Building the right cloud environment to meet business objectives
You’ve probably heard the old saying, “He’s got his head in the clouds,” right? Well today, businesses have a whole lot more in the cloud. According to a 2018 article in CIO magazine, 96 percent of businesses today now use the cloud in some capacity. Businesses are using the cloud, but they are turning to more than one provider. 81 percent use a multi-cloud strategy. Even SMBs are embracing the cloud. According to the IDC, more than 90 percent of companies between 100 and 499 employees used the cloud in 2018. The fact is, cloud computing is a very viable alternative to on-prem computing, and while the two approaches have many things in common, it’s a different world up in the cloud. Cloud computing utilizes different terminology and protocols supported by completely different architectures.
Multi-cloud, Hybrid Cloud, Hybrid IT
For a startup company today, the cloud is a natural choice, maybe even a no-brainer. Since cloud computing is based on a variable cost model in which you only pay for the cloud resources you use, the cloud can save companies struggling for capital a great deal of capital expenditure. The cloud is also perfect because it isn’t geocentric, thus increasing the flexibility and agility of the organization and its users. For companies that already have substantial investment in on-premise environments and data centers, it is unrealistic to simply transition everything to the cloud overnight. In those instances, a hybrid approach makes sense. A hybrid environment incorporates both on-premise and cloud architectures. Despite the apparent simplicity in all of this, cloud terminology can become confusing so let’s break down some of the basic architectural terminologies.
Multiple Cloud Environment
As its name implies, this refers to the utilization of two or more clouds. They could be two public clouds such as Azure and AWS or a public cloud and private cloud. This includes both cloud computing and cloud storage in a single heterogeneous architecture. The utilization of multiple cloud services offers great flexibility since some cloud environments are more suitable for particular tasks. It also increases reliability and redundancy while minimizing the risk of vendor lock-in.
Hybrid Cloud
A hybrid cloud is actually a multiple cloud environment consisting of a public and on-premise private cloud. A good example is Azure Stack which allows you to host resources and services both on-prem and in Azure from a single interface. A hybrid cloud is ideal for companies that rely on cloud bursting in order to accommodate unpredictable workloads or must host some resources on-premise in order to adhere to industry or government compliance standards. The hybrid cloud offers the flexibility provided by self-provisioning on-demand capabilities of the cloud while retaining full control and management of data and applications when desired.
Hybrid IT
Most companies that have an existing legacy infrastructure find that not everything in their enterprise is cloud-ready. That is where Hybrid IT comes in to play. Hybrid architectures incorporate a traditional on-premise datacenter with one or more clouds. This wide offering of architectures allows organizations to align business objectives with the best available IT solutions.
Azure vs. AWS
AWS and Azure are the two big players on the block when it comes to cloud computing. AWS was the first cloud player on the market back in 2006 and its headstart gave it a huge advantage over any future competitors. It would be years later until Microsoft would compete for market share, but the company has a history of entering late and turning up the burners to catch up. Microsoft has indeed done that with Azure and its solution is growing at an exponential rate, although AWS is still sizably larger.
Both solutions have competitive advantages over one another. For those companies that utilize open source technology, AWS has been the prime choice as Azure, up until recently, had a large void in open source. If you are a Microsoft shop and already utilize Windows Active Directory, SQL Server or Visual Studio, then Azure is a natural choice for its familiarity and compatibility. While Azure is extremely popular amongst C# developers, those who work with other languages such as Node.js, Python or Ruby on Rails gravitate to AWS. It’s also a predominant choice for those that work with Linux and other database platforms. Azure has a strong concentration of enterprise customers as Microsoft has vast experience working directly with large companies. Much of the initial growth of AWS was due to smaller organizations although it has made great strides in the corporate market recently.
Cloud Computing Trends
Businesses aren’t looking for a specific cloud provider. They are looking for solutions to business problems. Because no two cloud service providers are the same, companies will continue to utilize multiple providers in order to align business objectives with the best solutions.
Other trends in the cloud computing market:
- Up until recently, cloud computing was restricted to the DevOps world and testing environments, but more and more production workloads are being migrated to the cloud today.
- Artificial intelligence (A)I supported by Internet of Things (IoT) sensory technology will continue to play a growing role in cloud computing due to its scalability and centralized architecture.
- Voice interaction is becoming a major focus as developers greatly accelerate its use in apps. Amazon holds a clear lead in this facet thanks to Alexa.
- Both AWS and Azure are unveiling a serverless computing paradigm in which clouds simply execute snippets of code without bothering developers with provisioning underlying infrastructure.
When it comes to cloud computing, there is no “one” right solution, just as there is no absolute choice between Dell or HP when it comes to physical servers. Cloud computing is simply about finding the best solution at hand, for the task at hand, and AWS and Azure both have the solutions to accomplish this.
