Leverage private and public clouds for your multi-cloud databases with innovative hybrid solutions that will define the future of cloud computing.
Cloud computing has changed the way businesses handle their data by providing new ways to store, manage, and process information. Traditional cloud computing models, however, are becoming less effective in meeting the demands for data mobility and flexibility. This is where hybrid cloud and multi-cloud solutions come into play.
EDB offers enterprise-grade PostgreSQL and EDB Postgres Advanced Server, which includes industry-leading Oracle compatibility. These solutions can be deployed in your own data centers or through your preferred cloud service provider, available in either self-managed or fully-managed options.
In this blog post, we explore the concepts of hybrid cloud and multi-cloud, explain their significance, and discuss how they are fostering innovation in the cloud computing landscape. We will also provide insights into how the increasing demand for these solutions is influencing our current and future offerings of EDB Postgres.
What are Hybrid and Multi-Cloud Solutions?
The pivotal roles of hybrid and multi-cloud solutions in aligning IT infrastructure with the dynamic needs of modern business.
Hybrid cloud solutions combine public and private cloud services, allowing organizations to take advantage of the strengths of both. A private cloud, often implemented on-premises, provides enhanced security and control, while a public cloud offers scalability and cost-efficiency. By integrating these two approaches, businesses can leverage the benefits of each environment effectively.
Multi-cloud solutions involve utilizing multiple public cloud services from different providers. This strategy enables organizations to access unique services offered by different hyperscalers while minimizing vendor lock-in and increasing resilience. By distributing workloads across various cloud environments, companies can achieve better performance and reliability in their operations.
Why are Hybrid and Multi-Cloud Solutions Important?
Learn the seven key benefits of Postgres in the cloud
Even with a “cloud-first” strategy, some workloads may still need to remain on-premises due to factors like data sensitivity or the need for proximity to other applications or databases. This necessity leads many organizations to adopt a hybrid cloud model, aiming for consistent management capabilities across both private and public clouds.
As businesses mature their cloud strategies, they increasingly seek diversification and resilience among different cloud service providers. Unlike previous, more accidental implementations – which often arose from varying cloud strategies across departments or from acquisitions – today’s strategies are more deliberately crafted.
Here are key reasons why hybrid and multi-cloud solutions are essential:
- Flexibility: These environments provide the ability to place workloads where they perform best, based on application needs and cost considerations.
- Vendor lock-in avoidance: By adopting a multi-cloud approach, organizations can avoid overly relying on one provider, diminishing the risks associated with singular services and pricing. This also encourages competition, potentially leading to better prices and enhanced service quality.
- Cost optimization: Hybrid models enable businesses to allocate workloads between on-premises infrastructure and public cloud services effectively, ensuring they achieve the best price-to-performance ratio. For instance, utilizing public cloud resources for variable workloads can minimize capital expenditures while maximizing on-premise infrastructure usage.
- Improved resilience: Hybrid and multi-cloud approaches support high availability by distributing workloads across several clouds and providers. Replicating data and applications across different environments ensures that critical business functions remain operational, even in the face of disruptions or provider failures. This setup also enhances backup and disaster recovery solutions, promoting better fault tolerance.
- Enhanced security and compliance: Hybrid cloud frameworks support strong security measures by allowing sensitive data to be kept within a private cloud while still enabling less-sensitive data to reside in the public cloud. This lowers the risk of data breaches and cyberattacks and improves compliance with data privacy regulations. By distributing data and applications across different clouds, businesses can reduce the risk of relying on a single provider and minimize the impact of any security issues.
- Data sovereignty: Organizations face challenges when data must remain within specific jurisdictions. A hybrid approach can leverage hyperscaler environments in required regions, while multi-cloud solutions may provide additional support when existing providers lack services in those areas.
- Innovation: Hybrid and multi-cloud environments can drive innovation, speed up time to market, and maintain a competitive edge by enabling quick experimentation and testing of products and services, both in the public cloud and on-premises. This strategy allows businesses to choose unique application services from different cloud service providers, especially in a multi-cloud setup.
The Challenges of Embracing Hybrid and Multi-Cloud Solutions
Get to know the barriers to adoption
While hybrid and multi-cloud solutions offer significant advantages, many organizations still hesitate to fully embrace them. The main reason is that implementing these strategies can be complex and resource-intensive without proper tools, support, and planning. Here are some of the key challenges businesses face:
- Integration and compatibility
Achieving a seamless user experience across various cloud environments – whether public, private, or multiple providers – can be daunting. Ensuring parity in services and database offerings is vital yet tricky. - Cost and complexity
Managing data across several cloud providers alongside on-premises systems requires a deep understanding of each provider's tools and offerings. This complexity often leads to higher costs, as companies need to hire specialized staff to navigate different user interfaces, APIs, and security frameworks. Furthermore, disparate implementations across cloud service providers may require additional personnel to comply with internal security, support, and development standards. - Data consistency and management
Keeping data updated across various platforms can be challenging, especially in a Postgres ecosystem. Different hyperscalers may implement Postgres differently, leading to issues like inconsistencies in supported versions and the speed of adopting new releases. Additionally, “Postgres-compatible” solutions often diverge from official standards and may lag behind in incorporating new features. It's crucial to remember that these solutions are not the same as the real Postgres system.
By understanding these challenges, organizations can better prepare to navigate the complexities of hybrid and multi-cloud environments to reap their benefits.
EDB's Vision for Hybrid and Multi-Cloud Success
Our commitment for enhancing cloud database solutions
As businesses’ cloud journeys evolve, we observe a more deliberate approach to workload placement between public and private clouds, alongside the increasing adoption of multiple cloud service providers (CSPs).
While cloud-based databases deliver enhanced scalability and simplified management compared to traditional on-premise systems, transitioning to a hybrid or multi-cloud framework can introduce significant complexities. Companies often struggle with maintaining consistent service levels, supported versions, and configuration options across varied environments.
At EDB, we recognize the critical importance of hybrid and multi-cloud solutions for organizations aiming to optimize their cloud infrastructure. Our focus is on designing "consistent by design" hybrid and multi-cloud architectures that address these complexities while allowing businesses to leverage the benefits of cloud computing. Our aim is to enhance cost efficiency, security and data mobility, and to prevent vendor lock-in.
We are dedicated to integrating our leading self-managed offerings, including Postgres and EDB Postgres Advanced Server, deployable in hypervisor or Kubernetes environments, with our fully managed public cloud solution, EDB Postgres® AI Cloud Service. By aligning these capabilities, we aim to unlock the full potential of hybrid and multi-cloud databases for our customers, alleviating the difficulties often associated with self-built solutions.
Hybrid cloud solutions combine on-premise infrastructure and private clouds with public cloud services, allowing organizations to manage their workloads across multiple environments. Multi-cloud solutions involve utilizing services from multiple cloud providers, optimizing flexibility and risk management.
Hybrid and multi-cloud solutions enhance flexibility, allowing businesses to choose the best environments for specific workloads. These solutions improve cost optimization, security, and data mobility, and mitigate the risk of vendor lock-in.
Organizations often struggle to ensure consistent service levels, manage supported versions, and maintain configuration options across diverse environments, which leads to administrative complexity.
EDB aims to provide "consistent by design" hybrid and multi-cloud architectures that help organizations navigate complexities while leveraging the advantages of cloud computing.
EDB offers a range of services, including self-managed solutions like Postgres and EDB Postgres Advanced Server, and a fully managed public cloud solution, EDB Postgres® AI Cloud Service, to support efficient cloud database management.
Strategic workload placement is essential for optimizing performance and costs, allowing organizations to effectively utilize the strengths of different cloud environments.
Maintaining consistent service levels across different cloud environments is vital for ensuring a seamless user experience and operational efficiency and reducing potential downtime.
EDB focuses on creating architectures that provide flexibility and choice, enabling organizations to diversify their cloud service providers and reduce dependency on a single vendor.
Data mobility allows businesses to move and manage their data efficiently across different platforms, ensuring they can adapt quickly to changing requirements and utilize the best services available.
Organizations should evaluate their technical capabilities, compliance needs, and resource availability to determine which option best meets their needs for control, scalability, and management.