The use of hybrid multicloud models is forecasted to double over the next one to three years as IT decision makers are facing new pressures to modernize IT infrastructures because of drivers like AI, security, and sustainability, according to Nutanix.
“Whether it be because of AI, sustainability, or security imperatives, IT organizations are facing ever-increasing pressure to modernize their IT infrastructure quickly,” said Lee Caswell, SVP, Product and Solutions Marketing at Nutanix.
“80% of respondents are planning to invest in IT modernization, with 85% planning to increase their investments specifically to support AI. What this year’s report reveals is that organizations need to support the technologies of tomorrow by future proofing their IT infrastructure today. Hybrid multicloud continues to emerge as the infrastructure standard of choice because of the flexibility it provides to support traditional VM and modern containerized applications and movement between clouds and on-prem,” added Caswell.
90% of respondents are taking a “cloud smart” approach to their infrastructure strategy – leveraging the best environment (e.g., data center, public cloud, edge) for each of their applications. Given the pervasiveness of this approach, it is no wonder that hybrid and multicloud environments have become the de facto infrastructure standard.
Furthermore, 80% of organizations believe hybrid IT environments are most beneficial to their ability to manage applications and data. Most importantly, this is now becoming an executive priority, with nearly half of respondents noting that implementing hybrid IT is a top priority for their CIO.
Ransomware remains a critical challenge
Ransomware and malware attacks will remain existential threats to modern enterprises, with the cat-and-mouse game between malicious actors and enterprise security professionals set to continue throughout 2024.
Yet, data protection and recovery remain a challenge, as 71% of respondents who experienced a ransomware attack reported taking days or even weeks to restore full operations. To help address this, 78% of organizations say they plan to increase investments in ransomware protection solutions throughout this year.
Enterprise workloads – including their applications and data – often find their way into the IT environment that best suits their needs, whether that environment is an on-premises data center, the public cloud, a smaller edge location, or a mix of all three.
This diversity of application placement is part of why 95% of respondents say they moved applications from one environment to another over the past year, with security and innovation as the top drivers for this movement. Enterprises should expect application and data movement to remain constant and plan infrastructure choices accordingly – emphasizing flexibility and visibility.
Organizations increase investment in IT modernization
Today, organizations face significant roadblocks when executing complex application migrations. 35% of respondents say workload and application migration is a significant challenge given their current IT infrastructure.
88% of respondents agree that sustainability is a priority for their organization. However, unlike in the previous report, where action was limited, many organizations indicate they are already taking active steps to implement sustainability initiatives, with the most common being modernizing IT infrastructure. This is a fascinating result that shows the direct impact of IT infrastructure on sustainability.
Respondents identified increased investment to support AI strategy as their number #1 priority, followed closely by investment in IT modernization. Furthermore, 37% of respondents indicate running AI applications on their current IT infrastructure will be a “significant” challenge.
In order to mitigate and overcome this challenge, organizations are prioritizing IT modernization and edge infrastructure deployments, which can facilitate faster processing and access to data. This, in turn, can help improve their ability to link data from multiple environments to give better visibility into where data resides across their sprawling ecosystems.