Now that cloud hosting providers are more common in enterprises. However, some large-scale companies are using different cloud hosting providers to cater to various business needs. A small company or the one new to the cloud might find just one cloud service provider optimal for their business requirements. The “Multi-Cloud” concept is not unique among the large enterprises that use cloud applications built from containers and microservices utilizing component services from multi-cloud platforms.

Using multi-cloud infrastructure can be leveraged in so many ways, despite the ability to create applications from scratch. Cloud infrastructures regularly impact the way we design redundancy, flexibility, and disaster recovery due to the change in base designs. Let’s look at the types of multi-clouds and how you can benefit.

Multi-Cloud Market Share

To understand the different types of multi-clouds, let us first understand the difference between multi and hybrid cloud hosting. By hybrid cloud, one refers to the traditional combination of private and public cloud systems and the managerial tools to navigate between them. On the other hand, multi-cloud goes further than that by using a more strategic approach. It combines the use of many small services into one system.

In a survey by Forrester, it was shown that 86% of them used a multi-cloud approach, and in that, they used multiple public and private cloud systems for different applications. Another survey by RightScale State of the Cloud, 90% of their people were using cloud services for at least part of their operations, and fewer of them used a multi-cloud approach. From the companies using cloud services, 60% of them used hybrid models, and just 20% used the right multi-cloud solution.

Companies opting for multi-cloud services are commonly using one of the three systems. The RightScale’s survey showed Amazon Web Service (AWS) on the top, followed by Microsoft Azure in the public cloud category. In private cloud service, VMware is leading due to its vSphere private cloud software.

Benefits Of Having Multi-Cloud Infrastructure

When we start to count the advantages of multi-cloud services, it is worth mentioning that all these are types of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), and all of its benefits apply to all kinds of multi-cloud services.

According to BlueTree research, there are multiple SaaS business models. However, avoiding the upfront cost while managing ongoing code is offered by all. Similarly, many offer security advantages to apply to infrastructure regardless of the approach taken for implementation.

Meanwhile, cloud hosting comes as a ‘sticky’ system that is incompatible with the products of their rivals. While this kind of approach makes sense commercially, companies are now opting for the multi-cloud approach. Michael Warrilow, Gartner analyst, said, “Most organizations adopt multi-cloud strategy out of the desire to avoid vendor lock-in or take advantage of best-of-breed solutions… We expect that the largest organizations will continue to willfully pursue this approach.”

Another thing to consider is the security aspect of the multi-cloud approach. The EC council pointed out that as the company evolves from DevOps to DevSecOps, they tend to shift towards the multi-cloud system to divide their systems. This segmentation has benefits of its own in terms of resilience. In a survey, Public Cloud Trends in 2019 and Beyond, Big Three cloud service providers scored the same when it came to “Maximum Uptime.” However, all three of them were down for 300 hours a year. Having a multi-cloud service can avoid your system from shutting down entirely all at once.

Drawbacks of Multi-Cloud Infrastructure

Among the many benefits of multi-cloud service, it comes with some disadvantages as well.

The disadvantage on the top of the list is the challenges involved in monitoring all the environments. Adding multi-clouds increases the overall complexity of your infrastructure, and it can get tough to track everything happening at all the platforms all the time.

This complexity can be decreased if the multi-cloud infrastructure compiles in an ad-hoc manner instead of being outset. The Forrester survey of 2018 shows that half of the firms have shifted to multi-cloud infrastructure in a fly instead of making it a pre-planned move. Having your multi-cloud system in such a manner compromises your security management of internal communication, attracting cyber-attacks.

Companies are aware of this threat. According to Spicework’s report, managing a multi-cloud system was a significant concern by the business and required more support from the cloud hosting

vendors. The information was more important for small and mid-sized organizations than large enterprises, who can conveniently deploy resources to lock down any complex system.

Multi-Cloud Future Plans

With the increasing demand of multi-cloud services, security providers have stepped into the light, offering software to monitor them. Every day the growing number of providers is making their cloud applications compatible across multiple platforms. Such developments ensure the elimination of the problems while retaining the advantages of the infrastructure.

Soon, multi-cloud environments might potentially offer the best of both worlds, mobility, and agility of the cloud while the development of business-specific software.