Why we still spec real hardware in an everything-cloud world.
Cloud-only is great until your internet drops in the middle of a clinic day. A take on the on-prem / cloud line in 2026.
It's fashionable to say everything moves to the cloud. Most things should. Some things shouldn't.
Latency-sensitive workloads. Imaging machines in dental offices. CAD in engineering shops. Anything where 80ms of round trip means a worse output.
Workflows that can't tolerate a dropped link. A mechanic taking payment in the bay needs a card terminal that works when the LTE drops. A clinic running schedules needs the schedule to load when the cable is down for the morning.
Anything regulated. PIPEDA in Canada, HIPAA cousins for cross-border health, industry-specific frameworks. Local copies aren't optional.
The right architecture in 2026 is hybrid: cloud-first for collaboration, local for the things that have to keep running when the WAN doesn't. It's less glamorous than "cloud-only." It also doesn't get you fired.