While the cloud technology evolution is leading to increased consolidation, it is also creating uncertainty over which model is best suited for the enterprise. Questions over public clouds, private clouds and how to move data between different environments are being debated in information technology on a weekly basis as the big players, such as Amazon Web Services Inc. and Microsoft, continue to roll out new applications. One prominent business leader believes that the sheer scale of data files will demand a hybrid cloud solution, at least for a while.

“This idea of a mix between physical and data movement when moving to cloud is really fascinating. It’s highly likely we’re going to be in a hybrid cloud environment for the foreseeable future,” said David Richards (pictured), founder and CEO of WANdisco plc.

Richards offered his thoughts on this and other topics during a visit to theCUBE, SiliconANGLE’s mobile livestreaming studio, during today’s AWS Summit in New York City. He spoke with co-hosts John Walls (@JohnWalls21) and Stu Miniman (@stu) about the realities of moving large data files, recent financial growth at WANdisco and the changing cloud computing landscape. (* Disclosure below.)

Richards and other industry executives believe that hybrid cloud services will be needed to move data effectively. He cited one recent conversation with a prospective customer who needed to move over 100 petabytes of data. “Are you going to use the public internet to do that?” asked Richards. “That’s going to take a long time.”

WANdisco nears profitability

WANdisco has “stopped burning cash” and is near the break-even mark, according to Richards. In fact, the company recently landed big data and cloud contracts with an unnamed major retailer, based on the growing need to move much larger datasets and avoid costly outages.

“When those strategic applications move onto this hyperscale infrastructure, you have to support RTO [recovery time objective] and RPO [recovery point objective], and that’s what we do,” he said.

While some technology enthusiasts may favor the rapid pace of innovation in the cloud industry, later stage companies are not fond of the ever-changing landscape, according to Richards.

“It’s a bit like the cellphone industry. There’s lots and lots of different plans, lots and lots of confusing nomenclature, and that’s all going to settle out in the next couple of years,” he concluded.

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of AWS Summit. (* Disclosure: TheCUBE is an unpaid media partner for AWS Summit. WANdisco plc is a sponsor of this AWS Summit segment on SiliconANGLE Media’s theCUBE. Neither WANdisco nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE