13 Hybrid Virtualization Advantages and Disadvantages

Virtualization is the separation of services and resources within an underlying physical delivery environment within the hybrid cloud. It is a process which allows you to be able to create multiple virtual systems within a solitary physical system. When implemented appropriately, it becomes possible to consolidate services, providing better efficiencies and a potential cost savings for the entities involved.

Partitioning, isolation, and encapsulation are all characteristics of virtualization, which is why it is an ideal option for cloud computing.

Here are the advantages and disadvantages of hybrid virtualization to consider.

List of the Advantages of Hybrid Virtualization

1. It minimizes cost changes for organizations.

Hybrid virtualization is usually provided by third parties. That makes it a service expense for most individuals and firms today. These services utilize a subscription model for the virtualization, which makes the costs predictable each month. Most businesses can receive enterprise-grade services for less than $100 per month, whereas the cost of a single server would be more than $1,000 + the monthly utility and maintenance expenses required.

2. It reduces the amount of organizational downtime.

Because virtualization is a cloud-based opportunity, firms experience less downtime because of maintenance issues. Updates occur automatically, which reduces the amount of work required to maintain the system locally. That makes it possible to focus the attention of employees on other critical tasks or work with a skeleton staff while starting up.

3. It eliminates many capital expenses.

Because you can run numerous systems within a single physical environment with hybrid virtualization, the need for capital is reduced. IT infrastructures can be implemented, even if the organization is a sole proprietor with no other employees. All you need to do is purchase access through a subscription or license. Then you’re ready to access the services or resources that are needed.

4. It provides a better uptime percentage.

With hybrid virtualization, many providers are able to add two 9’s behind the decimal point for their guaranteed uptime. Although that pushes the monthly costs higher when your uptime is 99.99999% instead of 99.999%, it will also reduce the number of lost revenue or access opportunities over the course of a year.

5. It allows you to deploy resources where they are needed.

With hybrid virtualization, you gain all of the advantages of cloud computing at the same time. You’re able to work with mobile access because there is no need to connect to a local physical machine. As long as you have a data connection, you’ll have access to resources needed to work. That access can then be shared with the rest of the organization because only one access point is required for information access.

6. It helps you reduce your energy usage profile.

Hybrid virtualization is an energy-efficient could-based system. You consume less energy locally because everything is operated by a third-party provider. That means your utility costs are lower with virtualization than without it. You’ll still have the costs of accessing virtual terminals, online resources, and uploaded data. You won’t have the costs of server cooling, multiple equipment energy draws, and software/hardware energy consumption to budget for each month.

7. It promotes the freelance economy.

Because of hybrid virtualization, it is possible for anyone to start an online business today. That is particularly attractive to people who telecommute or work as a freelancer. It becomes possible to be self-employed without the traditional expenses that come with self-employment. This creates more profits, which creates a chain of multiple economic benefits thanks to improve saving and spending at the individual level.

List of the Disadvantages of Hybrid Virtualization

1. It still has a capital cost which must be considered.

When weighing the costs of your cloud options, including virtualization, there is still a capital investment which must be made. With Azure Hybrid through Microsoft, for example, with 40 core licenses, 5 eligible virtual machines, and 730 hours logged per month, you’d still be paying over $2,100 per month. That’s 42% less than without the virtualization benefit, though it is still a hefty expense for small startups.

2. It creates limitations.

Hybrid virtualization may offer a number of benefits to consider. It is also true that not all applications, software, or servers are able to function properly within certain environments. That means some firms may find even more expenses waiting for them at the end of this road. A minority of firms might not even be able to fully use this technology option yet.

3. It still requires ongoing security oversight.

Although third-party providers offer high levels of security with their hybrid virtualization products today, no system is completely immune to risk unless it is completely offline. That means the costs of a data breach must be worked into the overall cost of this infrastructure option. There is a 25% risk of experiencing some type of data loss because of a breach when utilizing a hybrid virtualization environment.

4. It may create availability issues for some personnel.

When you’re using virtual machines, you will be limited by the number of hours, terminals, or licenses which you have purchased. If your workload demands are higher than expected, you may find that your contracted hybrid virtualization environment is unable to scale upwards to meet those new needs.

5. It still creates a downtime issue.

Even with a stronger uptime reputation, it is rare for a hybrid virtualization environment to have 100% uptime. That means you will still experience the risk of loss if your information cannot be accessed. If your downtime continues on, even if it is only 1 hour at a time, that limits the effectiveness of who you are and what you do. Because you might be locked into a long-term contract, an extended outage could be devastating to your brand, no matter how big your organization happens to be.

6. It requires trust.

Because most hybrid virtualization environments are based on third-party relationships, you are not in full control of your circumstances. Some organizations may prefer to spend more capital to create local resources to serve as a backup to guard against the risk of loss that working with others creates. You must also trust that your ISP is provided a quality connection to your resources, your local hardware is able to connect you to the ISP, and your virtual terminals are working as they should. If one link in this chain breaks down, you may lose access to your data.

The advantages and disadvantages of hybrid virtualization make it possible to accomplish a lot more with fewer local resources. Assuming the various risks can be managed effectively, this is an option which most individuals and organizations will find to be beneficial.