Multi-Cloud

What is Multi-Cloud?

Multi-cloud operations materialize when an organization engages a variety of cloud solutions such as public cloud, hybrid cloud, on-premises IT infrastructure, and edge computing. Multiple cloud computing and storage services are involved in a single network architecture for one organization. More than one public cloud service provider is necessary for data processing, and storage resources, separate from the other private cloud or on-premises infrastructure used simultaneously. Cloud assets, software, applications, and more are distributed across several cloud environments, aiming to eliminate the reliance on any single cloud provider or instance.

How does Multi-Cloud work?

The main difference between a hybrid cloud and a multi-cloud model is that hybrid cloud platforms are based on different cloud models, whether public and private or on- and off-premises. In contrast, multi-cloud involves various service providers and not just cloud types. Multi-cloud environments also tend to be more complex, with components that must be appropriately integrated.

Why is Multi-Cloud important?

Organizations are primarily using multi-cloud solutions and environments to spread resource demands across different platforms and minimize the risk of downtime and data loss. Most modern organizations have outgrown a single cloud environment based on their IT management needs. A multi-cloud environment leverages different infrastructure deployments to keep organizations running more efficiently and quickly achieve goals.

Benefits of Multi-Cloud

Multi-cloud processing and storage offer numerous advantages, with a primary benefit realized as the ability to adapt to an organization’s specific growth and IT goals. Other benefits include:

• Greater flexibility – A more flexible infrastructure can help organizations develop and deploy software faster, adapt to changing industry landscapes, adopt new technologies more easily, and combine services via different vendors to stay competitive.
• Reliable resiliency – With multi-cloud solutions, organizations aren’t limited to single-vendor options, reducing the risk of a single point of failure resulting in outages and security exposure. With proper redundancies in place, organizations can have an always-on, highly scalable backup for data, workflows, and systems.
• Lower costs – Organizations can avoid upfront capital expenditures and reduce the cost of data management, all without having to hire new IT team members to handle the workload. Providers absorb much of the cost of maintenance and upgrades, letting the company focus on growth priorities.
• Data sovereignty – As international data regulations become essential to how organizations operate on a daily basis, policies must be in place to ensure data is being appropriately handled according to the laws of any given region. With multi-cloud solutions, organizations can regulate data storage far more easily.

The Common Scenarios for Multi-Cloud 

Organizations are often looking for a wide variety of results from multi-cloud solutions, such as enhancing scalability, customizing their current IT infrastructure, data backup and disaster recovery, and being able to handle IT services in-house as needed.

Another prominent use for multi-cloud is the ability to avoid being locked into any specific vendor technology or cloud provider contract. This provides immense flexibility and increased capabilities as an organization grows.

Multi-cloud storage is another critical services category, with the ability to establish highly efficient data transfer alternatives to solely public or private cloud backup. This makes it possible for long-term retention and archiving of critical data in the cloud.

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