Cloud computing is the most requisite technology for the IT infrastructure of enterprises today. CIOs of almost every organization in the world are migrating to the cloud. To run cloud infrastructure in multiple locations, however, CIOs need to adopt distributed cloud. It is a public cloud computing service that distributes cloud services geographically and enables the CIOs in their central management.
Distributed cloud optimizes the performance and the compliance of enterprise, making the collocated data centers more resourceful. For CIOs, the distributed cloud gives full control of these cloud services from a single touchpoint. To understand the distributed cloud and its uses, CIOs need to learn two strategies, namely – distributed cloud and multi-cloud.
The operational differentiators and the management inconsistencies between distributed cloud and multi-cloud environments provide a greater understanding of how the distributed cloud works.
What is a Hybrid Cloud Strategy?
Hybrid cloud integrates public cloud services with private cloud services. It helps your enterprise join forces with multiple cloud vendors in a bid to create a flexible, unified, and cost-optimized IT infrastructure.
With a unified hybrid cloud strategy, you get:
- Highly efficient infrastructure: CIOs are enabled with granular control over IT resources and enterprise development operations. They can optimize their spending without creating any debt while migrating their legacy applications.
- Enhanced productivity in development: With a unified hybrid cloud platform, CIOs can adopt multiple DevOps and Agile methodologies, and deploy their developed applications to the private as well as the public cloud.
- Instant business acceleration: Hybrid cloud shortens the product development life cycles with accelerated innovation, responsive customer feedback, and faster time-to-market delivery.
- Secured regulatory compliance: CIOs can implement hybrid cloud across their organization to fortify their cloud security and regulatory compliance across all environments.
Hybrid cloud helps CIOs exercise business innovation faster, without any major overhaul in their production background.
What is a Multi-Cloud Strategy?
Multi-cloud refers to the use of two or more cloud services from multiple cloud providers. A multi-cloud strategy is a mix of Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Software as a Service (SaaS), and Platform as a Service (PaaS). As of 2020, 85% of the organizations in the world are running on multi-cloud environments.
A multi-cloud strategy is built on business requirements that help CIOs in avoiding cloud service limitations. With multi-cloud, you can:
- gain inherent flexibility of multiple cloud services, which can scale to your needs and optimize as you grow
- mitigate risks by limiting the dependency on a single cloud vendor and by preventing vendor lock-in issues
- lower your upfront capital by deploying budget-friendly analytics solutions on the cloud for boosting your access to technology
- customize cloud services as per your needs to offer extra functionality and higher security protocol compliance at the best price
A multi-cloud strategy relieves CIOs from downtime instances by providing ample computing resources and data storage capacities.
Hybrid Cloud vs Multi-Cloud – Key Differences
Hybrid cloud and multi-cloud strategies are similar in various aspects. However, there are a few specific areas where hybrid cloud differs from multi-cloud.
#1 Hybrid Cloud is More Unified
A multi-cloud model uses different cloud services to perform different tasks. In a hybrid cloud environment, all components required for performing different tasks work together. This enables the CIOs in synchronizing their enterprise data and processes on the distributed cloud across multiple locations of the organization. Employees in remote locations can intersect and collaborate efficiently in a hybrid environment. A multi-cloud setting usually creates separate cloud silos for different locations of the organization.
#2 Multi-cloud includes Only Public Cloud Services
Hybrid cloud strategy combines both private and public cloud services. A multi-cloud environment only runs services from multiple public clouds. CIOs may need to spend more to leverage the distributed cloud by making their multi-cloud strategy virtually-dynamic. For enabling private cloud services, CIOs may prefer a cloud strategy over a multi-cloud strategy. Multi-clouds can also incorporate a private cloud component, acting as both multi-cloud and hybrid cloud. The costs of running such an environment on the distributed cloud would be considerably high.
The Future of Distributed Cloud
Both strategies – distributed cloud and multi-cloud – offer CIOs the precision to increase the business efficiency of their organizations. The use of multiple clouds is here to stay, and so is the need for a hybrid cloud environment. Meeting them both halfway, more than 50% of global enterprises will adopt distributed cloud and implement an all-in-cloud strategy by the end of 2021.
As a CIO, your organization can leverage the power of the hybrid cloud as well as multi-cloud with Kilowott’s hybrid IT services. With Kilowott’s edge computing experts, your organization can get the most intricate cloud ecosystem that matches your CIO management capabilities.
