Businesses today are being challenged by the proliferation of handheld devices and new corporate policies for BYOD (Bring Your Own Device). Users want to be able to access their productivity applications from anywhere, from any device — a laptop, smartphone or tablet— and use only one username and password to access it all. This creates a challenge for IT. How do they give users what they want, while maintaining a secure environment?

To accomplish this, businesses need to have a robust, hybrid infrastructure that allows users to seamlessly access their applications whether they are deployed in their on-premises data center or in the cloud. This white paper focuses specifically on Microsoft’s approach, featuring Office 365 and Azure. It demonstrates how to configure and deploy Active Directory in a hybrid architecture. We’ll discuss why hybrid makes sense, common concerns, pitfalls to consider, and best practices for setting up your hybrid infrastructure leveraging Azure Active Directory Services with Office 365.

The cloud has become mainstream. Businesses are no longer asking “Should we move to the cloud?” but wondering “When should we move?” Furthermore, hybrid clouds are not new, and some of the foundational elements of hybrid cloud creation, operation and maintenance are rooted in decades-old traditional data center technologies.

This whitepaper will:

• Examine the concepts of hybrid cloud environments.
• Discuss the potential advantages of using hybrid cloud technologies.
• Look at how the Microsoft Azure platform enables efficient and effective hybrid cloud computing.