The State of the Cloud

I wrote "Cloud - a destination or a journey?" about 2 years ago; and, to my considerable surprise, while the development of cloud computing continued at a dizzying pace, my thoughts regarding the state and the shape of cloud adoption remain largely the same. Still, two years of cloud cadence is like an eternity and a minor update might be timely.

So, what's the state of cloud?

I believe that it is and for the foreseeable future will remain -

A Hybrid Multi-Cloud World

And with this world of possibilities (and rising complexity) questions related to security, reliability, performance, and cost become ever more acute. Not surprisingly, a number of (similar) frameworks came into prominence offering assistance in a form of general principles and specific best practices on how to best tackle these questions. Below are a few examples of such frameworks:

• The 5 Pillars of the AWS Well-Architected Framework
• Microsoft Azure Well-Architected Framework
• Google Cloud Architecture Framework

The guidance is often accompanied by the tooling that attempts to enable practical scenarios within this Hybrid Multi-Cloud World - Azure Arc, AWS Outposts, GCP Anthos, HPE GreenLake.

Quick Reference: Check out the following excellent article for some additional information - "Google Anthos, Azure Arc, & AWS Outposts: The Race to Dominate Hybrid and Multi-cloud"

Is it time to rethink your cloud architecture?

If you already have a comprehensive cloud strategy you might have already accounted for the abovementioned; if you do not, it might well be a perfect time to create one. Either way, periodic reviews and updates can benefit any strategy, especially when based on lessons learned or new information that became available. It is important to note that in most case these should be small, incremental adjustments, not complete course reversals (unless there was a drastic change in strategic objectives or underlying conditions).

Remember, there is no one-size-fits-all!

It is critically important to base your conceptual designs on specific business goals, functional requirements, understanding of current and future IT environments, and budget and human capital constraints.

Be deliberate and objective when trying to determine a perfect mix of hybrid multi-cloud for your organization.

Quick Reference: Something like MITRE Analysis of Alternatives (AoA) can assist in the decision making process.

Be cognizant of the fact that not every workload might belong in the cloud and that not every cloud might be equally suitable for a particular workload.

And remember - data has gravity!