Managing storage across multiple clouds

The cloud-first approach that characterised many organisations' first forays into cloud has been replaced with a more pragmatic, strategic mix of public and private cloud plus on-premises storage based on the type and quantity of data being stored.

This has created a complex environment in which organisations have data spread across multiple environments. Managing this data effectively is essential to maintain its value and decrease complexity.

Businesses need to simplify the data layer while gaining the flexibility to manage and protect data more efficiently. To do this, they need a solution that works across cloud, on-premises infrastructure, and a hybrid environment. Keeping the environment more straightforward reduces the risks of gaps in visibility, making it harder for threat actors to access and exfiltrate data.

For organisations moving to the cloud or a hybrid environment, it becomes essential to abstract applications and data from the underlying hardware, making it possible to then port those applications and data to the public cloud. Then, organisations can run the same technology in their own environment or in the public cloud. This lets organisations develop applications once and run them anywhere.

The next big wave will see a move away from virtual machines. There is recognition that virtual machines solved a problem ten years ago when it was hard to share resources in compute and store. People have now recognised that the next evolution will be about containers, which are super small server environments that can be spun up quickly and easily. The modern app environment will be run in containers with an orchestration layer.

Containerised software can run reliably from one computing environment to another, making containers the ideal choice for a multi-cloud environment. It puts software into virtual, self-contained units so that only the dependencies needed for a particular app to run are virtualised. This dramatically reduces the burden on physical servers compared with virtual machines, reducing compute and storage needs and costs.

For this approach to deliver a strong return on investment without introducing unnecessary complexity, it's crucial for organisations to work with a cloud-native storage provider with strong experience in rapidly deploying containerised applications across multiple clouds and on-premises environments. With a single data management layer, organisations can run multi-cloud environments flexibly and cost-effectively.

The key for most organisations when it comes to data is scalability, reliability, and security. Data is an essential business asset that underpins the organisation's ability to compete and even operate. In a multi-cloud environment, managing data without losing visibility and control can become complex.

Abstracting the data management layer from the hardware lets organisations create and maintain the environment that works best for them, which is usually a multicloud approach that combines public and private cloud with on-premises infrastructure.