28 Ways to Ensure Application Performance in the Hybrid Cloud - Part 5

APMdigest asked experts from across the industry – including consultants, analysts and the leading vendors – for recommendations on the best way to ensure application performance in the hybrid cloud. Part 5, the final installment, covers approaches you might not have thought about.

Start with 28 Ways to Ensure Application Performance in the Hybrid Cloud - Part 1

Start with 28 Ways to Ensure Application Performance in the Hybrid Cloud - Part 2

Start with 28 Ways to Ensure Application Performance in the Hybrid Cloud - Part 3

Start with 28 Ways to Ensure Application Performance in the Hybrid Cloud - Part 4

22. FOCUS ON PERFORMANCE DURING DEVELOPMENT

Tools don't ensure great performance in hybrid cloud environments. Tools help you in your testing phase to ensure that the application you push to production meets your performance requirements. Afterwards tools will help you to monitor the end user experience (performance and availability) and will help you to make sure you can guarantee the promised experience. The best way to ensure great performance is to make performance a requirement from day one. Make sure you're developers understand the performance of each line of code they write.
Coen Meerbeek
Online Performance Consultant and Founder of Blue Factory Internet

23. TEST AGAINST REAL NETWORK CONDITIONS

The biggest challenge with Hybrid Cloud is the switch between very different networks (often Lan to Wan) as the workload dynamically expands into the off-premises facilities. The network has a huge impact on application response time and performance and this must be mitigated in advance to prevent sharp increases in response time as the off-premises systems come into play during periods of high demand. The best way to do this is by utilizing Virtual test networks (network emulators) to try out (or test) these dynamic network changes prior to deployment of the solution. These products will replicate the real-world network conditions of both the private and public elements of the cloud solutions including transition between them. Taking this approach means you will have full insight into any potential issues before you commit time, money and resource to implementing a hybrid cloud solution.
Frank Puranik
Senior Technical Specialist, iTrinegy

24. KEEP MISSION CRITICAL APPLICATIONS IN-HOUSE

Hybrid cloud environments use a mix of on-premises, private cloud and third-party, public cloud services, allowing dynamic workload shifts as computing needs change. The major difference between the private and public cloud is that private clouds are not a shared resource, subject to overload from "neighbors" in the cloud. For this reason, when it comes to ensuring high performance for mission-critical, revenue-generating transactions, we recommend keeping these permanently in the private cloud, on mainframes (IBM's recently announced z13s is a strong option for mid-sized enterprises). Once that is established, organizations must include the mainframe as part of their overarching enterprise APM efforts. Today, an estimated 55 percent of enterprise applications touch mainframes, and IT managers need to be able to identify and address any mainframe bottlenecks that could impact performance.
Spencer Hallman
Product Manager, Compuware

25. FIND THE RIGHT SOLUTION PARTNER

Find the right partner. Invest in partners that bring the right added value to help you secure processes without the problem growing beyond your ability to handle it. Ensure your partner is aware of new technologies, trained and well-equipped to manage the breadth of various regulation requirements, and is able to provide (on your behalf) the tools customers need to answer market compliance. It's important that no component of what you choose to solve the business problem becomes the weak link.
Joan Groleau
Director, North America Channel Sales, Ipswitch

26. EXTEND TEAM SKILLS AND KNOWLEDGE

Today's IT professionals need to extend across traditional generalist or specialist roles and become polymaths in order to be successful in the hybrid IT world as they pivot across multiple technology domains. The most important skills and knowledge IT professionals need to develop or improve to successfully manage hybrid IT environments are service-oriented architectures, automation, vendor management, application migration, distributed architectures, API and hybrid IT monitoring and management tools and metrics.
Kong Yang
Head Geek, SolarWinds

27. ASSIGN APPLICATIONS TO THE RIGHT CLOUD ENVIRONMENT

Although there is a widening array of APM tools available to the challenges of the hybrid cloud alternatives, the key to ensure application performance is understanding the strengths and weaknesses of each cloud offering and properly assigning the application deployment to the appropriate cloud environment.
Jeffrey Kaplan
Managing Director of THINKstrategies and Founder of the Cloud Showplace

28. MANAGE THE FULL LIFECYCLE OF THE CLOUD SERVICE

Application performance in a cloud environment, whether public, private or hybrid, is about more than simply monitoring the application, it's about managing the full lifecycle of the cloud service from provisioning and maintaining the right configurations to remediating security vulnerabilities to planning for capacity growth. You need a cloud management platform that not only thrives in a hybrid environment but also enables applications to perform optimally.
Bill Berutti
President of the Cloud, Data Center and Performance Businesses at BMC Software

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28 Ways to Ensure Application Performance in the Hybrid Cloud - Part 5

APMdigest asked experts from across the industry – including consultants, analysts and the leading vendors – for recommendations on the best way to ensure application performance in the hybrid cloud. Part 5, the final installment, covers approaches you might not have thought about.

Start with 28 Ways to Ensure Application Performance in the Hybrid Cloud - Part 1

Start with 28 Ways to Ensure Application Performance in the Hybrid Cloud - Part 2

Start with 28 Ways to Ensure Application Performance in the Hybrid Cloud - Part 3

Start with 28 Ways to Ensure Application Performance in the Hybrid Cloud - Part 4

22. FOCUS ON PERFORMANCE DURING DEVELOPMENT

Tools don't ensure great performance in hybrid cloud environments. Tools help you in your testing phase to ensure that the application you push to production meets your performance requirements. Afterwards tools will help you to monitor the end user experience (performance and availability) and will help you to make sure you can guarantee the promised experience. The best way to ensure great performance is to make performance a requirement from day one. Make sure you're developers understand the performance of each line of code they write.
Coen Meerbeek
Online Performance Consultant and Founder of Blue Factory Internet

23. TEST AGAINST REAL NETWORK CONDITIONS

The biggest challenge with Hybrid Cloud is the switch between very different networks (often Lan to Wan) as the workload dynamically expands into the off-premises facilities. The network has a huge impact on application response time and performance and this must be mitigated in advance to prevent sharp increases in response time as the off-premises systems come into play during periods of high demand. The best way to do this is by utilizing Virtual test networks (network emulators) to try out (or test) these dynamic network changes prior to deployment of the solution. These products will replicate the real-world network conditions of both the private and public elements of the cloud solutions including transition between them. Taking this approach means you will have full insight into any potential issues before you commit time, money and resource to implementing a hybrid cloud solution.
Frank Puranik
Senior Technical Specialist, iTrinegy

24. KEEP MISSION CRITICAL APPLICATIONS IN-HOUSE

Hybrid cloud environments use a mix of on-premises, private cloud and third-party, public cloud services, allowing dynamic workload shifts as computing needs change. The major difference between the private and public cloud is that private clouds are not a shared resource, subject to overload from "neighbors" in the cloud. For this reason, when it comes to ensuring high performance for mission-critical, revenue-generating transactions, we recommend keeping these permanently in the private cloud, on mainframes (IBM's recently announced z13s is a strong option for mid-sized enterprises). Once that is established, organizations must include the mainframe as part of their overarching enterprise APM efforts. Today, an estimated 55 percent of enterprise applications touch mainframes, and IT managers need to be able to identify and address any mainframe bottlenecks that could impact performance.
Spencer Hallman
Product Manager, Compuware

25. FIND THE RIGHT SOLUTION PARTNER

Find the right partner. Invest in partners that bring the right added value to help you secure processes without the problem growing beyond your ability to handle it. Ensure your partner is aware of new technologies, trained and well-equipped to manage the breadth of various regulation requirements, and is able to provide (on your behalf) the tools customers need to answer market compliance. It's important that no component of what you choose to solve the business problem becomes the weak link.
Joan Groleau
Director, North America Channel Sales, Ipswitch

26. EXTEND TEAM SKILLS AND KNOWLEDGE

Today's IT professionals need to extend across traditional generalist or specialist roles and become polymaths in order to be successful in the hybrid IT world as they pivot across multiple technology domains. The most important skills and knowledge IT professionals need to develop or improve to successfully manage hybrid IT environments are service-oriented architectures, automation, vendor management, application migration, distributed architectures, API and hybrid IT monitoring and management tools and metrics.
Kong Yang
Head Geek, SolarWinds

27. ASSIGN APPLICATIONS TO THE RIGHT CLOUD ENVIRONMENT

Although there is a widening array of APM tools available to the challenges of the hybrid cloud alternatives, the key to ensure application performance is understanding the strengths and weaknesses of each cloud offering and properly assigning the application deployment to the appropriate cloud environment.
Jeffrey Kaplan
Managing Director of THINKstrategies and Founder of the Cloud Showplace

28. MANAGE THE FULL LIFECYCLE OF THE CLOUD SERVICE

Application performance in a cloud environment, whether public, private or hybrid, is about more than simply monitoring the application, it's about managing the full lifecycle of the cloud service from provisioning and maintaining the right configurations to remediating security vulnerabilities to planning for capacity growth. You need a cloud management platform that not only thrives in a hybrid environment but also enables applications to perform optimally.
Bill Berutti
President of the Cloud, Data Center and Performance Businesses at BMC Software

Related Links

Hot Topics

The Latest

Gartner: Regular AI System Assessments Triple the Likelihood of High GenAI Value

Organizations that perform regular audits and assessments of AI system performance and compliance are over three times more likely to achieve high GenAI value than organizations that do not, according to a survey by Gartner ...

Beyond Autoscaling: What True Kubernetes Optimization Actually Requires

Kubernetes has become the backbone of cloud infrastructure, but it's also one of its biggest cost drivers. Recent research shows that 98% of senior IT leaders say Kubernetes now drives cloud spend, yet 91% still can't optimize it effectively. After years of adoption, most organizations have moved past discovery. They know container sprawl, idle resources and reactive scaling inflate costs. What they don't know is how to fix it ...

Is Your Network Ready for the AI Boom? 5 Overlooked Stress Points

Artificial intelligence is no longer a future investment. It's already embedded in how we work — whether through copilots in productivity apps, real-time transcription tools in meetings, or machine learning models fueling analytics and personalization. But while enterprise adoption accelerates, there's one critical area many leaders have yet to examine: Can your network actually support AI at the speed your users expect? ...

Keeping Your Business Stable When Going Through an IT Disaster

The more technology businesses invest in, the more potential attack surfaces they have that can be exploited. Without the right continuity plans in place, the disruptions caused by these attacks can bring operations to a standstill and cause irreparable damage to an organization. It's essential to take the time now to ensure your business has the right tools, processes, and recovery initiatives in place to weather any type of IT disaster that comes up. Here are some effective strategies you can follow to achieve this ...

How Engineers Can Use AIOps to Innovate Their Infrastructure

In today's fast-paced AI landscape, CIOs, IT leaders, and engineers are constantly challenged to manage increasingly complex and interconnected systems. The sheer scale and velocity of data generated by modern infrastructure can be overwhelming, making it difficult to maintain uptime, prevent outages, and create a seamless customer experience. This complexity is magnified by the industry's shift towards agentic AI ...

MEAN TIME TO INSIGHT Podcast - Episode 19: The AWS Outage

In MEAN TIME TO INSIGHT Episode 19, Shamus McGillicuddy, VP of Research, Network Infrastructure and Operations, at EMA explains the cause of the AWS outage in October ... 

Cloud Migration Delays Are Putting Businesses at Risk

The explosion of generative AI and machine learning capabilities has fundamentally changed the conversation around cloud migration. It's no longer just about modernization or cost savings — it's about being able to compete in a market where AI is rapidly becoming table stakes. Companies that can't quickly spin up AI workloads, feed models with data at scale, or experiment with new capabilities are falling behind faster than ever before. But here's what I'm seeing: many organizations want to capitalize on AI, but they're stuck ...

Understanding the Plight of Today's IT Pro

On September 16, the world celebrated the 10th annual IT Pro Day, giving companies a chance to laud the professionals who serve as the backbone to almost every successful business across the globe. Despite the growing importance of their roles, many IT pros still work in the background and often go underappreciated ...

The Two-Way Relationship Between AI and Observability

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is reshaping observability, and observability is becoming essential for AI. This is a two-way relationship that is increasingly relevant as enterprises scale generative AI ... This dual role makes AI and observability inseparable. In this blog, I cover more details of each side ...

Unrelenting IT Issues Cost Millions of Hours in Lost Productivity

Poor DEX directly costs global businesses an average of 470,000 hours per year, equivalent to around 226 full-time employees, according to a new report from Nexthink, Cracking the DEX Equation: The Annual Workplace Productivity Report. This indicates that digital friction is a vital and underreported element of the global productivity crisis ...