What does the term 'hybrid' refer to in cloud services?

In the context of cloud services, the term 'hybrid' specifically refers to the combination of on-premises infrastructure—such as servers and storage systems—with cloud resources, allowing for a mix of local and cloud-based services. This approach enables organizations to leverage the benefits of both environments, such as enhanced flexibility, scalability, and resilience.

Using a hybrid model allows businesses to maintain critical operations on their own premises while utilizing the cloud for additional computing power or storage capacity as needed. This setup is particularly advantageous for handling fluctuations in workload, ensuring data sovereignty, and integrating legacy systems with modern cloud solutions. It maximizes efficiency and can reduce costs, as organizations only pay for the cloud resources they use when demand increases.

In contrast, solely cloud-based applications imply a complete reliance on cloud infrastructure, while a cloud service provider is merely the entity delivering the cloud services. A type of application deployment refers to a method by which applications are made available, which doesn’t specifically describe the hybrid approach.