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The rise of multi-cloud brings
challenges and benefits, according
to Anton Jacobsz, Managing
Director at value-added distributor
Networks Unlimited Africa.
CHALLENGES
AND BENEFITS OF
MULTI-CLOUD
H
From a security
perspective, multi-cloud
allows businesses to
use different hosts.
28
ybrid cloud is a cloud
computing mix that uses a
combination of on-premises,
private cloud and third party,
public cloud services, with orchestration
between the two platforms. By allowing
workloads to move between private and
public clouds as computing needs and costs
change, hybrid cloud gives a business more
data deployment options and, consequently,
greater flexibility.
“Multi-cloud, on the other hand,
refers quite simply to the use of multiple
clouds to develop, deploy and deliver
applications, adding choice, and bringing
in the use of additional terminologies such
as cloud interconnects, Infrastructure-
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as-a-Service (IaaS), Platform-as-a Service
(PaaS) and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS),”
said Jacobsz. “IaaS, PaaS and SaaS are
sometimes called the cloud computing
stack, because they build on top of one
another. This approach essentially means
more options to deliver a growing portfolio
of applications. Reasons for the growth of
multi-cloud include the increasing public
cloud infrastructure adoption, as well as
the shift of workloads from on premises to
off premises.”
Referring to a blog from Networks
Unlimited Africa’s vendor partner, F5
Networks, a specialist in application delivery
networking technology as well as other
network and cloud resources, Jacobsz says
the latter half of 2017 saw the rise of the
term ‘multi-cloud’ instead of the term ‘hybrid
cloud’. Of the 3,000-plus respondents to the
survey, 87% percent already operate in a
multi-cloud scenario.
The report noted that multi-cloud
challenges included:
Determining which cloud is most cost-
efficient for the application
Visibility into application status,
performance and capacity
Applying consistent security policies
across all applications
Organisations are most likely to choose
deployment locations on a per-application
basis, weighing factors including costs and
security. Most of the respondents in the
survey, 59% were using between two and
six different cloud providers, although up
to 20 providers were reported. The survey
also showed a trend towards more public
services as well as more off-premises.
Nonetheless, challenges still exist that
need to be addressed before a wider
embrace of off-premises, public cloud
offerings are seen.