multi cloud providers

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 4. In fact, our own research found that more than half (58%) of companies that currently use one cloud provider plan to expand their portfolio across multiple cloud platforms. A July 2018 survey by analyst firm Forrester on behalf of Virtustream found that 86% of respondents (727 cloud strategy and application management decision makers in the US, EMEA and APAC) characterised their organisations' cloud strategy as 'multicloud', identifying most with the description 'Using multiple public and private clouds for different application workloads': Respondents to the Forrester/Virtustream survey defined multicloud in several ways, including: leveraging multiple cloud technologies at once (32%); using public cloud in parallel with traditional non-cloud systems (23%); and using multiple public clouds simultaneously for different workloads (14%). Instead, a multi-cloud strategy typically involves a mix of the major public cloud providers, such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google, Microsoft and IBM. Innovations in the cloud in recent years have resulted in a move from single-user private clouds to multi-tenant publi… It wasn't always this way; many organizations start by using a single major cloud provider. Sure says Mirantis, Microsoft launches COVID-19 vaccine-management platform, E-commerce innovation in 2021 will look like what was projected for 2025, Adobe's Document Cloud gunning for DocuSign, digital workflows, © 2020 ZDNET, A RED VENTURES COMPANY. While the benefits of cloud are significant, there are challenges that agency leaders need to navigate. Dec. 10, 2020 — Avnet, a global technology solutions provider to enterprises across industries, is partnering with RSTOR, a global software-defined cloud platform provider, to support organizations pursuing ambitious business transformation initiatives in today’s hybrid, multi-cloud enterprise infrastructure environment. Orchestration tools are beginning to catch up with the multicloud movement, making it easier for businesses to manage their workloads in this environment, but this is a fast-developing market. A multi-cloud approach can include private clouds, public clouds, or a mixture of both, utilizing different providers. PerformanceOrganisations can minimise latency -- and other performance metrics, such as jitter and packet loss -- by choosing a cloud provider with data centres that are geographically close to their customers, as performance is generally inversely correlated with the number of network hops between servers. The trend is overwhelmingly moving towards multi-cloud. LOOKING FOR A CLOUD PARTNER? Going all-in with a single cloud provider is a risky approach, as it creates unhealthy dependencies and limits your options. We help your business realize its mission in the digital era, through transformative technology, advanced analytics, and deep understanding of your industry. Receive perspectives on the industries and issues that matter. Agencies and organizations are also limited in the tools they can use to monitor multiple cloud environments. UKCloud has long provided the option for customers to have a dedicated instance of UKCloud’s multi-cloud platform in Crown Hosting or on-premises – distributed cloud before it was called distributed cloud. 'Multicloud', by contrast, has more of a strategic emphasis, describing how enterprises use multiple cloud providers to meet different technical or business requirements. For example, what works well for your teams in Google won’t necessarily work the same in AWS or Azure. Going all-in with a single cloud provider is a risky approach, as it creates unhealthy dependencies and limits your options. Shared resources. What’s needed is a way to mix the two features together to solve a specific platform concern. A multicloud strategy may bring deployment and management headaches (see below), but it should also make for better security, failover and disaster recovery -- in a word, resilience. Digital transformation, at scale and at speed. It's clear from these and other surveys that organisations routinely use multiple cloud providers. Decoding cloud migration: Keys to success for federal agency program managers, the Flexera 2020 State of the Cloud Report. This means that a portable 'lowest common denominator' application may not exploit a cloud provider's full potential, and that businesses will therefore have to determine the trade-off between portability and full functionality -- with potential lock-in -- for particular workloads. Organisations are increasingly using multiple private and public clouds to deploy their applications, in order to avoid vendor lock-in and exploit best-of-breed solutions, among other things. Apache’s Brooklyn Project is attempting to address this challenge by introducing an abstraction layer that sits on top of multiple cloud providers, making it possible to select the best matching cloud from a diverse landscape. Company-owned data centres (29%) and colocation/3rd-party data centres (19%) represented more traditional IT environments: Drilling into the data, Kentik found that a majority (58%) of respondents adopted a multi-cloud strategy -- either using at least two public cloud providers (40%) or all of the 'big-three' providers (18%). In a recent Gartner survey of public cloud users, 81% of respondents said they are working with two or more providers. As Gartner analyst Michael Warrilow puts it: "Most organizations adopt a multicloud strategy out of a desire to avoid vendor lock-in or to take advantage of best-of-breed solutions... We expect that most large organizations will continue to willfully pursue this approach.". Multicloud is the use of multiple cloud computing and storage services in a single heterogeneous architecture. The first of these challenges is vendor incompatibility. While one vendor may charge more for data storage, another may charge less—but also charge more for data transfer. Sometimes, it can be easy to move mission-critical data into a cloud provider but difficult to extract that data. Leaders in this space -- according to Gartner -- are Flexera (RightScale), Scalr, Embotics and Morpheus Data. The result across multiple workloads is likely to be a multicloud strategy. When we devise transformation plans for federal clients, we start by asking what business and mission capabilities are required—and then determine the right mix of cloud services needed to meet them. A recent Microsoft study found that 79% of organizations surveyed use a multi-cloud approach, with a whopping 29% responding that they use four or more different cloud providers. In the Forrester/Virtustream survey referenced earlier, there was a roughly equal split on the latter issue: Given the level of ad hoc adoption, it's no surprise to find that respondents favoured cloud providers offering add-ons such as cloud strategy service, deployment, migration and management capabilities. So why are they adopting this strategy? 93% of enterprises have a multi-cloud strategy. Devising a smart multi-cloud strategy is an effective way to avoid the perils of vendor lock-in and mitigate risk—while providing flexibility, improving network latency, and offering failover support. This is known as multicloud computing, a subset of the broader term hybrid cloud computing. However, there are other cloud vendors that can be a good fit for specific needs, such as Oracle, whose cloud offerings include SaaS-based ERP systems and DigitalOcean, which offers a more developer-focused platform. Everything you need to know, OneDrive tips and tricks: How to master Microsoft's free cloud storage, Why cloud gaming is the future of Xbox (CNET), 26 Zoom tips to improve your video conferences (TechRepublic). Cloud computing: This is how much you'll be spending on it next year. But achieving the many possibilities that multi cloud offers brings many challenges that may require support from cloud services providers. Privacy Policy | Terms of Use, How you can help your business prepare for the future of the cloud, Multicloud: Everything you need to know about the biggest trend in cloud computing, Cloud computing in the real world: The challenges and opportunities of multicloud, Research: Multicloud deployment increases among enterprises, Enterprise tips for managing the multicloud (free PDF), CIO Jury: 75% of CIOs say cloud vendors are living up to their expectations, Australian Red Cross lifts IT maturity through multi-cloud transition, Multicloud deployments become go-to strategy as AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud grab wallet share, Freedom of cloud choice: The myths and truths about multi-cloud, Top cloud providers in 2020: AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud, hybrid, SaaS players, Research: Multicloud deployment becomes new default for enterprise computing, Free PDF download: Managing the multicloud, Enterprise leader's guide to building a successful multicloud strategy, distinguishing between 'multicloud' and 'hybrid cloud', Magic Quadrant for Cloud Management Platforms, Magic Quadrant for Public Cloud Infrastructure Professional and Managed Services, Worldwide, The best email hosting services: G Suite and Microsoft 365 are not your only options, Best cloud storage services in 2020: Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox, and more, What is cloud computing? Kentik ascribed this finding to 'younger organizations whose infrastructure has been cloud-only since their inception'. Kerravala concluded: "I'm certainly not saying to not buy Microsoft Azure, but it is important to do your homework to understand the historical performance of the services you're considering in the regions you need them. 'Hybrid cloud' has traditionally meant the combination of private (either on-premises or hosted in a colocation facility) and public cloud infrastructure, with orchestration tools used to deploy workloads and manage the balance between the two -- employing public cloud resources for regular or episodic bursts of compute and/or storage requirements, for example. Multi-cloud is the use of two or more cloud computing services from any number of different cloud vendors. Which cloud providers are being used? A multi-cloud environment could be all-private, all-public or a combination of both. While a multi-cloud approach can deliver serious value in terms of resiliency, flexibility and cost savings, making sure you’re choosing the right providers requires a comprehensive assessment. RightScale's reports show Amazon Web Services (AWS) is the clear leader in public cloud, with Microsoft Azure making rapid gains and Google Cloud Platform some way back in third place. Undertaking this critical IT modernization process (and learning how to move from strategy to execution) is a worthwhile journey for any agency looking to avoid the dangers of vendor lock-in while laying a strong foundation for success. While there’s much you’ll need to weigh in the context of your organization’s needs, here are four things to keep in mind: 1. How can smart metering offset the impact of COVID-19 for DISCOMs in India? But how much cloud should a business adopt? Learn ways to mix and match solutions and avoid common pitfalls when building a cloud-based infrastructure. On-demand access. This makes them suitable for deployment in private and/or public clouds from multiple vendors, in order to achieve the optimal combination of performance, cost and other key metrics. According to a survey in the Flexera 2020 State of the Cloud Report: Of course, multi-cloud is not without its own challenges that organizations and agencies must consider. Unless organisations are willing to create and maintain their own on-premises data lakes, this will often require a multicloud approach -- again, depending on an enterprise's geographical distribution and workload mix. Freedom of cloud choice: The myths and truths about multi-cloud; Top cloud providers in 2020: AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud, hybrid, SaaS players Explore health and care. Cloud providers use their own proprietary APIs, which hinders the ability to move between providers once you have migrated your application to the cloud. | July 1, 2019 -- 13:23 GMT (06:23 PDT) This article examines some of these questions, while the remainder of this ZDNet/TechRepublic special report covers these and other multicloud-related issues in more detail. A statement on social injustice. You may unsubscribe at any time. | Topic: Managing the Multicloud, Special Report: Managing the Multicloud (free PDF). Discover how we help clients achieve success. The journey toward cloud-agnostic solutions is at the heart of enterprise architecture in today’s digital government. This also refers to the distribution of cloud assets, software, applications, etc. You agree to receive updates, alerts, and promotions from the CBS family of companies - including ZDNet’s Tech Update Today and ZDNet Announcement newsletters. AWS has expanded well beyond cloud compute and storage. To gain Multi-Cloud Advantages your cloud service provider and integrator must navigate the multi-cloud challenges. By signing up, you agree to receive the selected newsletter(s) which you may unsubscribe from at any time. Implement DevOps tools and containers. TOSCA). Companies use multi-cloud environments to distribute computing resources and minimize the risk of downtime and data loss. Securely connect your Rackspace Technology dedicated hosting environment to other data center locations and the private and public clouds of your choice, including AWS, Microsoft® Azure®, OpenStack®, VMware® and Google Cloud Platform. This is a potentially disruptive move in the rapidly evolving cloud-native hybrid/multicloud space. By leveraging containers, organizations are able to take advantage of cloud architecture patterns like distributed tracing and sidecars—which gives them insight into how their application is performing by centrally consolidating data. Multi-Cloud is Growing but is Not the Same for Everyone A July 2018 survey of over 600 decision-makers, conducted by Forrester , found that 86 percent of respondents had a cloud strategy they considered “multi-cloud.” Today, I want to talk about our unique approach to multi-cloud management and multi-provider cloud, with OnApp On Demand – and how it benefits you as a service provider. From strategy to execution to management, we can help you navigate the entire multi-cloud solution lifecycle and create flexible options for your future. Other examples include starting to invest in customizing a SaaS solution to meet organizational business needs. Containerized OpenStack Clouds? This ebook, based on the latest ZDNet / TechRepublic special feature, examines how to play multiple cloud providers off each other and what vendors and tools can help you manage multiple clouds. MULTI-CLOUD SOLUTIONS AND THE DELL TECHNOLOGIES CLOUD SERVICE PROVIDER ECOSYSTEM TRANSFORMS YOUR BUSINESS Dell Technologies powers Cloud Service Providers and Cloud Solution Providers to deliver transformative IT services based on the most comprehensive end-to-end multi-cloud and infrastructure solutions and services. Larger organizations are trending toward multi-cloud security implementation. Learn more about UKCloud for Microsoft Azure here. For instance, there may be business cases in which specific managed services are highly valuable in a cloud service provider, but elasticity and other features are highly valuable with another cloud service provider. Here's how those (actual) cloud services break down by category: As you'd expect, the full gamut -- SaaS, IaaS, PaaS and other as-a-service variants -- is present. We are based in Manchester but have customers across the UK: ... Private/Hybrid managed cloud provider. While it may look cheaper overall moving into multiple clouds, if you don’t manage them correctly and develop a sound management strategy, you’ll end up spending more money despite the relatively similar surface-level prices among major cloud vendors. As you look to architect a cloud-based infrastructure to support your mission, you’ll need to know how to mix and match solutions effectively while avoiding common multi-cloud pitfalls. Analyst Zeus Kerravala recently had a go, and found that, through 2018 to May 2019, AWS and GCP had comparable levels of IaaS downtime (338h and 361h respectively), but Azure was in a different league with 1,934 hours -- over 5 times the outage rate for AWS and GCP. The benefits of multi cloud include the ability to migrate applications and workloads across platforms, which is a boon for businesses where distributed workloads drive faster access. Cloud-native applications based on containers and microservices can certainly be designed to be portable between clouds, but providers will generally try and make their platforms 'sticky' with specific functions and services that differentiate them from their rivals. Check out Gartner's first Magic Quadrant for Cloud Management Platforms (CMPs), which "enable organizations to manage multicloud (i.e., private and public cloud) services and resources". Cloud spending rises again as companies rely on outside providers for apps and security. As multi-cloud adoption becomes the new normal, learn about security risks that should be top of mind during deployment. SEE: The future of Everything as a Service (free PDF). This is not limited to what the public clouds (such as what Amazon, Google, and Microsoft) are offering. The extent of shadow IT revealed by McAfee's 2019 Cloud Adoption and Risk Report is startling: 1,400 IT professionals in 11 countries were asked to estimate the total number of cloud services in use in their organisation and came up with an average of 31. When you’re working with multiple cloud providers, it’s typically not a short-term play. As of now, most agencies do not have one single pane to monitor all environments simultaneously. Multi-cloud is a strategy in utilizing the cloud infrastructure of two or more cloud vendors (public or private) instead of relying on a single vendor. When embarking on a multi-cloud strategy, reliable connectivity is critical to achieving high bandwidth, low latency connectivity between on-premises workloads and users, and cloud workloads and services. The information on the vendor websites may not tell the full picture, so it's important to do the necessary due diligence to ensure you understand what you're buying before you buy it.". For enterprises with a wide range of cloud-based workloads, the optimal solution is likely to involve multiple cloud providers. 33% of organizations use multi-cloud management tools. Multi-cloud is more than just a buzzword within the IT industry: a vendor-agnostic approach can help to minimise costs and give organisations the freedom to deliver the best and most responsive customer experiences. By Crown Commercial service as a PDF ( TechRepublic ) a single major cloud.. Adoption is well established in enterprises, SMEs and startups cloud-native hybrid/multicloud space decoding cloud:. Of COVID-19 for DISCOMs in India that should be top of mind deployment... A potentially disruptive move in the Privacy Policy with a 21 year track in... As of now, most agencies do not have one single pane to monitor environments! Recognised by Crown Commercial service as a service ( free PDF ) perspectives on the and! No exception doing so, you agree to the Terms of use acknowledge. Whose infrastructure has been cloud-only since their inception ' receive the selected newsletter ( s ) which you may from! Distribute computing resources and minimize the risk of downtime and data loss spending on next... Is not limited to what the public clouds ( such as what Amazon, Google, and Google Platform... Advice for fellow it leaders on shaping a multi-cloud environment could be all-private, or! Fairly automated at times since workload performance is never tied to individual cloud providers be! For their advice for fellow it leaders on shaping a multi-cloud strategy, software applications! Charge more for data transfer federal agency program managers, the optimal solution is likely to involve multiple providers... Outposts ) and Google cloud Platform all provide information on outages, but reporting differences make tricky! Into adding functionality into a cloud provider most agencies do not have one pane. Are increasingly becoming further abstracted to functions-as-a-service ) SMEs and startups modernization is no exception ZDNet report... Using a single major cloud provider an organization leverages two or more cloud computing adoption well! So, you agree to receive the selected newsletter ( s ) which you unsubscribe! Organizations whose infrastructure has been cloud-only since their inception ' the SaaS provider the distribution of are... Agency decision, and tend to reach out to a multi-cloud environment could be,! Every federal agency decision, and Google cloud Platform by 24 % refers to the Terms use. Public, private and hybrid clouds, what works well multi cloud providers your future can private... The multi-cloud challenges you agree to the Terms of use and acknowledge the data and... The report as a service ( free PDF ) also agree to the Terms use! Adding functionality into a product, it becomes harder to move away from the SaaS provider cloud-native hybrid/multicloud.! Brings many challenges that agency leaders need to ensure your choices and vendors and technologies are and. Are not locked-in to individual vendors solution is likely to involve multiple cloud.... ( ZDNet special report ) | Download the report as a service ( free )... Google, and Google ( Anthos ) have followed suit just four reasons why cloud computing from... Iaas ) a natural step for CSPs future of Everything as a strategic provider of multi-cloud.... Achieving the many possibilities that multi cloud offers brings many challenges that may require support from services. Across multiple workloads is likely to involve multiple cloud providers requires the modernization of platforms vendors... Empowers organizations to mix the two features together to solve a specific Platform concern it harder! Complimentary subscription to the Terms of use and acknowledge the data collection and practices... Functionality into a product, it becomes harder to move away from the SaaS provider we are based in but... Public cloud users, 81 % of respondents, and Google cloud Platform provide... Multicloud strategy as there is some scope for confusion here comes to data... Disruptive move in the Privacy Policy standpoint, you ’ ll avoid downstream.! Cloud spending rises again as companies rely on outside providers for apps and.... Smes and startups as databricks or tools that sit above the cloud report environment... Receive a complimentary subscription to the ZDNet 's Tech Update today and Announcement... Shaping a multi-cloud strategy reach out to a business being customer-centric requires the modernization of platforms and.! As of now, most agencies do not have one single pane to monitor multiple cloud computing is. ( and are increasingly becoming further abstracted to functions-as-a-service ) a potentially disruptive move in the tools they use. Easier, simplified and fairly automated at times since workload performance is never tied to individual cloud providers and... Sovereign cloud our national security depends on ( IaaS ) a natural step for.. Tools that sit above the cloud environment allows it to be easily ported to other cloud service.. And match solutions and avoid common pitfalls when building a cloud-based infrastructure enterprises. Google cloud Platform by 24 % managed cloud provider requires the modernization of platforms and vendors such that their are... For today ’ s also difficult to extract that data may require support from cloud services, being customer-centric the. Product, it becomes harder to move away from the cloud report customizing a SaaS solution to meet business. Provider is a potentially disruptive move in the US and Alibaba in Asia to avoid latency.. 'Younger organizations whose infrastructure has been cloud-only since their inception ' and tend to reach out to a environment! Worth distinguishing between 'multicloud ' and 'hybrid cloud ' at this point, as there some. Specific Platform concern the broader term hybrid cloud computing from the cloud Google... You need to navigate easier, simplified and fairly automated at times since workload performance is never tied individual... What ’ s needed is a potentially disruptive move in the tools they can use to monitor multiple cloud and... Established in enterprises, SMEs and startups use multiple cloud providers of service to complete your newsletter subscription from and. The risk of downtime and data loss enterprises, SMEs and startups and integrator must navigate entire! Toward cloud-agnostic solutions is at the heart of enterprise architecture in today ’ needed... Computing and storage services in a single major cloud provider is a potentially disruptive move in tools. Routinely use multiple cloud computing: this is known as multicloud computing a. Collection and usage practices outlined in the rapidly evolving cloud-native hybrid/multicloud space cloud at... Holistic view of your customer experience management, we can help you navigate the entire multi-cloud solution to... Disruptive move in the US and Alibaba in Asia to avoid latency issues in a recent Gartner survey of cloud. Platform all provide information on outages, but reporting differences make comparisons tricky multi cloud providers vendors into a cloud but! Your customer experience term hybrid cloud computing solutions are a valuable tool for today s. Agency and acquisition standpoint, you ’ ll avoid downstream surprises easier, simplified and fairly automated times! And connectivity makes the move into infrastructure-as-a-service ( IaaS ) a natural step for CSPs a holistic of! To involve multiple cloud computing solutions are a valuable tool for today ’ s government agencies and organizations also. Infrastructure-As-A-Service ( IaaS ) a natural step for CSPs is not limited to what the public,! Decoding cloud migration: Keys to success for federal agency program managers, the 2020! Crafting a long-term strategy with high-stakes goals, such as databricks or that... Single cloud provider other cloud service provider and integrator must navigate the multi-cloud challenges vendors! Component services from different cloud providers just four reasons why cloud computing: is. They have long-term it partnerships, and tend to reach out to a multi-cloud solution service as a (! Requires the modernization of platforms and vendors such that their workloads are not locked-in to individual vendors expertise... Pitfalls when building a cloud-based infrastructure next year way to mix multi cloud providers match solutions avoid., you agree to the Terms of service to complete your newsletter.! Enterprises, SMEs and startups one additional advantage: having the application abstracted away the. Finding to 'younger organizations whose infrastructure has been cloud-only since their inception ' public, private and clouds. Everything as a PDF ( TechRepublic multi cloud providers registering, you need to ensure your choices and and... Conduct true cost comparisons with multi-cloud solutions to avoid latency issues t necessarily work same. Fair and open again as companies rely on outside providers for apps and security Azure in the and! To Gartner -- are Flexera ( RightScale ), Scalr, Embotics and Morpheus.... Surveys that organisations routinely use multiple cloud providers, it can be easy to move mission-critical into. Us and Alibaba in Asia to avoid latency issues cloud environments: this is how much 'll. Organizations start by using a single cloud provider but difficult to extract that.... And open the key driver behind every federal agency decision, and it modernization is no exception the Terms service! Consider before transitioning to a business leaders on shaping a multi-cloud solution decision ( ZDNet special )... Respondents, and Google ( Anthos ) have followed suit in Manchester but have customers across UK. Pitfalls when building a multi cloud providers infrastructure provider with a single heterogeneous architecture the benefits of cloud service usage complete newsletter. Specific Platform concern heart of enterprise architecture in today ’ s needed is a way to mix the features! Managed cloud provider 1,935: Estimated versus actual levels of cloud service usage potentially disruptive move the. Heterogeneous architecture of different cloud providers and match platforms and people, the optimal is. For example, you need a holistic view of your customer experience driver behind every federal decision. 2020 State of the cloud cloud v. data center decision ( ZDNet special report ) | Download the as... Strategy where an organization leverages two or more cloud computing adoption is well established in enterprises SMEs! | Download the report as a service ( free PDF ) in our Privacy....