The opinion battle between on-premises and public cloud has raged back and forth for the last 10 years, and for much of that time, technology has not been mature enough to realise all the promises made. This was true for both sides of the argument. Today, I believe we have reached a point when this is no longer the case; the ability to blend public and private cloud architecture is a reality, and it’s time to put the argument to bed for good. Both sides of the argument are correct; there is no real debate on this, we just need to provide the right lens to view the scenario. We need to deploy a new application at pace, into a new global region, and scale it based on demand - public cloud all day long. We need to run that same application for a steady state of consumption for the next few years. Private will be the most cost-effective.

In this article, I will explore why this is the case and then show how our ServiceWorks platform can provide a route to the outcome without reverting to managing the data centre and infrastructure!

Realising the Cloud Promise

One of the core tenets of our Hybrid Cloud strategy is to help organisations realise the full benefits that the public cloud has promised over the past decade. We define these promises as the following six principles:

• Provide OpEx v CapEx options
• Be developer-ready
• Reduce operating costs
• Unlock Innovative Capabilities
• Provide scale & agility
• Tame operational complexity

For most organisations, this will mean blending Edge, Private and Public Cloud capabilities and adopting a unified cloud operating model that spans all environments. First, we need to deploy evolved private cloud and edge computing capabilities that can alleviate historical operational challenges. Secondly, we must optimise public cloud environments to take advantage of native capabilities, reducing spend and increasing developer velocity.

The Future is Hybrid

Balancing the evolving demands on infrastructure, cloud vs on-premises, technical debt, and decreasing budgets is the real challenge for all IT decision-makers. We believe the future is hybrid, and by combining evolved private infrastructure technologies, edge computing, and public cloud services under a cloud operating model, we can tackle these challenges.

If we map the cloud promises from earlier to the ever-increasing types of cloud, we can start to make more informed decisions. First, let’s define the terms:

• Private: This is the Next Gen DC delivered with automation and developer capabilities, a public cloud running in your facility or co-location.
• Partner: a private cloud operated by a partner, like CDW ServiceWorks.
• Vendor: Hypervisor vendors’ solution running in the hyperscaler facilities, Microsoft AVS or Nutanix NC2 are examples.
• Native: Running fully in one hyperscaler cloud with all native tooling and processes.
• Hybrid: A Combination of the previous types, but working under a single operating model
• Multi: A Combination of the previous types but working via different and isolated operating models

Now, we can map these into a matrix and examine the capabilities of each combination to help inform the high-level outcome. One core challenge we see repeated is a lack of alignment between decision makers on the outcomes or benefits of a particular technology choice. Ultimately, this leads to someone not realising the expected benefits and the potential for yo-yo strategies that fuel technical debt and complexity.

Right Workload I Right Platform

How can we help organisations bring this to life? In part, through our Right Workload | Right Platform mantra. By breaking down the time-tested silos of Edge, Core, and Cloud into our own defined execution environments (Far Edge, Near Edge, Private, Partner, Vendor & Native), we can provide the granularity to meet all workload demands. Then, we apply our non-biased and outcome-independent approach to assess each workload and deploy a new cloud target operating model that spans all relevant environments.

Optimised Workload Mobility

Adopting our Right Workload | Right Platform mantra enables organisations to blend the public and private cloud benefits. We allow new workloads to be deployed into public cloud environments and take advantage of the scale, innovative services and agility it is best placed to serve. This is like staying in a hotel; it may cost a little more than a night at home, but you benefit from on-demand services and convenience. We enable workload mobility to a private or vendor cloud environment for legacy workloads or those that have reached a steady state of consumption. Like your home or a managed apartment, this environment may demand more responsibility (you can always pass that responsibility to CDW). Still, it offers long-term cost savings and stability. This is when our ServiceWorks Cloud comes into play, offering a fully managed IaaS and PaaS platform for running steady-state workloads.

CDW ServiceWorks Cloud

ServiceWorks is our Cloud platform, which we have operated for the last decade. It delivers a suite of IaaS and PaaS offerings, including Compute, Desktop, Containers, Database, and Storage services. The solution is built on service provider-grade hardware, is secure by design, and billed monthly based on flexible yet predictable costs. Direct low-latency connectivity to all the hyper-scale clouds and edge deployment capabilities are key components in building an adaptive hybrid strategy.

ServiceWorks might not be the correct location for every workload. Still, we believe it can be pivotal in any organisation’s hybrid strategy by providing a cloud experience with predictable, stable costs for stable run-rate workloads. ServiceWorks Cloud can offer up to 30% savings for the right workloads without operational teams having to go back to managing legacy data centres and technology stacks.

Let’s look at the functions ServiceWorks Cloud can offer:

IaaS

The core component is a managed IaaS platform offering virtual machines in simple t-shirt sizes but with fixed pricing over a contract term. Our predictable billing model generally provides the benefits of a pay-as-you but at the price of a reserved instance. You can choose from basic SKUs that are great for development or test workloads to premium offerings with superior SLAs, backup, and DR baked in. The great thing about our IaaS is that we offer a 99.99% SLA on a single virtual machine instance. There is no need to change application architecture to meet public cloud constructs like availability sets to meet those production workloads’ SLA.

Multi-Hypervisor

Another advantage of our IaaS platform is our ability to support multiple hypervisor options from VMware ESXi, Nutanix AHV and Microsoft Azure Local. This flexibility brings three key benefits:

1. Cost Control: We can offer different service tiers based on each provider's underlying cost.
2. Ease of Migration: Simple migration from platform to platform to remove any change in architecture and accelerate adoption
3. Future Proof Options: Future choice to change provider if required.

Colocation

We host ServiceWorks Cloud in our private suites in premier Tier 4 facilities. One advantage of this is the available power and floor space for hosting equipment. This means you can take rack space adjacent to ServiceWorks Cloud and host legacy systems, still depreciating kit, or specialist equipment, all connected at LAN speed for maximum performance. This ability to blend managed cloud services and colocation allows for creating commercial arrangements that can unlock unexpected value.

Database & Containers

While IaaS services have been at the heart of ServiceWorks Cloud, modern applications are built on open-source databases and container services. These key PaaS services are available on the platform, allowing your developers the freedom to work with the tools of choice and in the best-fit location. By following methodologies like the 12-factor app, teams can develop true cloud-independent services that can be ported to any execution environment of choice. Develop and scale in the public cloud, run steady state in ServiceWorks Cloud for the most cost-effective outcome.

Business Continuity & Cyber Recovery

ServiceWorks Assure is a disaster recovery-as-a-service solution that protects on-premises virtual machines (ServiceWorks Cloud workloads) through continuous replication. Machines are protected on an individual basis, offering unrivalled granularity of protection and recovery. No matter what happens, you can rest assured that your organisation will be up and running quickly. It’s not just about the technology; our teams have the experience to ensure the most effective recovery strategy is always in place. We will monitor your recovery health 24/7 to always ensure you are covered.

Sometimes, closing that second facility is the first stepping stone to the cloud. Leveraging managed DR services can help offload management and ownership of critical but less strategic services. Our teams are ready and waiting.

Connectivity

Another key consideration in every organisation’s cloud journey is connectivity, and ServiceWorks Cloud will not let you down. Our network is a 10GB backbone (moving to 100GB in H2 2025) triangulated across three geographically diverse locations. We provide diverse BGP-enabled internet breakouts for consistent access to SaaS services. We also have on-ramp connections to all the major cloud providers, ensuring adjacency to your scalable cloud services.

GPU

ServiceWorks Cloud is the home of our AI innovation lab, which allows you to bring AI use cases for validation or to experience the latest offerings from our partners. We also offer a portfolio of accelerator-enabled resources, enabling you to run critical AI workloads adjacent to your applications and data. While we are not competing with the NEO cloud providers on a GPU per hour rate card, we can offer competitive options for AI inferencing.

File & Object

Data is today's key metric for every organisation, and the ability to store, protect, and access it when and where required is critical. Our File and Object services are powered by Nutanix Unified Storage, which offers Data lifecycle, Data Protection, and Data Security capabilities.

Nutanix NUS offers the following benefits throughout ServiceWorks Cloud.

• Linear Performance Scaling: Accelerate data processing with high throughput and linear data performance for fast access to large data volumes supporting data-intensive workloads such as Big Data Analytics and AI/ML/GenAI apps.
• Global Data Management: Benefit from secure S3-compatible storage with Geo-Federated Global Namespaces. Seamlessly manage data, whether on-prem, edge or in the cloud, with granular IAM-based access controls.
• Data Replication: Smart Sync simplifies the sync of edge data into the core without management complexity and additional third-party tools. Provides a global view of files, blocks, objects, VMs, and containers across edge, core, and cloud with full data security, integrity, and availability.
• Data Migrations: Native data migration from both NFS and SMB shares reduces the time to onboard Files Storage, achieving faster payback and ROI. In addition, API can be used to develop automation scripts for data migration.
• Data Protection: Assess and mitigate data security risks by identifying anomalous activity, auditing user behaviour, and adhering to compliance requirements. Quickly recover the entire file share from ransomware or service denial attacks, or when recovery time would be too long to locate each file.

Desktop

All these excellent services must be accessible to your end users for consumption. Ideally, this would be via a web interface, the same as the rest of your SaaS ecosystem. But we understand that this is not always possible. Legacy code, latency-sensitive applications, or intellectual property leakage concerns can drive a need for virtual application and desktop delivery. ServiceWorks Cloud operates a fully managed VDI service, allowing you to meet these challenges with a simple subscription service.

Edge & Core

The latest innovation for ServiceWorks Cloud is a model that can be deployed outside of our core colocation facilities. For those times when moving to one of our fixed locations is not appropriate, ServiceWorks Edge offers the answer. Starting from a small two-node deployment and scaling to any size you choose, we can deploy into any facilities that meet our minimum-security standards. This could be your existing site or a colocation of choice that is local to your business operations. Primary use cases are for branch offices, manufacturing sites, and retail stores, but we can deploy anywhere globally!

Services, Support and Management

The final component in the ServiceWorks Cloud jigsaw is our people and the services they provide. The team has been delivering these services for the last decade. They have accumulated a wealth of knowledge to accelerate, sizing, pricing, migrations and managing ongoing operations to ensure maximum value. When we couple this with our wider platform management capabilities, we can extend value up into the operating systems and application layers. This experience and flexibility will allow you to choose the level of ownership you retain while offloading the BAU activities that distract from innovation.

Final Thoughts

From our perspective, the future will be a hybrid architecture, with the public cloud delivering the velocity to meet new market demands and remain relevant to customers. Core private platforms offer long-term cost stability to drive the best possible cost base. Edge solutions capture and process data in real-time to enable data-driven decision making. The power of this combination should be the best possible experience for your customers and employees, hopefully allowing you to outpace your biggest competitors. We believe the suite of services we can offer in ServiceWorks Cloud can play a pivotal role, and it’s the reason we have doubled down on R&D and investment in the platform, while some of our competitors have dropped similar offerings.

We would love to explore the conversation of Hybrid Cloud and see how our Right Workload | Right Platform methodology can help you increase velocity while reducing costs.