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Today we announced that HashiCorp has signed an agreement to be acquired by IBM to accelerate the multi-cloud automation journey we started almost 12 years ago. I’m hugely excited by this announcement and believe this is an opportunity to further the HashiCorp mission and to expand to a much broader audience with the support of IBM. When we started the company in 2012, the cloud landscape was very different than today. Mitchell and I were first exposed to public clouds as hobbyists, experimenting with startup ideas, and later as professional developers building mission-critical applications. That experience made it clear that automation was absolutely necessary for cloud infrastructure to be managed at scale. The transformative impact of the public cloud also made it clear that we would inevitably live in a multi-cloud world. Lastly, it was clear that adoption of this technology would be driven by our fellow practitioners who were reimagining the infrastructure landscape. We founded HashiCorp with a mission to enable cloud automation in a multi-cloud world for a community of practitioners. Today, I’m incredibly proud of everything that we have achieved together. Our products are downloaded hundreds of millions of times each year by our passionate community of users. Each year, we certify tens of thousands of new users on our products, who use our tools each and every day to manage their applications and infrastructure. We’ve partnered with thousands of customers, including hundreds of the largest organizations in the world, to power their journey to multi-cloud. They have trusted us with their mission-critical applications and core infrastructure. One of the most rewarding aspects of infrastructure is quietly underpinning incredible applications around the world. We are proud to enable millions of players to game together, deliver loyalty points for ordering coffee, connect self-driving cars, and secure trillions of dollars of transactions daily. This is why we’ve always believed that infrastructure enables innovation. The HashiCorp portfolio of products has grown significantly since we started the company. We’ve continued to work with our community and customers to identify their challenges in adopting multi-cloud infrastructure and transitioning to zero trust approaches to security. These challenges have in turn become opportunities for us to build new products and services on top of the HashiCorp Cloud Platform. This brings us to why I’m excited about today's announcement. We will continue to build products and services as HashiCorp, and will operate as a division inside IBM Software. By joining IBM, HashiCorp products can be made available to a much larger audience, enabling us to serve many more users and customers. For our customers and partners, this combination will enable us to go further than as a standalone company. The community around HashiCorp is what has enabled our success. We will continue to be deeply invested in the community of users and partners who work with HashiCorp today. Further, through the scale of the IBM and Red Hat communities, we plan to significantly broaden our reach and impact. While we are more than a decade into HashiCorp, we believe we are still in the early stages of cloud adoption. With IBM, we have the opportunity to help more customers get there faster, to accelerate our product innovation, and to continue to grow our practitioner community. I’m deeply appreciative of the support of our users, customers, employees, and partners. It has been an incredibly rewarding journey to build HashiCorp to this point, and I’m looking forward to this next chapter. Additional Information and Where to Find It HashiCorp, Inc. (“HashiCorp”), the members of HashiCorp’s board of directors and certain of HashiCorp’s executive officers are participants in the solicitation of proxies from stockholders in connection with the pending acquisition of HashiCorp (the “Transaction”). HashiCorp plans to file a proxy statement (the “Transaction Proxy Statement”) with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) in connection with the solicitation of proxies to approve the Transaction. David McJannet, Armon Dadgar, Susan St. Ledger, Todd Ford, David Henshall, Glenn Solomon and Sigal Zarmi, all of whom are members of HashiCorp’s board of directors, and Navam Welihinda, HashiCorp’s chief financial officer, are participants in HashiCorp’s solicitation. Information regarding such participants, including their direct or indirect interests, by security holdings or otherwise, will be included in the Transaction Proxy Statement and other relevant documents to be filed with the SEC in connection with the Transaction. Additional information about such participants is available under the captions “Board of Directors and Corporate Governance,” “Executive Officers” and “Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management” in HashiCorp’s definitive proxy statement in connection with its 2023 Annual Meeting of Stockholders (the “2023 Proxy Statement”), which was filed with the SEC on May 17, 2023 (and is available at https://www.sec.gov/ix?doc=/Archives/edgar/data/1720671/000114036123025250/ny20008192x1_def14a.htm). To the extent that holdings of HashiCorp’s securities have changed since the amounts printed in the 2023 Proxy Statement, such changes have been or will be reflected on Statements of Change in Ownership on Form 4 filed with the SEC (which are available at https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0001720671&type=&dateb=&owner=only&count=40&search_text=). Information regarding HashiCorp’s transactions with related persons is set forth under the caption “Related Person Transactions” in the 2023 Proxy Statement. Certain illustrative information regarding the payments to that may be owed, and the circumstances in which they may be owed, to HashiCorp’s named executive officers in a change of control of HashiCorp is set forth under the caption “Executive Compensation—Potential Payments upon Termination or Change in Control” in the 2023 Proxy Statement. With respect to Ms. St. Ledger, certain of such illustrative information is contained in the Current Report on Form 8-K filed with the SEC on June 7, 2023 (and is available at https://www.sec.gov/ix?doc=/Archives/edgar/data/1720671/000162828023021270/hcp-20230607.htm). Promptly after filing the definitive Transaction Proxy Statement with the SEC, HashiCorp will mail the definitive Transaction Proxy Statement and a WHITE proxy card to each stockholder entitled to vote at the special meeting to consider the Transaction. STOCKHOLDERS ARE URGED TO READ THE TRANSACTION PROXY STATEMENT (INCLUDING ANY AMENDMENTS OR SUPPLEMENTS THERETO) AND ANY OTHER RELEVANT DOCUMENTS THAT HASHICORP WILL FILE WITH THE SEC WHEN THEY BECOME AVAILABLE BECAUSE THEY WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION. Stockholders may obtain, free of charge, the preliminary and definitive versions of the Transaction Proxy Statement, any amendments or supplements thereto, and any other relevant documents filed by HashiCorp with the SEC in connection with the Transaction at the SEC’s website (http://www.sec.gov). Copies of HashiCorp’s definitive Transaction Proxy Statement, any amendments or supplements thereto, and any other relevant documents filed by HashiCorp with the SEC in connection with the Transaction will also be available, free of charge, at HashiCorp’s investor relations website (https://ir.hashicorp.com/), or by emailing HashiCorp’s investor relations department (ir@hashicorp.com). Forward-Looking Statements This communication may contain forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, including statements regarding (i) the Transaction; (ii) the expected timing of the closing of the Transaction; (iii) considerations taken into account in approving and entering into the Transaction; and (iv) expectations for HashiCorp following the closing of the Transaction. There can be no assurance that the Transaction will be consummated. Risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements, in addition to those identified above, include: (i) the possibility that the conditions to the closing of the Transaction are not satisfied, including the risk that required approvals from HashiCorp’s stockholders for the Transaction or required regulatory approvals to consummate the Transaction are not obtained, on a timely basis or at all; (ii) the occurrence of any event, change or other circumstance that could give rise to a right to terminate the Transaction, including in circumstances requiring HashiCorp to pay a termination fee; (iii) possible disruption related to the Transaction to HashiCorp’s current plans, operations and business relationships, including through the loss of customers and employees; (iv) the amount of the costs, fees, expenses and other charges incurred by HashiCorp related to the Transaction; (v) the risk that HashiCorp’s stock price may fluctuate during the pendency of the Transaction and may decline if the Transaction is not completed; (vi) the diversion of HashiCorp management’s time and attention from ongoing business operations and opportunities; (vii) the response of competitors and other market participants to the Transaction; (viii) potential litigation relating to the Transaction; (ix) uncertainty as to timing of completion of the Transaction and the ability of each party to consummate the Transaction; and (x) other risks and uncertainties detailed in the periodic reports that HashiCorp files with the SEC, including HashiCorp’s Annual Report on Form 10-K. All forward-looking statements in this communication are based on information available to HashiCorp as of the date of this communication, and, except as required by law, HashiCorp does not assume any obligation to update the forward-looking statements provided to reflect events that occur or circumstances that exist after the date on which they were made.View the full article

Nutanix, a specialist in hybrid multicloud computing, has revealed the findings of its sixth annual Enterprise Cloud Index (ECI) survey and research report, which measures global cloud adoption and related trends. The 2024 report reveals that 84% of UK respondents are adopting a ‘cloud smart’ stance, placing the applications and workloads in datacentres, multiple clouds,... Read more » The post Businesses in the UK are embracing the multicloud era appeared first on Cloud Computing News. View the full article

Enterprise customers are increasingly adopting multiple cloud providers—per a recent Gartner Survey, By 2027, over 90% of enterprises will adopt multicloud models, up from 80% in 2023, for differentiated capabilities and interoperability and to mitigate vendor lock-in risks.1 The intentional drivers for this trend include data sovereignty, which refers to the legal requirement to store data within a specific geographic location, and cost optimization, which allows businesses to select the most cost-effective cloud provider for each workload. The other intentional drivers include product selection, geographical reach, while the unintentional drivers include shadow IT, line of business (LOB) owner-driven cloud selection, and mergers and acquisitions. This multicloud strategy demands enterprise cloud architects to design and enable hybrid clouds that can connect, operate, and govern multiple cloud environments securely and efficiently. Azure networking services Explore key capabilities Learn more Microsoft Azure has long anticipated such an evolution and has been building and evolving its networking services, such as Azure ExpressRoute and Azure Virtual WAN and management and orchestration solutions, such as Azure Arc, to provide seamless, multicloud connectivity as well as centralized management of multicloud resources. With Azure’s multicloud enabled networking and management services, Azure enterprise customers can evolve their enterprise cloud network architecture from hybrid cloud to hybrid multicloud and with Azure as their “hub” cloud while the other connected clouds as their “spoke” clouds. Azure Arc for multicloud orchestration and management Azure Arc is a hybrid and multicloud management solution, enabling customers to take advantage of Azure management services (Microsoft Defender for Cloud, Update Management, Azure Monitor, and more) no matter where the environment is running. Since its launch in November 2019, Azure Arc is being leveraged by thousands of enterprises to manage their servers, Kubernetes clusters, databases, and applications across on-premises, multicloud, and edge environments, providing customers with a single way to manage their infrastructure. Azure Arc’s most recent advances and developments are described in this latest Azure Arc blog post. Microsoft is investing more in this space with the goal of making it easy for customers to discover, visualize, and manage their multicloud estate. These additional Azure Arc multicloud capabilities are leveraged by other services such as Azure Virtual WAN and Defender for Cloud, so customers can easily connect and secure their multicloud environments. Azure networking services for enabling multicloud connectivity Azure networking services span the full breadth of cloud networking capabilities, features, and functions, covering cloud network virtualization and segmentation, private, high-performance hybrid networking, secure application delivery, and network security, and they serve as the important building block for an enterprise cloud architecture and means for enterprise cloud consumption. While these services help enterprises optimally leverage Azure with highest security, performance, and reliability, enterprises can now leverage Azure’s network services and management tools to access, interconnect, and consume workloads across other clouds. For connectivity to and from other CSPs (AWS, GCP, OCI, Alibaba), Azure offers three fundamental services offered with a wide range of speeds and feeds. Direct internet peering Azure VPN and Virtual WAN Azure ExpressRoute Figure 1: Azure as a hub cloud Direct internet peering with other CSPs Many workloads depend on cross cloud connectivity over Public IP. Microsoft operates one of the largest wide area networks in the world. With more than 200 edge point of presence (PoPs) and more than 40,000 peering connections, Microsoft is deeply connected to other clouds and service providers providing best in class Public IP to Public IP connectivity. Microsoft connects to AWS and GCP in 50 different locations across the world with multiple terabits of capacity in some locations. All the traffic between other clouds and Microsoft is carried within Microsoft global backbone until it is handed off or back to the destination CSPs network. Traffic between other clouds and Microsoft goes via dedicated private network interconnect (PNI). This private network interconnect is built on high availability architecture, providing both low latency and higher reliability. Microsoft is also working with other cloud and service providers to build next-generation solutions, which would increase the capacity significantly, reduce the time to provision capacity, and remove the single location dependency. Recently we announced our partnership with Lumen on Exa-Switch program.2 This technology is built to deliver high-capacity networks while reducing the time to deliver the capacity between clouds and service providers. Azure VPN and Virtual WAN for multicloud connectivity One of the most common and prevalent ways to interconnect resources between public clouds is over the internet using a site-to-site VPN. All public cloud providers offer IPSec VPN gateway as a service and this service is widely used by Azure customers to set up a private cloud-to-cloud connection. As an example, interconnecting resources in Azure Virtual Networks using Azure VPN Gateway and AWS Virtual Private Cloud (VPCs) using AWS virtual private gateway is described in this how to guide by Azure. Azure Virtual WAN is an Azure native networking service that brings many networking, security, and routing functionalities together to provide a single operational interface for Azure customers to build a managed global transit cloud network, interconnecting and securing customers’ Azure Virtual Networks and on-premises sites using various network connectivity services such as site-to-site and point-to-site VPN, virtual network (VNet) connections, ExpressRoute, and Azure Firewall. Using Azure Virtual WAN’s site-to-site VPN, Azure customers can connect VPCs in other CSPs to the Azure Virtual WAN Hub. While this type of VPN connection currently needs to be set up manually, Azure Virtual WAN is extending and enhancing this site-to-site VPN connection service to enable managed multicloud VPN connections for VWAN hub. In addition, Azure Virtual WAN integrates and supports many independent software vendors (ISV) partners’ software defined wide area network (SDWAN) and VPN services under the Network Virtual Appliance (NVA) in VWAN hub partner program and the combined solutions can be used to build multicloud connections between Azure and other CSPs such as AWS and GCP. Some of these partner offers are described in the multicloud partners solution section below. Azure ExpressRoute service for multicloud Azure ExpressRoute lets you extend your on-premises networks into the Microsoft Cloud over a private connection via a connectivity provider (ExpressRoute Provider Model) or directly (ExpressRoute Direct model). ExpressRoute has a constantly growing ecosystem of connectivity providers and systems integrator partners. For the latest information, see ExpressRoute partners and peering locations. Azure currently offers a native multicloud connectivity service to interconnect Azure and Oracle Clouds. While this native service was built to support Azure customers that want highspeed, secure connections between their Oracle applications on Oracle Cloud and Azure Cloud, this type of native multicloud highspeed interconnection service to other CSPs is currently being planned. Meanwhile, many of the ExpressRoute partners offer innovative multicloud interconnect service offers such that Azure customers could cross-connect Azure ExpressRoute with other CSP’s highspeed private connection services. Some of these partner offers are described below by the partners themselves. Azure partner solutions for enabling multicloud connectivity Alongside Azure native network services there are a number of Azure Networking ISV, Cloud Exchange Platform (CXP), and Marketplace Partners that offer many innovative services that are able to fulfill the diverse multicloud networking needs of our enterprise customers. While this blog does not cover all of the ISV and CXP partners (see Azure marketplace for a full list of multicloud ISV and CXP solutions), here are some partners in no particular order, that offer multicloud networking solutions that are leveraged by a number of our customers to build connectivity between their workloads in Azure and workloads in other CSPs. Aviatrix The Aviatrix Secure Cloud Networking Platform enables Azure customers to securely interconnect workloads in Azure with workloads in other CSPs and on-premises workloads. Aviatrix solves common customer challenges around optimizing cloud costs for data transfer, accelerating M&A customer onboarding, and providing distributed security enforcement with consistent policies across multicloud environments. Learn More Aviatrix and Microsoft Azure | Aviatrix. Alkira For customers using Azure, Alkira offers an elegant approach for onboarding cloud applications onto their network. Alkira achieves this through its Cloud Exchange Point (CXP) hosted in Azure, which not only helps onboarding VNETs in Azure but it can also onboard workloads running in other CSPs. Learn more Alkira Cloud Network as a Service. Prosimo Prosimo’s Full Stack Cloud Transit is built for enterprises to connect networks, applications, platform as a service (PaaS), and users into a unified network fabric across public and private clouds. The solution provides a transformative set of tools to rapidly adopt native services from cloud service providers and elevate them to meet the sophisticated requirements for enterprises with advanced networking features such as overlapping IP addresses, service insertion, and namespace segmentation. The solution is delivered as a service yet under the enterprise’s own control, with an elastic scaling approach that meets their operational flexibility and compliance needs. Learn more Simplify your cloud operations in Azure with Prosimo. Arrcus Azure cloud customers can use Arrcus FlexMCN solution to build secure connectivity with micro-segmentation between their workloads in Azure VNets to other CSPs such as AWS and ensure a consistent network policy across clouds. Arrcus FlexMCN solution allows segment routing-based traffic engineering (SR-TE) to deliver application aware performance and route optimization. Learn More: Arrcus Flexible Multi-Cloud Networking (FlexMCN™). Cisco Systems Cisco enables control and security while driving agility and innovation across multicloud and hybrid environments. Catalyst SD-WAN’s Cloud OnRamp simplifies, automates, and optimizes cloud connectivity while ensuring secure connections to Azure. It leverages built-in automation with Azure Virtual WAN for interregional, branch to cloud, and hybrid-cloud/mulitcloud connectivity. Learn more Cisco SD-WAN Cloud OnRamp. Equinix Equinix Fabric Cloud Router makes it easy to connect applications and data across different clouds—solving the hard problems enterprises face today. Cloud-to-cloud—gain the performance benefits of a private network without the hassle and costs of a physical router, spin up routing virtually with reliable, high bandwidth connections between multiple cloud providers and avoid backhauling traffic. Learn More Equinix Fabric Cloud Router. Megaport The Megaport platform enables private access from Azure to hundreds of services across the globe including AWS, Oracle, Google, and IBM Cloud. Common multicloud architectures for Azure include connectivity to your private data center environments, as well as cloud-to-cloud peering with other hyperscalers and cloud service providers. Easily connect at one of more than 850 Megaport-enabled data center locations to ensure your network is no longer a cumbersome but necessary evil, but a simple and flexible way to drive innovation across your business. Learn More Common Multicloud Connectivity Scenarios – Megaport Documentation Learn more about Azure’s multicloud networking services In conclusion, as enterprises increasingly adopt a multicloud strategy, Azure, along with its ecosystem partners, provides flexible solutions for connecting and consuming cloud resources from other CSPs. Azure’s multicloud networking services, such as ExpressRoute, Virtual WAN, and Azure Arc, enable seamless, secure, and high-performance connections between Azure and other CSPs. Additionally, Azure’s partner solutions offer innovative services to meet the diverse multicloud networking requirements of enterprise customers. By using Azure as the hub cloud of their enterprise cloud architecture, customers can benefit from Azure’s multicloud capable networking and management services to transform their enterprise cloud network architecture from hybrid cloud to hybrid multicloud. 1 Forecast Analysis: Enterprise Infrastructure Software, Worldwide. January 12, 2024. Gartner ID: G00797127. 2Lumen, Google and Microsoft create new on-demand, optical interconnection ecosystem, Lumen. The post Azure multicloud networking: Native and partner solutions appeared first on Microsoft Azure Blog. View the full article

The dynamic nature of data analytics workloads, coupled with data transfer expenses between multiple clouds, contributes to complexity.View the full article

Navigating the cloud computing landscape can be complex, but one strategy is emerging as a frontrunner: multi-cloud. At its core, multi-cloud is the strategic use of cloud services from multiple providers, often combining both public and private options. This approach allows organizations to optimize their cloud usage by leveraging the unique strengths of different providers. Let's say your organization has already embraced virtualization and is now eyeing public cloud solutions for a specific application with fluctuating usage rates. You settle on a provider that checks all your boxes — everything from uptime to security measures. But as customer needs evolve, you integrate features exclusive to another cloud vendor. This shift diversifies your service offerings and places you squarely in the multi-cloud arena — utilizing various cloud services from different providers, including both public and private options. This blog post discusses why you should adopt a multi-cloud strategy, the differences between multi-cloud and its counterpart, hybrid cloud, and the best practices for its seamless management. Benefits of Multi-Cloud Now that we've set the stage for what multi-cloud is, let's dive into the tangible advantages that make it a compelling choice for organizations. Flexibility in vendor selection One of the most significant advantages of a multi-cloud approach is the ability to select from various IaaS, SaaS, and PaaS offerings. This flexibility extends beyond just picking and choosing; it allows for intricate configurations tailored to specific workload requirements. For instance, you might opt for AWS's S3 storage for its high durability while leveraging Google Cloud's BigQuery for real-time analytics. This decouples your architecture, enabling you to swap out services or providers with minimal disruption, thereby reducing vendor lock-in risks. Adaptability to changing business needs In a multi-cloud environment, the ability to adapt is not merely a feature but a core functionality. As business requirements evolve, a multi-cloud strategy allows for quick adjustments. You can dynamically allocate resources, shift workloads, or even change providers to better align with your current needs. Enhanced security measures Distributing workloads across multiple providers inherently diversifies risk. But it's not just about spreading assets; it's also about leveraging specialized security features from different vendors. For example, you might use Azure's Advanced Threat Protection for its robust security information and event management (SIEM) capabilities while relying on AWS's Identity and Access Management (IAM) for fine-grained control over resource permissions. This layered approach creates a robust security posture that is difficult to breach. Speeding up service delivery In a multi-cloud environment, the focus is not just on doing things right but on doing them quickly. The availability of specialized services from different providers can significantly reduce the time to market for new features or applications. For instance, you could use Google Cloud's AI and machine learning APIs for rapid feature development and AWS Lambda for serverless computing, allowing you to deploy microservices quickly. Using DevOps tools like Jenkins for CI/CD further accelerates the development lifecycle, making rolling out updates or new services easier. Optimizing costs across platforms Cost management in a multi-cloud environment is far from straightforward but offers substantial rewards when done right. Utilizing services like AWS Cost Explorer, Azure Cost Management and Billing, or Google Cloud Platform's Cost Tools can provide granular insights into your spending. More advanced strategies might involve automated bidding for real-time compute resources, leveraging spot or reserved instances based on your workload patterns. You can achieve significant savings by optimizing your usage and understanding the cost models of different providers. Boosting business agility In a multi-cloud setup, business agility is often a byproduct of technical flexibility. Using Kubernetes and similar tools allows for rapid scaling and descaling of resources. Additionally, API gateways like AWS API Gateway or Azure API Management can quickly expose new services to end-users, further enhancing your ability to respond to market changes. Robust disaster recovery options Multicloud offers a plethora of options for disaster recovery (DR) planning. By distributing workloads and data storage across multiple providers, you inherently create a more resilient architecture. Specific services like Azure Site Recovery or AWS Disaster Recovery can further mitigate risks. These services often come with features like automated failover and failback, zero-downtime migrations, and geo-redundant storage, ensuring your applications remain available despite a localized outage. Achieving high performance and scalability Performance optimization in a multi-cloud environment can be both a challenge and an opportunity. On one hand, managing performance across different platforms requires a deep understanding of each provider's offerings and limitations. On the other hand, it allows you to leverage specialized services for performance-critical tasks. For example, you might use Azure's Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) for container orchestration due to its integration with Azure Logic Apps for workflow automation. Additionally, you could use AWS's Auto Scaling feature to adjust capacity to keep costs predictable and performance consistent automatically. Multi-Cloud Management Centralized management is at the core of an effective multi-cloud strategy. A unified dashboard or control plane allows you to oversee all your cloud services, regardless of the provider. The different functions of multi-cloud management Managing a multi-cloud environment is a complex task involving many functions. Automated provisioning: Cloud resources are automatically allocated and configured based on templates or policies, so you can scale up or down as needed.Performance monitoring: Track KPIs like latency, throughput, and error rates across cloud services in real-time to identify and resolve issues proactively.Cost management: Utilize predictive analytics and real-time monitoring to understand your spending patterns. This can help optimize costs by identifying underutilized resources or suggesting more cost-effective alternatives.Security compliance: Automated checks that guarantee cloud service compliance are crucial for data security in sectors like healthcare and finance.Resource optimization: AI-driven algorithms can analyze usage patterns and recommend optimal resource allocation, helping to eliminate waste and improve efficiency.Backup and recovery: Implement automated backup and disaster recovery across multiple clouds for data integrity and availability.Workflow automation: Streamline complex workflows by automating tasks like data synchronization, batch processing, and report generation across multiple cloud services. Why Multiple Clouds Work There are several compelling reasons for you to go ahead and manage multiple clouds. For global organizations, latency can be a significant hurdle. The lag can frustrate users, lead to lost transactions, and ultimately affect the bottom line. Centralized multi-cloud management helps by placing workloads closer to end-users, improving response times and user experience. This strategic distribution of resources ensures seamless application performance worldwide. On the flip side, in the event of downtime, a multi-cloud strategy acts as a safety net. Automated failover mechanisms — a nifty addition to a well-executed multi-cloud migration — reroute traffic and workloads to alternative clouds, minimizing downtime and data loss. This ensures business continuity, even when individual cloud services are compromised. But the benefits of multi-cloud management aren't just about performance and reliability; they also extend to flexibility and governance. You can select the best services for specific needs using multiple clouds, from data analytics to machine learning. Additionally, centralized management mitigates the risks of Shadow IT, where departments deploy their own cloud solutions, potentially creating security and compliance issues. Multi-Cloud vs. Hybrid Cloud Regarding cloud computing, "multi-cloud" and "hybrid cloud" often get thrown around interchangeably. However, they represent distinct approaches. A hybrid cloud is a computing environment combining private and public clouds, allowing data and applications to be shared between them. In contrast, multi-cloud involves using multiple public clouds from different providers, each for a specific service or workload. The overlap and the differences Both multi-cloud and hybrid cloud aims to optimize cloud resources, but they do so in different ways. Here's how: Resource pooling: Multicloud uses various public clouds for specialized services, while hybrid cloud combines private and public clouds, often for data privacy and scalability.Data mobility: Hybrid excels in moving data between private and public clouds for compliance, whereas multi-cloud leverages the best services from multiple public providers, like AWS for ML and Azure for IoT.Cost structure: Multicloud allows cost optimization by choosing economical services from multiple providers. Hybrid balances OpEx and CapEx, keeping sensitive data in-house while using public clouds for less critical tasks.Complexity and management: Multicloud is complex due to multiple public cloud providers with unique tools and billing. Hybrid is often easier to manage, usually involving fewer providers and a single console.Security posture: Hybrid offers a simpler security model with a controlled private cloud and a known public cloud. Multicloud requires managing security across multiple public clouds, each with its own protocols.Application design: Multicloud apps need to be portable and often use containerization. Hybrid apps focus on integrating private and public clouds without the need for portability. Understanding these nuances lets you decide which cloud strategy best aligns with your organizational needs and technical requirements. Take the Next Step: Why Multi-Cloud Matters for You As we've navigated the complexities and nuances of multi-cloud and hybrid cloud architectures, one thing is clear: the future of cloud computing is not one-size-fits-all. Whether you're looking to optimize costs, enhance security, or drive innovation, a well-thought-out multi-cloud strategy can offer you the flexibility and agility to adapt to ever-changing business landscapes. Nevertheless, implementing multi-cloud comes with its own set of hurdles. From managing diverse cloud services to ensuring robust security protocols, the complexities are real but surmountable with the right strategy and tools. Here at Weaveworks, we address these complexities by offering a GitOps-enabled platform that streamlines deployments and enhances security. This approach brings uniformity and precision to multi-cloud management, ensuring every change is recorded in version control for easy rollbacks and secure operations. Learn how we can simplify your multi-cloud management. Request a demo now! View the full article

In today's hyper-connected world, data is often likened to the new oil—a resource that powers modern businesses. As organizations expand their operational landscapes to leverage the unique capabilities offered by various cloud service providers, the concept of a multi-cloud strategy is gaining traction. However, the real power of a multi-cloud approach lies in the ability to seamlessly integrate data across these diverse platforms. Without effective data integration, a multi-cloud strategy risks becoming a siloed, inefficient operation. This blog post aims to explore the complexities and solutions surrounding data integration in multi-cloud environments. We will delve into the different strategies organizations can employ, from API-based integrations to event-driven architectures, while also addressing the elephant in the room—security concerns and how to mitigate them... View the full article

Knowing how to configure multiple clouds mistake-free is essential to keep the promise of multi-cloud alive. View the full article

Connecting hybrid and multicloud workloads - Networking ArchitectureView the full article

In today’s multi-cloud world, images (such as AMIs for Amazon EC2, virtual machines, Docker containers, and more) lay the foundation for modern infrastructure, security, networking, and applications. Enterprises adopting multi-cloud typically start by using Terraform for centralized provisioning, but Terraform does not handle the details of image creation and management. In many organizations, the workflows in place to create and manage images are siloed, time-consuming, and complex, leading to slow spin-up times and human errors that pose security risks. Organizations need standard processes to ensure all images throughout their infrastructure estate are secure, compliant, and easily accessible... View the full article

Infrastructure and app development are becoming more complex as organizations span a combination of on-premises, cloud, and edge environments. Such complexities arise when: Organizations want to maximize their existing on-premises investments like traditional apps and datacenters. Workloads can’t be moved to public clouds due to regulatory or data sovereignty requirements. Low latency is required, especially for edge workloads. Organizations need innovative ways to transform their data insights into new products and services. Operating across disparate environments presents management and security complexities. But comprehensive hybrid solutions can not only address these complexities but also offer new opportunities for innovation. For example, organizations can innovate anywhere across hybrid, multicloud, and edge environments by bringing Azure security and cloud-native services to those environments with a solution like Azure Arc. That’s why we’re excited to present Azure Hybrid, Multicloud, and Edge Day—your chance to see how to innovate anywhere with Azure Arc. Join us at this free digital event on Wednesday, June 15, 2022, from 9:00 AM‒10:30 AM Pacific Time. Here are five reasons to attend Azure Hybrid, Multicloud, and Edge Day: Hear real-world success stories, tips, and best practices from customers using Azure Arc. IT leaders from current customers will share how they use Azure Arc to enable IT, database, and developer teams to deliver value to their users faster, quickly mine business data for deeper insights, modernize existing on-premises apps, and easily keep environments and systems up to date. Be among the first to hear Microsoft product experts present innovations, news, and announcements for Azure Arc. Get the latest updates on the most comprehensive portfolio of hybrid solutions available. See hybrid solutions in action. Watch demos and technical deep dives—led by Microsoft engineers—on hybrid and multicloud solutions, including Azure Arc and Azure Stack HCI. You’ll also hear product leaders present demos on Azure Arc–enabled SQL Managed Instance, Business Critical—a service tier that just recently became generally available. Business Critical is built for mission-critical workloads that require the most demanding performance, high availability, and security. Get answers to your questions. Use the live Q&A chat to ask your questions and get insights on your specific scenario from Microsoft product experts and engineers. Discover new skill-building opportunities. Learn how you can expand your hybrid and multicloud skillset with the latest trainings and certifications from Microsoft, including the Windows Server Hybrid Administrator Associate certification. And here’s a first look at one of the Azure customers sharing their perspective at this digital event: Greggs A United Kingdom favorite for breakfast, lunch, and coffee on the go, Greggs has been modernizing their 80-year-old business through digital transformation. When they needed to consolidate their sprawl between their on-premises server estate and their virtual machines, their IT team turned to Azure Arc. “One of the advantages of Arc was that we could use one strategy across both on-premises and off-premises architecture,” says Scott Clennell, Head of Infrastructure and Networks at Greggs. “We deployed Azure Arc on our on-premises architecture, then throughout the rest of the infrastructure very rapidly—a matter of a couple of weeks.” Not only has Azure Arc helped the IT team manage their digital estate better—it’s transformed their team culture. By uniting their entire IT team around Azure Arc, they can work better with their developers using common systems and collaboration tools. Hear from Greggs and more featured customers at Azure Hybrid, Multicloud, and Edge Day. We hope you can attend! Azure Hybrid, Multicloud, and Edge Day June 15, 2022 9:00 AM‒10:30 AM Pacific Time Delivered in partnership with Intel. View the full article

Azure Kubernete Service (AKS) and Azure Arc-enabled Kubernetes for Hybrid and Multicloud Environments When it comes to enterprise platforms, Microsoft has a long history of providing solutions to the complex environment of the global and fast changing enterprise landscape. Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS), with its tight integration with Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) and Azure Policy, is a managed Kubernetes offering focused on satisfying those needs... View the full article

Kubernetes networking is, for the most part, intra-cluster. It enables communication between pods within a single cluster: The most fundamental service Kubernetes networking provides is a flat L3 domain: Every pod can reach every other pod via IP, without NAT (Network Address Translation). The flat L3 domain is the building block upon which more sophisticated communication services, like Service Mesh ... https://blogs.cisco.com/developer/multicloudhybrid01

A survey of 360 CIOs and IT leaders in the U.S. and the United Kingdom found that, as the number of cloud platforms an organization employs expands, the number of tools they are required to deploy and master does, too. The survey, published this week by Virtana, a provider of a platform for managing cloud […] View the full article

Scaling your business needs robust solutions, and a multi-cloud strategy can exactly help you achieve that. There has been a debate on whether organizations should go for multi-cloud or stick to a single vendor. Recently, one of the users of Reddit posted a question, “Do you need a multi-cloud strategy?” Responses to the question offer […] The post What’s the Best Multi-Cloud Strategy for Your Organization? appeared first on DevOps.com. View the full article

With more than 8.3 trillion dollars in assets under its administration and 3.3 trillion in total discretionary assets, Fidelity Investments is one of the world’s largest asset managers. The firm offers a wide range of investment products and investment services that span retail, workplace, institutional and intermediary markets. Their long-term investment in the latest technology has the goal of simplifying and digitizing support for more than 500 applications that support their customers... View the full article

A significant risk associated with cloud migration is overspending. For years, zombie-like obedience to AWS has resulted in price lock and escalating fees at many organizations – this is a tale for fighting the cloud zombies. Cloud costs around data egress or application bandwidth are often not transparent and thus highly unpredictable. Complicating this problem […] The post From ‘Cloud Zombies’ to Multi-Cloud Experts appeared first on DevOps.com. View the full article