouds offer numerous benefits, their utility can be limited when deployed outside the locations chosen by cloud providers. The cloud infrastructure and platform services (CIPS) market is significantly evolving into four distinct segments, each with its own characteristics.

• Distributed hybrid infrastructure (DHI) provides greater consistency and availability, addressing the limitations of traditional on-premises infrastructure.
• Strategic cloud platform services (SCPS) encompass the full spectrum of cloud services and involve modernizing legacy applications for enterprises.
• Container management covers various offerings, including Kubernetes platforms, cluster fleet management, and serverless solutions.
• DevOps platforms include solutions designed to aid continuous integration/continuous delivery (CI/CD) processes.

Choose the Right Partners and Solutions: I&O leaders must determine their vendor preference, whether it’s an inside-out approach (traditional data center vendors adding cloud services) or an outside-in approach (cloud providers offering on-premises services). They also need to decide whether to adopt a cloud-only or cloud-first approach (SCPS market) or take a more moderate cloud approach (DHI market).

Smith emphasized that making the correct infrastructure solution selection involves a comprehensive analysis of use cases, identifying essential characteristics and capabilities, and aligning them with the right technologies and vendors that meet specific requirements. This approach will help organizations effectively navigate the evolving cloud infrastructure landscape.