Cloud computing has become one of the key talking points, not only in tech circles but among business people as well. This technology came at the right time when customer demands were increasing. It came at a time when data was fast becoming a gold standard for organizations that wanted to gain an edge over their peers and survive the harsh competition. While it has changed many aspects of our organizations, cloud computing is not all positive as some might think. Here are some downsides associated with this technology.

1. Potential security challenges

One possible problem with cloud computing is the security risks. The risk is largely associated with shared devices used to access confidential information within an organization. For instance, if an employee uses their shared devices at home, others at home may use them to gain access to confidential and sensitive information belonging to the organization. This problem can also be experienced if you use shared networks such as public Wi-Fi in an airport or a restaurant, where malicious individuals can infect malware and scan packets.

2. Lack of control and flexibility

Since cloud companies entirely own, manage and monitor the cloud infrastructure, the customer has minimal control over it. This means that cloud users may have limited control over the function and execution of services within a cloud-hosted infrastructure. Things can be made worse by the cloud service provider’s end-user license agreement (EULA) and policies that can limit what the customers can or cannot do with their deployments.

3. Requires an instant internet connectivity

The traditional on-premise storage or data centers are within the organization. Thus, you do not need an internet connection when you want to retrieve a file. However, with the cloud, you need a constant internet connection to pass documents to the cloud. Therefore, if the cloud goes down, you will not be able to access or transfer files. Lack of an internet connection means that you cannot work.

4. Cost complications

While cloud computing eases access to files, adopting it on a small scale and short term can be expensive. However, the good thing is the pay-as-you-go component of the cloud, which allows you to pay only for what you use. However, until you are clear about what is good for you, it can only be best if you experiment with various offerings. This complication may end up increasing the cost before you settle on the best provider.

5. Bugs

Technical bugs are another potential challenge that cloud storage can encounter. Whether employees work remotely or in their offices, they can upload files with viruses or malware, which can be downloaded and spread by employees, infecting other computers. This can end up affecting the entire network in an organization, leading to glitches that may affect files. This challenge may put the accuracy of files to question.

6. Possible hacking

As you might have heard from someone, anything connected to the internet is insecure. This is also the case with the cloud, which can only be accessed via an internet connection. Among the possible challenges the cloud faces are associated with continuous attacks from hackers. The ability of hackers to access content stored in the cloud is often challenging and calls for regular security improvement by cloud service providers. When hackers access confidential business information, the company can lose millions of dollars worth of data and information. While a company’s information is the main target of hackers when accessing systems, they can also steal employee and customer phone numbers and social security numbers and sell them to other people who might be interested in the same.

A wide range of services is available from public cloud service providers (CSPs). Companies can take advantage of offerings that provide scaleable storage capacity, advanced machine learning capabilities, and analytics powered by artificial intelligence. Some CSPs also furnish businesses with access to the processing power of cloud-based supercomputers. 

What is a Cloud-Based Supercomputer? 

A cloud-based supercomputer provides high-performance computing using cloud resources so multiple users can share access while maintaining privacy and security. The architecture of cloud-native supercomputers manages computing and communications in parallel for enhanced efficiency. This efficiency is achieved by using three complimentary types of processors. 

• CPU - Central processing units (CPUs) provide the fast serial processing that algorithms require. Their efficiency can be challenged by the complexity of supercomputing tasks. CPU functionality is augmented with two additional kinds of processors.  

• DPU - Data processing units manage provisioning, virtualization, and hardware utilization. DPUs enable supercomputing nodes to provide bare-metal performance and multi-tenancy. A DPU lets the CPU offload routine tasks so it can concentrate on processing for improved performance.  

• GPU - Graphics processing units act as co-processors and improve application speed by running multiple, parallel searches. 

Combining the processing power of supercomputers with the scalability and connectivity of the cloud opens the door to innovative business and scientific solutions. Traditional supercomputers were out of reach for most companies. The cloud has brought supercomputing to the mainstream and promises to change the way businesses perform research and development to deliver complex products. 

Examples of Cloud-Based Supercomputer Offerings 

Many cloud vendors have added supercomputing offerings to their portfolio of services. They bring the power of supercomputing to organizations of any size that could never afford to support an in-house environment.  

• Google Cloud’s high-performance computing (HPC) service lets companies get started quickly with easy access to a cost-optimized infrastructure designed to foster innovation. Users only pay for the resources they need and can take advantage of sustained-use discounts. Low-latency and high-throughput object and file storage provide exceptional performance.  

• NVIDIA's Cloud-Native Supercomputing offering provides a secure HPC platform with enhanced data protection and multi-tenant isolation. The service delivers optimal bare-metal performance with increased efficiency and reduced system noise. 

• Amazon’s HPC offering provides users with a suite of products and services designed to deliver faster insights and lets businesses move quickly from development to the market. It’s powered by high-performance file systems and networking solutions.  

• Microsoft Azure’s HPC solution offers customers a complete set of computing, networking, and storage resources integrated with workload orchestration services. The service includes machine learning tools for smarter simulations and enhanced decision-making. Azure’s supercomputer has been recognized as one of the fastest in the world.  

Supercomputers are no longer a luxury to be enjoyed by organizations with deep pockets. The examples above are just a few of the options available to customers who desire the power of a supercomputer. Cloud-based supercomputing is another example of how effective use of the cloud can change everything.

One of the reasons many organizations investigate the potential of cloud computing is the promise of cost savings over traditional IT environments. Unfortunately, mismanagement of cloud resources can negate any prospective financial benefits. We’re going to look at some methods companies can use to control the cost of cloud computing and save money on their IT budget.  

Practice capacity planning 

Scalability and flexibility are two big advantages of cloud computing. Companies are attracted by the ability to meet fluctuating requirements by scaling up or down on demand. But on-demand scalability comes at a cost.  

Applications need to be sized correctly when migrating to the cloud. There is a tendency to over-provision resources which can lead to higher monthly costs for excessive capacity. Taking the time to right-size cloud instances will result in long-term cost savings.  

Minimize data egress fees

Cloud service providers (CSPs) impose data egress fees when transferring data from their infrastructure. This may include moving data between the cloud provider’s geographic regions. These fees can quickly add up to a substantial amount of money if you’re not careful. 

You can minimize the fees by reducing the volume of data transfers. The IT architecture can be modified to eliminate excessive data transfers between cloud storage and on-premises systems and applications. Companies should also compare the cost difference between physical transfer devices and dedicated network connection services when determining the best way to move data. 

Maintain visibility into cloud resources

It’s impossible to control costs without adequate visibility into your cloud services and resources. You need to know what products and services are being used throughout the organization, who is using them, and how they address business objectives.  

Companies should reevaluate their cloud environments regularly to identify services that can be scaled back or eliminated. Failure to monitor cloud usage can lead to expensive unused resources and shadow IT. Carefully review bills from your CSP to ensure employees are not using unapproved cloud services. 

Look for less expensive reserved instances

Companies can save money by contracting for cloud resources via reserved instances. By committing to purchasing a pre-defined resource capacity for up to three years, a business can reduce costs when compared to on-demand solutions. Substantial savings can be obtained with reserved instances as seen in discounts of up to 72% offered to Amazon EC2 customers.  

Determining the baseline for reserved instances demands capacity planning and an understanding of future business objectives. The savings available with reserved instances make it worth any time spent on capacity planning projections.  

Consider a third-party managed services provider 

Third-party managed service providers (MSPs) can help companies substantially trim their cloud budgets. A reliable MSP brings a wealth of experience to the table and can provide an organization with a carefully crafted roadmap of cloud services that is economical and meets business objectives. The cost of engaging the MSP will often be offset by the savings possible through more efficient use of the cloud. 

The advantages of cloud computing are real and include cost savings over traditional IT environments. Taking the simple measures outlined above will help your company achieve the expected benefits from the cloud.

Cloud computing is already helping businesses in an unprecedented manner. Despite the cloud's impact in different sectors, the transformative effects are far from over. Trends in 2022 indicate that there will be a continuation of rapid adoption and growth of the cloud as more companies seek to use it to store data, expand IT capabilities and modernize operations. Here are some cloud computing trends shaping the conversation in 2022 and beyond.

1. Deploying to the edge

Edge computing is a new way of processing data whereby processing is not done in a data center. Rather, data computation and storage occur near the edge of the network. Every edge server has computing, networking and storage capabilities that allow the server to do functions such as network switching and routing, load balancing and security. Edge computing is not a substitute for the cloud. Rather, it complements the cloud while ensuring near-instant processing of data, reduced bandwidth usage, decreased volume of data transmission and little latency in response times. From now on, there will be an increase in the combination of cloud and edge computing in 2022 and beyond.

2. The rise and rise of serverless computing

Serverless computing, a model in which consumers do not deal with server provisioning and infrastructure management, is fast gaining traction. With this approach to computing, the cloud provider handles the necessary infrastructure while allocating resources to users based on needs. The popularity of this computing model continues to grow as it provides another opportunity to increase agility while minimizing costs. Current statistics show that the demand for serverless technologies will rise by 22.6% between now and 2026. Therefore, as we end the year and start another one, we should expect more adoption of serverless computing.

3. Increased AI and ML adoption

Machine learning and artificial intelligence require high processing power and bandwidth capabilities. These are more affordable through the cloud than any other approach. These two technologies and the cloud will complement each other perfectly. Some of the areas where these technologies will work for hand in hand include:

• AI will help cloud services manage data while getting reliable insights into the behaviour of users, trends, likes and dislikes.
• Cloud computing will make AI highly cost-effective and accessible.

Cloud computing will work with AI and ML to deliver services such as processing data and providing the necessary insights. According to reports, the AI market value will sharply rise to $850 billion towards the end of the decade. Since AI platforms require high processing power and bandwidth, the cloud will play a vital role.

4. Kubernetes and blockchain

Blockchain is a technology that offers a temper-free ledger for recording data without relying on a given central authority. While blockchain is a game-changer, it also suffers from scaling issues, particularly in storing big data and management.

Kubernetes (K8s) are open-source systems for automating deployments and scaling applications that help improve the blockchain environment. Blockchain and K8s can work better to ensure the high availability of containers while running multiple critical services. These two will continue working together in 2022 and beyond as Kubernetes clusters fast become a standard adoption.

5. Cloud security will receive more emphasis

The concerns surrounding privacy in the cloud and compliance and integration risks continue to be the roadblocks to some organizations adopting the cloud. In response, cloud service providers are increasingly investing in security to bolster privacy. This has seen a rise in Secure Access Service Edge and Cloud-based disaster recovery. In 2022 and beyond, security will continue to be an area of focus for cloud providers. This will increase the transparency of data because this is what business owners want. Cloud access brokers will also gain attention.

Being an IT manager means that you must stay on top of the game at all times. It means that you know what is going on and anticipate the needs of your end users, in addition to solving issues before they arise. With this, users can perform better, and the business can flourish. One of the things you must be aware of as an IT manager is cloud computing. In recent years, there have been growing talks on cloud computing and what it can do. With businesses going digital, perhaps now is the right time to better understand this technology. The entry of the cloud has immensely increased the growth of businesses and their efficiency. As we move into a new era technologically, there are questions regarding how the cloud will change the business landscape. Here are some cloud computing trends for the new decade:

1. Companies will deploy more workloads to the cloud

According to Gartner, businesses will deploy 95% of their new digital workloads on cloud-native platforms by the middle of the decade. By doing this, they will embrace technology more and more, move their organizations forward, and commit to modernizing them for the long term. However, this means that they have to know the information needed so that they can reap benefits. Organizations must constantly update their workloads to match the changes as the cloud continues to evolve fast. 

2. Multicloud and Hybrid

There is a growing number of solutions that offer agility, customizability and non-compromizability in the market starting in 2022. With the past cloud services, you could only choose between private and public solutions. Cloud solutions offered accessibility and pay-as-you-go services, while the private cloud, on the other hand, offered more security for data storage. With the availability of hybrid solutions such as Microsoft Azure, you can keep certain types of data on public servers. The data you can keep on public servers include the ones customers need to access often. You can also store sensitive data on private servers to control and monitor it as you deem fit. 

3. Artificial intelligence

As Artificial intelligence continues gaining fame, consumers expect new software platforms to incorporate it. Therefore, 2022 going forward, will see an increase in the number of technologies to meet customer demand. Cloud computing must adapt to deliver the said services to the consumers. According to Verified Market Research, the market value for AI will be over 850 billion by 2028. AI platforms will require more processing power and bandwidth to support this. This is where cloud computing will come in to help AI projects succeed. 

4. Serverless cloud technology

Every IT manager dreams about streamlining workload and ensuring efficiency. Serverless cloud technology may be the thing you need to achieve this. With this technology, you can automate some tasks you consider tedious. This helps you maintain your server infrastructure in the best possible way. Between 2022 and 2026, there will be a high demand for serverless technologies, according to research by Motor Intelligence. The research indicates that serverless computing will rise by 22.6% between 2022 and 2026. With this, users do not need to invest in resources and capital. 

5. Cloud Security

Implementing the cloud in an organization is one of the most powerful steps you can ever take. However, all is not well until you consider the security of your data and systems. You must first consider ways of mitigating risk and implementing data security procedures to prevent bad actors from causing havoc. As cloud computing takes over the information landscape, developers will increasingly work on projects that improve cloud security. There will be a possible increase in the adoption of Secure Access Software Edge (SASE). Gartner reports that at least 40% of companies will create commitments to include SASE in their toolkit. 

If you work in an IT department or an executive position in an organization, you have probably heard of how enterprises are investing in cloud computing and taking their computer systems and applications to the cloud. As an organization, if you want to transition from on-premises infrastructure to a multi-cloud, hybrid cloud or both of them, you should know that this is the single most significant shift that your company will face.

Whether you are looking to migrate your applications or infrastructure to the cloud or shut down the on-premises data center, here are a few practices you should abide by. 

1. Make a cloud-first commitment

All applications should be moved to the cloud unless there is a compelling reason to remain on-premises. This is what cloud-first commitment means. However, there can be compelling reasons like cost, security or governance challenges and concerns that may force you to keep some applications in a data center within your organization. Ensure that public and private cloud integrates easily. Regardless of the circumstances, prioritize a cloud-first strategy so that you can reap maximum benefits of the cloud.  

2. Understand your cloud economics

Understanding the economic side of the cloud may appear simple. However, most organizations do not take the time to understand the needs of their businesses and what it takes financially to move to the cloud. By building a business case, your organization will gain valuable insights to enable you to understand cloud economics. Understand aspects like current costs, and the cost of the entire package. Other costs like hardware, networking, disaster recovery, downtime, upgrades and service level agreements should also be understood.

3. Decide the cloud services to use

Given the many cloud services available, businesses must identify the ones that suit them and the ones they plan to deploy. This will reduce the chances of running more services than necessary or than can be managed appropriately. Furthermore, it may result in failing to determine the right way which cloud services are best fitted to the workloads. The right services may vary from one workload and business to another. Businesses must generally consider factors like the cost of each type of cloud service, how hard or easy it is to deploy workloads on a cloud service, how a service can be managed and monitored, or the security risks that a particular service can create.

4. Understand what should not be migrated to the cloud

Businesses should know that certain workloads may be better if left out of the cloud migration plans. For instance, applications that depend on local networking configurations can be difficult to replicate in the cloud. Other applications may need direct access to the hardware, which can be difficult to achieve or can be costly to be done in the cloud. Identification of these apps should be made early in the cloud transition. Develop steps for modification of those applications to suit the cloud or commit to keeping those apps out of the cloud.

5. Find out security risks

Migrating to the cloud is not free of security challenges. Therefore, before migrating your data, applications and infrastructure, ensure you know that the cloud can be a source of various concerns. Because of the connection of the cloud to the internet by default, it can be easy for attackers to locate and exploit weaknesses in cloud resources. The complexity of the cloud and possible misconfigurations that emerge from it, like allowing public access to sensitive storage, can have unprecedented implications concerning security. Therefore, you must assess how to mitigate the identified security risks as part of the cloud transition plan.

Excited for your doctor to resemble a robot in a sci-fi movie? With the arrival of cloud computing into the healthcare industry, not only are robots on the way, but automated, internet-connected medical solutions are already a reality. Cloud connectivity within healthcare connects, synthesizes, and analyzes health-related data within the cloud — and delivers it to the provider or the consumer. 

Connecting to the cloud  increases efficiency, enhances privacy, reduces costs, and even saves lives. The cloud’s influence on healthcare is made clear when you consider that the global cloud computing market for healthcare is growing by 20% a year. 

Check out five of the ways that cloud computing is creating better healthcare.

Remote Surgery Performed Around the World

With new technologies that provide hyper-low latency, tele-surgery is now a reality. Instant signal transmission and VR advancements enable surgeons to operate remotely, safely and  globally. Patients who live in remote areas can have access to the same medical care as those who live in a city.

IoT Connected Medical Devices React Instantly

IoT-connected medical devices have revolutionized personal healthcare.These instruments track patients’ health 24/7 and react instantaneously to any issue by constantly sending the patient’s data to the cloud, where the information is stored and connected to relevant medical professionals.

Smart Ambulances Provide Treatment En Route

Countless lives are lost in the ambulance between the home and the hospital. Smart ambulance technology can reduce these casualties. EMTs could communicate with ER doctors in real time, using VR technology to transmit patient information and administer treatments. 

Electronic Patient Records Improve Medical Practice 

Healthcare centers now store their patient data on the cloud, as it’s simple and forms a virtual shared network. Doctors can see the medical history of each patient, even if they were under the care of a different doctor. 

Preventing Global Health Crises with De-identified Data

Digital medical data can be anonymized and analyzed. Cloud computing allows for this data to be compiled and used to create powerful algorithms. These algorithms can learn to diagnose illnesses or track epidemiological trends, hopefully preventing another global pandemic.

Bringing the cloud to the realm of healthcare has enormous potential. There are many innovative cloud solutions with the power to both reform the healthcare system and save human life. Ridge’s distributed cloud, with its hyper-low latency and endless scalability, as well as its ability to run workloads on any infrastructure in any edge location, is uniquely prepared to support cloud computing in healthcare.

 “There is no business strategy without a cloud strategy”. So said Gartner in a recent symposium. By 2025, over 85% of organizations will embrace a cloud-first approach and will not be able to fully execute on their digital strategies without the use of cloud-native architectures and technologies. 

But as more and more workloads move to the cloud, businesses are realizing that no single static cloud architecture offers consistently great application performance for all users. There is a clear need in the market for a flexible cloud that can be rapidly adapted to specific needs.

There are many reasons why centralized cloud infrastructure is not appropriate for some businesses: 

For some, it’s about where their data resides. For others, it’s their preference for maintaining existing commercial arrangements. For still others, it’s about governance and regulations. And for applications with strict response time requirements — such as AR, telemedicine, and robotics —it’s latency and throughput which can’t be effectively supported by a data center, even if operated by a hyperscaler, if it is located many miles away.  

Flexible Does It  

After more than a decade in which cloud computing was synonymous with a large public cloud, businesses are discovering that one size does not fit all. A desired computing strategy may be partially on-premises, partially bare-metal, and partially co-located, but also fully hybrid across multiple continents. These application owners need a cloud provider that offers architectural flexibility to build a cloud customized for their needs. 

To address this demand, a new cloud paradigm has emerged: the Unified Distributed Cloud (UDC), in which workloads can be spun up in 1000s of locations across the globe. In this architecture, existing local data center and on-premises capacity is transformed into modern PaaS offerings, such as managed Kubernetes and object storage. 

Until now these modern, cloud-native services were only available from the hyperscalers. No longer. On the Unified Distributed Cloud, application owners can enable desired configurations and states to be implemented on physical resources anywhere they need them to run. This is accomplished programmatically through modern APIs, allowing business-critical applications to run in specific locations.

Love the Cloud You’re With

A UDC enables computing resources to be wherever you need them to be. Whether the need  is for proximity, commercial reasons, or data constraints, in all cases cloud workloads will seamlessly mesh with existing infrastructure. It’s the best of two worlds: the agility and ease-of-use of the public cloud together with the high performance, high throughput and full data control of localized infrastructure.  

A UDC is designed to be fully interoperable with any private, hybrid, or multi-cloud architecture. As a result, enterprises can create an optimized cloud computing strategy, taking advantage of existing and available infrastructure in the location — or multiple locations — of their choosing.  

Think Globally, Cloud Locally

As an alternative to the traditional public cloud model, the UDC enables application owners to utilize a global network instead of relying on compute resources in a specific location. Interoperability with existing infrastructure empowers enterprises to deploy and infinitely scale applications anywhere they need. While the large public cloud benefits from economies of scale, a UDC takes advantage of the economies of locality and distribution. 

With the growing adoption of cloud-native applications to serve new markets, the Unified Distributed Cloud’s flexibility helps businesses customize a cloud strategy which is right for them.

Jonathan Seelig, is co-Founder and Executive Chairman of Ridge, the world's most distributed cloud. He works with early-stage technology companies as an investor, advisor, and board member. He was previously co-founder of Akamai, the world’s first CDN. Mr. Seelig is a frequent speaker at cloud industry events.

Dropbox ushered in the demise of the thumb drive, but now the cloud is getting full, reports CNBC.

One year after graduating from MIT in 2006, Drew Houston began working with Arash Ferdowsi in hopes of creating one of the first cloud-based file sharing platforms that would eliminate the annoyances of physical thumb drives

Read the article CNBC

Microsoft’s Azure will use Nvidia to build its new supercomputer, reports Fool.

Nvidia just reported third-quarter earnings, and it's still working through too much inventory and a tough market in China. Results were about what could be expected right now.

Read the article Fool

Amazon believes that the cloud isn’t just about technology, reports Protocol.

AWS is gearing up for re:Invent, its annual cloud computing conference where announcements this year are expected to focus on its end-to-end data strategy and delivering new industry-specific services.

Read the article Protocol

Adding cloud services puts financial companies at risk, reports Financial Times.

By adopting cloud computing technology to make their systems accessible from multiple locations, financial services companies are launching new, improved digital products and streamlining their operations

Read the article Financial Times

Ransomware has been a major cybersecurity threat to traditional IT environments for years. Until recently, cloud resources were not frequently attacked by this particular kind of malicious software. In large part, this was due to the challenges of attacking a cloud infrastructure.

This apparent safety may be changing and organizations now need to guard their cloud environments from ransomware attacks. As more companies migrate workloads and sensitive data to the cloud, cybercriminals are increasingly seeing cloud resources as a viable target for ransomware. 

How Cloud Ransomware Works 

Criminals are primarily using three methods to perpetrate ransomware attacks on cloud services. Each method has a similar capacity for damage if executed successfully. 

• Infecting file-sharing services and applications - Companies often use file-sharing services synced to a cloud service to facilitate data access for mobile employees. A ransomware attack will begin by encrypting data on a local machine that is then synced to the cloud. The infected file then spreads the malware throughout the cloud infrastructure affecting a large number of files. 

• Phishing attacks - Cybercriminals use phishing techniques to trick users into divulging credentials for cloud-based email services like Microsoft 365. The victim’s emails are then encrypted and held for ransom. 

• Targeting cloud vendors - In an attempt to maximize the value of a successful attack, ransomware gangs are directly targeting cloud vendors rather than their customers. Criminals try to compromise the credentials of a vendor’s employee so they can encrypt infrastructure that affects multiple clients. The hope is that some of the clients will pay the ransom to avoid the major disruptions caused by the attack.  

Defenses Against Cloud Ransomware 

Some of the defenses against cloud ransomware are identical to the measures required to protect against traditional attacks. Others are tailored to the aspects of the cloud that make it vulnerable to ransomware.  

• Employee education is one of the most important initiatives an organization can undertake to protect itself from ransomware. Users need to be trained to identify and not fall victim to phishing emails. They also need to understand the importance of using strong passwords and not sharing credentials to avoid misuse by malicious insiders.  

• Keep all software and firmware updated. Attackers take advantage of known vulnerabilities when attempting a ransomware attack. Updates often contain fixes for vulnerabilities that offer greater protection for the cloud environment.  

• Develop comprehensive backup and business continuity plans. A viable strategy is to back up systems using multiple techniques which may include making both cloud and local copies of your data. If one set is compromised, you can still recover your systems. 

• Use blacklists to keep employees away from websites that are known to host malware or other malicious software. Consider installing anti-phishing tools that help identify advanced threats.  

The shared responsibility matrix for cloud security provides multiple targets for ransomware attacks. Criminals can attack a company’s data directly or by impacting the cloud provider’s infrastructure. Devote the necessary resources to train all employees and minimize the chances of a successful attack on your data resources. 

The big cloud providers all want your business and are constantly rolling out new offerings designed to attract and retain customers. In this article, we are going to look at some of the flagship products and services available from the largest public cloud vendors ranked by revenue in mid-2021 as determined by Statista. 

Microsoft Azure

Azure is the leading cloud vendor based on revenue and offers a wide variety of products and services addressing the needs of small, medium, and large businesses. The company has capitalized on the installed Windows operating system customer base and prioritizes integration with legacy systems.  

The combination of legacy support and cutting-edge tech logic make Azure a viable choice for enterprises migrating workloads to the cloud or operating hybrid environments. Cloud-managed instances of the popular SQL Server relational database provide just one example of the specific solutions available from Azure.

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

Amazon may lack the enterprise relationship onramp enjoyed by Azure but makes up for it with its constant innovation and quality of its products and services. Some of its distinctive offerings include its analytics and data lakes, machine learning, and extensive storage options for everything from disaster recovery to long-term archiving.  

Amazon offers free trials of many solutions such as Amazon Lightsail, used to launch and manage virtual private servers, Amazon EC2, providing virtual cloud servers, and SageMaker, to build and train machine learning models. AWS is also the only major cloud provider to offer macOS virtual server support. 

IBM Cloud

The offerings of the IBM cloud are tailored to meet the needs of the company’s large and medium-sized enterprise clients. IBM concentrates on PaaS and IaaS solutions. Acquiring Red Hat in 2019 demonstrates a commitment to an open and hybrid approach to cloud infrastructure. 

IBM’s cloud offers extensive analytics, artificial intelligence, and machine learning solutions that make use of the company’s Watson supercomputer.  As hybrid environments continue to propagate throughout the IT world, IBM’s migration and management tools provide customers with a viable path when moving from on-premises data centers to the cloud.   

Salesforce

Some readers may be surprised at Salesforce’s inclusion in the top cloud vendors, but the company’s array of SaaS solutions is impressive. From its beginnings as primarily a customer relationship management (CRM) solution, Salesforce has expanded its offerings to encompass many cloud-based enterprise software solutions.  

Its Slack-first Customer 360 combines sales, service, marketing, commerce, IT, and analytics solutions to provide small and large businesses with an innovative way to work while employing digital workflows. Salesforce concentrates on SaaS offerings and is not the right cloud vendor if you are looking for cloud storage or infrastructure solutions.  

Google Cloud Platform

Google’s cloud strategy strongly supports cloud-native solutions based on open source and open systems. This makes it attractive to companies looking to add specific capabilities to multi-cloud environments. Google offers machine learning support with vision, speech, and natural language APIs. Google’s advanced technical capabilities make it a viable choice for solutions in the field of data analytics, AI, and machine learning. 

This is just a sampling of the incredible diversity of cloud offerings available to customers in 2021. Virtually any organization can find a solution that helps them meet their business objectives. It’s just a matter of selecting the right cloud.

According to the Register, Microsoft testified to a House Committee that it receives numerous secrecy orders per day.

The US House Committee on the Judiciary met on Wednesday to hear testimony on the government's practice of secretly subpoenaing cloud service providers, and Microsoft was happy to oblige.

Read the article on The Register

Organizations that choose to take advantage of public cloud services often find themselves with their resources spread amongst multiple vendors. This situation can arise for several reasons including:

• The evolution of enterprise workloads and the search for the most cost-effective solutions;
• Sprawl resulting from the ease with which departments can migrate systems;
• New offerings not available from current vendors;
• Simply being dissatisfied with a service or vendor and riding out the length of the contract.

Regardless of the underlying factors that led to a multi-vendor cloud environment, its management presents decision-makers and technical support staff with additional layers of complexity. Adopting a set of best practices will help organizations successfully implement a hybrid and multi-vendor computing environment. 

The following best practices will assist in the successful management of a multi-cloud environment.

• Use hybrid cloud management tools - Make use of hybrid cloud management tools to address multi-cloud environments. These tools can provide features such as self-service functionality for end users, service aggregation, deployment orchestration, and cost management. 

• Optimize costs across vendors - Companies should regularly review the comparative costs of their various vendors and be willing to migrate if a move is dictated by the economics. Cloud service brokers may be able to evaluate resources and suggest ways to optimize spending. 

• Focus on disaster recovery and reliability - Recovering a diverse multi-cloud environment in a disaster scenario demands a well-planned and documented strategy. Leveraging cloud vendors may be possible by backing up resources from one to the other. 

• Prioritize security and compliance - Ensuring data security and compliance is more challenging in multi-cloud implementations. Identity and access management (IAM) tools are necessary to ensure only authorized users can get to data resources. Customer and vendor roles regarding maintaining regulatory requirements need to be fully understood to avoid gaps and failed audits.  

Concentrating on these four areas will help organizations manage their multi-cloud environments.  

Using the Right Tools Matters

Commercial and open source software tools are available to assist in the management of multi-cloud environments. These applications focus on big picture items that affect the entire cloud infrastructure and help decision-makers identify the right solution from among the alternatives and keep the complex environment running smoothly. 

Morpheus is a commercial product providing integration and automation functionality across multiple clouds and on-premises environments. It is designed to facilitate compliance, cost optimization, and application modernization.  

OpenStack is an open source solution that offers a set of software components providing common services for cloud infrastructures. It enables large pools of cloud resources to be managed centrally through dashboards or APIs. 

On a more granular scale, dedicated tools can help minimize the strain on technical support teams when systems are spread across multiple on-premises and cloud platforms. A case in point is an application like Idera’s SQL Diagnostic Manager for SQL Server. It employs a unified interface from which to monitor SQL Server performance on physical and virtual machines located on-premises or housed with major cloud vendors. 

The potential benefits of multi-cloud environments can outweigh the challenges of dealing with their complexity. Following some basic best practices and deploying the right tools will enable organizations to take advantage of the offerings of multiple cloud vendors without incurring any undue risks.