When enterprises are faced with the task of choosing the appropriate cloud model they come across the two most popular options, hybrid and multicloud. The problem of distinguishing between them is that these terms are often used interchangeably.
What is Multicloud?
Multicloud refers to the practice of utilizing two or more independent cloud computing platforms and services. This setup can involve a combination of public clouds and private clouds from different providers, spanning across various cloud service models such as IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS.
With a multicloud strategy, organizations distribute their workloads across diverse cloud environments, tailoring each cloud’s usage to specific needs. For instance, they might opt for a private cloud to host critical applications and sensitive data while leveraging a public cloud service like Office 365 for productivity applications. The key defining feature of multicloud is the simultaneous use of multiple clouds, each serving a designated purpose.
Benefits of Multicloud
Cost effectiveness
When selecting a cloud service for a certain workload, the client gets to compare the pricing of similar services under competitor cloud providers. Accordingly they can choose and optimize resource utilization at a nice budget. The pay-as-you-go model that most cloud providers come with allows clients to take advantage of different pricing models.
Vendor lock-in avoidance
Vendor lock-in is a factor that hinders organizations from making a commitment to a cloud service provider. A multicloud strategy helps enterprises to stop worrying about compromising on services and enjoy the best of whatever the market has to offer. Companies are not heavily reliant on one service provider implementing multicloud strategy and immune to price hikes, unfavorable contracts, or other data problems like lack of interoperability and portability.
Increased reliability
Since services come from different cloud service providers if one cloud goes down the entire system is not affected. In fact, workloads can be effectively directed towards another cloud and avoid downtime for the end user. Redundant deployment patterns of implementing multicloud with automatic failover improves the chance of disaster recovery.
What is Hybrid Cloud?
Hybrid cloud do involve multiple public or private cloud and often mixed up with multicloud. However, there is a key difference, hybrid cloud also integrates on-prem databases and legacy applications continue to work. A hybrid cloud is managed as a single entity where multiple clouds integrate in a unified environment. In this way it is easy for organizations to have a greater control over their IT infrastructure. While a hybrid cloud may include a multicloud in its overall deployment the reverse is not true.
Benefits of Hybrid Cloud
Unified platform
Hybrid cloud uses a unified platform to manage all the cloud related services from different vendors. This helps organizations to have a better coordination between services from different providers and legacy applications. This capability also increases scalability as it becomes easy to integrate services using different operating systems, architecture, or type of database.
Data synchronization
Data from private cloud, public cloud, and on-prem databases can be integrated across a centrally managed pool under the hybrid cloud platform. This improves data synchronization and ease of access to data.
Flexibility
Hybrid cloud brings in the flexibility of working with data stored in various database environments. Organizations can easily migrate their workload from traditional infrastructure to public cloud services as required. Critical data can be stored in private on premise databases and then a connection to public service can be established to manage non-sensitive tasks.
Better compliance
Government bodies keep coming up with stringent laws regarding data compliance. Certain industries like banking and medical almost absolutely find it difficult to enjoy the benefits of certain public cloud services. Distributing highly sensitive data over private clouds while enjoying the benefits of public cloud can help to fulfill privacy and compliance requirements.
Conclusion
Amidst an era where businesses meticulously plan for contingencies in all facets, the adoption of multi or hybrid cloud solutions is gaining momentum among forward-thinking companies. Embracing a multi-cloud approach empowers organizations to tap into the unmatched flexibility, scalability, and cutting-edge technologies offered by prominent cloud providers. On the other hand, opting for a hybrid cloud affords companies greater control over specific elements of their IT infrastructure.
However, prior to embarking on any cloud deployment, it is crucial to conduct a thorough assessment of the existing IT landscape, devise a comprehensive cloud strategy, and carefully map out the migration of applications, databases, operating systems, and operations to the most suitable cloud model.
