Multicloud (also spelled multi-cloud or multi cloud) is a company's use of multiple
cloud computing
Cloud computing is the on-demand availability of computer system resources, especially data storage ( cloud storage) and computing power, without direct active management by the user. Large clouds often have functions distributed over mu ...
and
storage services from different vendors in a single heterogeneous architecture to improve cloud infrastructure capabilities and cost. It also refers to the distribution of cloud assets, software, applications, etc. across several cloud-
hosting environments. With a typical multicloud architecture utilizing two or more
public clouds as well as multiple private clouds, a multicloud environment aims to eliminate the reliance on any single cloud provider and thus, vendor lock-in.
For example, an enterprise may concurrently use separate cloud providers for infrastructure (
IaaS
The first major provider of infrastructure as a service (IaaS) was Amazon in 2008. IaaS is a cloud computing service model by means of which computing resources are supplied by a cloud services provider. The IaaS vendor provides the storage, net ...
), platform (
PaaS
Platform as a service (PaaS) or application platform as a service (aPaaS) or platform-based service is a category of cloud computing services that allows customers to provision, instantiate, run, and manage a modular bundle comprising a computing ...
) and software (
SaaS
Software as a service (SaaS ) is a software licensing and delivery model in which software is licensed on a subscription basis and is centrally hosted. SaaS is also known as "on-demand software" and Web-based/Web-hosted software.
SaaS is con ...
) services, or use multiple infrastructure (IaaS) or platform (PaaS) providers.
In the latter case, they may use different
infrastructure providers for different workloads, deploy a single workload load balanced across multiple providers (active-active), or deploy a single workload on one provider, with a
backup on another (active-passive).
Advantages and challenges
There are several advantages to using a multicloud approach, including the ability to negotiate better pricing with cloud providers, the ability to quickly switch to another provider if needed, and the ability to avoid vendor lock-in. Multicloud can also be a good way to hedge against the risks of obsolescence, as it allows you to rely on multiple vendors and open standards, which can prolong the life of your systems.
Additional benefits of the multicloud architecture include adherence to local policies that require certain data to be physically present within the area/country, geographical distribution of processing requests from physically closer cloud unit which in turn reduces latency, and mitigating against disasters.
Difference between multicloud and hybrid cloud
Multicloud differs from hybrid cloud in that it refers to multiple cloud services from different vendors rather than multiple deployment modes (on-premises hardware, and public and private, cloud hosting).
See also
* Cloud computing
Cloud computing is the on-demand availability of computer system resources, especially data storage ( cloud storage) and computing power, without direct active management by the user. Large clouds often have functions distributed over mu ...
References
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Cloud computing