The integration of on-premises SharePoint 2013 farm and SharePoint Online in the SharePoint 2013 hybrid environment presents you with the opportunity to utilize resources from both the environments and build a cohesive solution which run flawlessly across both.
With Microsoft Hybrid Business Connectivity Services (BCS), you can very publish on-premises data to an external list or app for SharePoint in SharePoint Online. Now, this data can be viewed and even edited by users, depending on the permissions they have been approved of. Also, the entire process is absolutely secure too.
Such a SharePoint 2013 Hybrid environment especially holds up following two processes:
1. Search: The users can search from each of these systems with the results comprising of contents from both.
2. Business Connectivity Services (from SharePoint Online to SharePoint On-Premises)
The launch of SharePoint Server 2013 as well as Office 365 has opened vistas for integrated services architecture which renders a Hybrid SharePoint environment. Business organizations are going in for SharePoint Online in Office 365 today, still keeping their on-premises SharePoint farm. Hybrid Business Connectivity Services with SharePoint 2013 enables you to amalgamate services such as search and BCS on-premise as well as on the cloud!
The Hybrid SharePoint environment employs server-to-server trust relationship at the service level and then dispenses cross-boundary functionalities and content on behalf of authenticated users. It gives added advantage of navigation through multiple data sources, access of content on-site and off-site, enables information search across multiple environments while also keeping your data secure and maintaining business to business relationships.
The advantages of such a Hybrid environment includes:
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Generation of single Logon to search across environments.
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Added security and easy accessibility of business data.
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Familiarity with Integrated Search.
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Combined and merged view of distributed data.
Configuring Hybrid Business Connectivity Services (BCS)
Hybrid Business Connectivity Services (BCS) enables access to on-premises data through SharePoint Online. However, the first requirement is to already have a properly implemented base SharePoint hybrid environment. Only then implementation of BCS hybrid implementation can be successfully carried out.
Also, requisite know-how and hands-on experience is relevant for configuring a Hybrid SharePoint environment with SharePoint Server 2013, SharePoint Online and other tools and technologies. Such a deployment requires services of a certified Microsoft Consultant who is well versed with the task.
Advantages of Hybrid BCS with SharePoint 2013
Business Connectivity Services is actually a centralized infrastructure — a combination (hybrid) which uses SharePoint Online and SharePoint 2013 on-premises and it exists in many forms.
Let us enumerate some advantages:
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Provides integrated functionality and data access.
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Enables in focussed and quality services in Business.
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Aids secure communication between SharePoint Online and SharePoint Server 2013.
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SharePoint 2013 comprises of improved UI, support for mobile devices and social networking features.
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Business Enterprises can choose Microsoft or a third party build apps for administration of their SharePoint instances in the cloud.
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For business organizations which desire to upgrade their existing on-premises SharePoint Server 2013 services to the cloud, SharePoint Server 2013 Hybrid bestows easy migration by tendering SharePoint Server 2013 workloads to SharePoint Online.
Conclusion
SharePoint is evolving and so are business organizations. The Hybrid environment is an evolution from the ‘On-Premise’ and ‘Online’ deployments, integrating the positive elements of both the systems. True, this is akin to combining the best of both the worlds!
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