By Russell Smith
Publication Date: 2026-05-19 14:29:00
Hybrid IT has become the default operating model for most organizations. Not by design, but through years of incremental decisions driven by business needs. In a recent Petri Dish interview, Brad Cline, Vice President of IT Operations at SolarWinds, shared a frontline perspective on how infrastructure complexity emerged, why it continues to grow, and how AI is reshaping the way IT teams manage it.
“The thing that drew me to tech in the beginning was that it was always this constantly changing, evolving environment,” said Brad Cline, Vice President of IT Operations at SolarWinds. “You’re always going to have to learn and relearn your job, figure out how new puzzle pieces fit together, and how to apply them to make the business more effective.”
That need for constant adaptation has defined IT for decades. What’s different today, Cline argues, is the speed and scale of change, and the operational pressure it puts on IT teams.
How virtualization created hybrid sprawl
Virtualization was once seen as a major simplification. Abstracting workloads from hardware improved efficiency and made environments easier to scale. But over time, virtualization became layered with public cloud platforms, SaaS services and bespoke applications.
According to Cline, most organizations didn’t set out to build overly complex environments.
“It’s very rare to see a business that’s completely aligned across every team,” he said. “An executive…
