How SolarWinds is Navigating a Complex Hybrid IT Landscape

As digital transformation accelerates globally, businesses worldwide are grappling with the complexities of managing hybrid IT environments.

This trend is not limited to developed economies, as emerging markets are also rapidly adopting hybrid infrastructures as they leapfrog older technologies.

Across Asia, for instance, cloud adoption is growing at a compound annual growth rate of 15.1%, according to IDC, the global market intelligence firm.

However, many organisations in these regions still rely on legacy systems, creating a complex hybrid landscape.

These hybrid environments, which combine traditional on-premises systems with cloud-based services, have become increasingly common as organisations seek to balance legacy systems with modern cloud technologies.

Yet, this hybrid approach often results in fragmented visibility and management challenges for IT teams.

A recent announcement from SolarWinds, a Texas-based IT management software provider, aims to address these issues - and we asked Cullen Childress, Senior Vice President of Product at SolarWinds, to expand on the challenges of hybrid IT and exclusively explain why it is crucial for businesses to address these issues.

SolarWinds new Observability platform

SolarWinds, known for its network and infrastructure monitoring solutions, has launched the next generation of its Observability platform, the report says.

Cullen says: “SolarWinds Observability has been developed to give customers a choice in how they monitor and observe their networks, whether on-prem or in the cloud.”

This new offering is designed to provide comprehensive visibility across all IT environments, including on-premises, cloud and hybrid setups.

The platform is available in both self-hosted and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) deployment options, which offers flexibility to customers.

The company has also expanded its capabilities to include broader on-premises infrastructure monitoring, enhanced cloud infrastructure observability and improved AI and machine learning features.

The new platform includes expanded AWS, Azure and Kubernetes observability capabilities, enabling out-of-the-box cloud services and containerised infrastructure monitoring.

It also offers more comprehensive network performance, traffic flow and path analysis, allowing users to scan, discover and map devices and applications to gain performance metrics such as latency, jitter and throughput.

How is SolarWinds tackling hybrid IT monitoring challenges?

Commenting on the challenges of achieving seamless observability across on-premises, cloud and hybrid infrastructures, Cullen explains: “This next generation of SolarWinds Observability closes the hybrid visibility gaps we’ve heard voiced by IT practitioners and leaders around the world.

“They’ve told us they’re struggling to find a solution that provides the level of visibility they need over both their on-premises and cloud-native ecosystems. SolarWinds is ending their struggle today.”

He continues: “Achieving seamless observability across on-premises, cloud and hybrid infrastructures is difficult due to several challenges.

“Vast amounts of data are often scattered across different systems, making it hard to get a full picture and using multiple tools for monitoring creates complexity that can lead to inconsistent data.”

He adds: “Additionally, security rules differ across platforms, making it difficult to ensure full visibility.

“Managing costs and scaling up observability as systems grow are also major challenges. To solve this, companies need unified monitoring platforms, open standards and advanced analytics to efficiently connect data across different environments.”

Hybrid IT challenges and why it is crucial for businesses to address them

The report cites several industry studies to underscore the prevalence and challenges of hybrid IT environments:

• Research firm GigaOm found that 85% of surveyed organisations consider application complexity and volume as operational challenges.
• Flexera, a software company, reports that 73% of organisations use a hybrid cloud architecture.
• Gartner, a technology research and consulting firm, predicts that 50% of critical enterprise applications will reside outside centralised public cloud locations through 2027.

These statistics highlight the ongoing importance of hybrid IT infrastructures and the need for comprehensive monitoring solutions.

For example, according to NetApp, a computer technology company, 67% of AI leaders are more likely to have hybrid IT environments that can connect diverse data sources, which is a key enabler for AI success.

Explaining why it is crucial for businesses to address the issues of hybrid IT challenges, Cullen says: “Addressing seamless observability across on-premises, cloud and hybrid infrastructures is essential for businesses to maintain reliable system performance, ensure security and optimise costs.

“Without full visibility, companies risk undetected performance issues, security gaps and inefficient troubleshooting, all of which can lead to downtime, cyber threats and increased operational costs.

“Moreover”, he continues, “inconsistent monitoring can cause compliance risks, making it harder to meet regulatory standards.

“By tackling this challenge, businesses can enhance operational efficiency, strengthen security, and ensure better decision-making across their entire infrastructure.”

Flexible deployment and customer-centric approach

The report emphasises SolarWinds' focus on providing customers with choice and flexibility in their IT monitoring approach.

The platform's flexibility is demonstrated through its deployment options:

• SolarWinds Observability Self-Hosted allows customers to monitor both on-premises and cloud workloads from a single interface.
• SolarWinds Observability SaaS enables observation of cloud-native workloads while still providing visibility into on-premises infrastructure.

Krishna Sai, SVP of Technology and Engineering at SolarWinds, explains: “We believe customers should decide how they monitor and manage their hybrid IT infrastructures — not vendors dictating their choices.

“SolarWinds meets customers where they are in their hybrid IT journey so they can explore and adopt our offerings and modernise and move to the cloud confidently and at their own pace.”

Cullen concludes: “For SolarWinds, a top priority is meeting customers where they are in their hybrid IT journey.

“This solution further supports customers in moving to the cloud with confidence and at their own pace.”

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