Multicloud is having a choice of platforms for single application.
This approach is typically limited to long lived, core business critical applications because, while it helps reduce business risks, it’s more costly than hosting applications with a single vendor.
Multicloud is the practice of using two or more cloud providers to host a single application.
You reduce the risk of downtime for business-critical applications.
A multicloud approach will be more expensive, and adds complexity to your architecture.
What is it?
A multicloud approach implies a level of portability for a single application across two or more cloud providers.
This may be an appropriate approach when you have business-critical applications where you cannot afford any downtime or loss of control, for instance, a foreign currency exchange.
There is a cost associated with multicloud, as some additional investment is likely to be needed to make your applications portable. Whether that cost is worth it will depend on your risk position for any given application.
What’s in for you?
Multicloud enables you to reduce your risks.
If you have business-critical applications that cannot afford downtime, multicloud can reduce the risk of service interruptions by enabling you to failover to another provider.
By using multiple providers, you also reduce the risks associated with lock in.
You may also be able to reduce latency for your applications, through the use of regional cloud providers which are closer to your users.
What are the trade offs?
Multicloud is an expensive option. For many applications, it may not be worth it.
You will have to do some work to make your applications portable between cloud providers.
How is it being used?
Multicloud is used by enterprises that cannot afford downtime for particular applications or who want to maintain some commercial independence from their cloud provider. You might also adopt multicloud for compliance — for instance, the EU’s GDPR regulations require organizations to hold customer data in certain locations.
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