Cloud giant Google and communications tech firm Cisco have announced a new partnership to create and build out a hybrid cloud solution that ties on-premises and cloud work together, all based around Google’s open-source Kubernetes cloud platform. The idea is to have Cisco create a custom version of its Hyperflex hybrid cloud framework with Google to connect to Kubernetes seamlessly. The endgame of the entire effort is to create the same workflow and management experience for customers working locally and in the cloud. To that end, Google and Cisco are also making use of the open-source traffic and connection management framework Istio which will handle user resource allotment in the new hybrid cloud project.
The way that the whole thing works is through a Kubernetes backend. Since Kubernetes is largely program and OS-agnostic, users can customize their workflow and toolset to their hearts’ content. From there, Cisco’s Hyperflex will be running on-premises, customized to hook into Kubernetes and sync every element in real time through what is essentially a cloud container that provides a cloud experience when working on-premises, even offline. The whole affair runs with Google’s world-renowned cloud backend delivered through the Google Cloud Platform, and Istio is on board for traffic control, enforcement of user-set policies across machines and projects, network and connection management, and routing to ensure that work continues smoothly without any network-related hiccups.
Cisco technology is already on-premises for many businesses, and this partnership ensures that Google’s cloud service portfolio can reach and easily be used by all of them. Using Cisco Cloud Center for workload management, businesses can be informed when a quick and easy transfer to Google Cloud Services is available. This allows customers to transition almost seamlessly to a cloud-based workflow, which in turn allows businesses to develop and deploy their product in a vast variety of use cases and scenarios. Telecommuting, quick product iteration, cloud testing and prototyping, and even organization-wide collaboration and telepresence can all be enabled through the use of a Google Cloud Services backend, while the collaboration with Cisco is designed to help more customers seamlessly make that technological jump.