Although cloud computing continues to mature and companies are moving past the experimentation phase, there continues to be a lot of hype over the various models of adoption: public, private or hybrid. In most cases today, companies are using a blend of public and private cloud models, or a hybrid deployment, because it allows them to utilize their internal resources while they test the benefits of moving their IT off-premise, into the cloud.

In fact, hybrid IT is transforming IT architectures and the role of IT itself, according to research firm Gartner (News - Alert). Hybrid IT is the combination of internal and external services, usually from a combination of internal and public clouds, in support of a business outcome.??

In a recent Gartner report, “Hybrid IT: How Internal and External Cloud Services are Transforming IT,” analysts explained that hybrid IT relies on new technologies to connect clouds, sophisticated approaches to data classification and identity, service-oriented architecture, and heralds significant change for IT practitioners.??

“Many organizations have now passed the definitional stage of cloud computing and are testing cloud architectures inside and outside the enterprise and over time, the cloud will simply become one of the ways that we ‘do’ computing, and workloads will move around in hybrid internal/external IT environments,” said Chris Howard, managing vice president at Gartner. “As a result, the traditional role of the enterprise IT professional is changing and becoming multifaceted. A hybrid IT model requires internal and external IT professionals to support the business capabilities of the enterprise.”

Whether you have either considered or implemented cloud, it’s also time to look at the rest of your IT Infrastructure. Do you move everything to the cloud or should you connect your different environments through hybrid hosting? And what is hybrid hosting anyway? Is it the next technology hype or truly a powerful tool for optimizing your infrastructure?

In a webinar on June 6 at 3 p.m. ET, a panel of experts from VMware, GigaOM Pro and Internap (News - Alert) will discuss the latest developments surrounding hybrid hosting.

Topics to be discussed include: Defining hybrid and how it fits into your business’ IT plans; understanding current hybrid hosting trends and how they affect you; detecting hazards – integration, cost and implementation risks; and outlining a hybrid implementation strategy.