Large enterprises combining private and public cloud operations for hybrid cloud computing is an increasing trend across Asia Pacific, according to a Wipro-Cisco joint study conducted by Forrester Consulting.

The study, titled ‘Transforming the Data Center -Navigating the journey from virtualization to private clouds', said ‘hybrid cloud' is becoming the new normal.

IT decision-makers report great interest in using Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) in a hybrid cloud approach to complement on-premises capacity, rather than replace it, and are planning for the impact that it will have on network operations and spending.

While a hybrid approach promises cost savings and significant gains in IT and business flexibility, some concerns remain around how to manage and integrate on-premises infrastructure with cloud services in a hybrid cloud architecture.

The study said that 60% of the respondents believe virtualization will be the primary technology over the next 12 months.

Banking, financial services and insurance companies strongly recognize the link between virtualization and private/hybrid cloud enablement with 97% of those surveyed highlighting this aspect.

Virtualization driving flexibility in data centers
Historically, costs have been the initial motivator for virtualization and cloud adoption, but the study found that security is at par with cost as a primary driver for a hybrid cloud approach. In the study, 78% of Indian respondents said they felt cost reduction and resource optimization drives cloud investments and 76% believe that security is one of the key capabilities required to enable private/hybrid cloud.

The study also said 25% of the respondents find adopting IaaS as-a-service technology “will drive” IT organizations towards a hybrid cloud approach. More than half of those planning to use or using IaaS see "on-demand flexibility for hosting workloads on-premises or at a cloud service provider" as a key benefit of going hybrid with their IaaS strategy.

Flexibility to respond quickly to business needs also topped the list of key benefits associated with a hybrid model.

Anuj Bhalla, VP and a global business unit head at Wipro, said while private and hybrid cloud is gaining significant mind-share across the Asia Pacific region, there are “interesting differences” in their investment criteria.

“Cost reduction remains top of the mind for nearly 80% of technology leaders in India, whereas expanding existing virtualization Investments is critical in both Australia and Singapore,” Bhalla said.

Rajesh Rege, director of cloud and data center sales at Cisco India & SAARC, said virtualization technologies are driving more flexibility in the data center.

“CIOs need to adopt a fabric-based approach that integrates compute, network, security, virtualization, and management solutions into a single, more efficient and simplified data center platform (to realize the full potential),” Rege said.

“This approach maximizes the advantages of virtualization and facilitates automation, to increase efficiencies, productivity and agility.”

The survey gathered insights from 140 senior IT decision-makers in Australia, India and Singapore.

The respondents were asked about their current and future private/hybrid cloud and virtualization adoption plans. Respondents were also asked to identify key drivers and inhibitors that will determine the speed of adoption for private and hybrid cloud deployment models.

Forrester also leveraged its Foresights Budgets and Priorities Tracker Survey, Q4 2012, which provided insights from a survey of 3,659 senior IT and business decision-makers based in Asia Pacific.

The study said organizations that embrace private/hybrid cloud approaches alongside traditional data center capabilities will be far better positioned to support, encourage and innovate within their organizations based on simplified, more efficient access to compute resources and capabilities.