When cloud computing first emerged, it really seemed to be about letting things like location, hardware, capacity and applications be someone else’s problem. But, in the cyclic world of IT, what goes around comes around, and the same level of business responsibility that was necessary for in-house solutions soon showed itself to be just as consequential and necessary for cloud-based solutions and qualities of service. Mark Sigler, senior director, product, BMC Software, observes, “Technology is incredibly cyclical.”

Consequently, so-called “letting go” boomeranged back to a broader, deeper taking of responsibility. Tellingly, this occurred parallel to the rediscovery that the IBM Z mainframe has unique strengths and qualities of service. These can’t simply be shifted to other platforms. And the critical data and processing that are on the mainframe are often mandated to remain on-premises, or at least limited to a specific geography.  The platform also has key technical strengths that are the historical origins of cloud technology, such as virtualization.

But the genie is out of the bottle. The business cases (not to mention the industry sizzle) have given hybrid cloud staying power.

Now here’s the problem: cloud computing has always been, perhaps by definition, somewhat nebulous, and even when combined with IBM Z to create business-critical hybrid cloud configurations, the clarity may still seem lacking. What exactly is it?