The rise of hybrid IT environments and widespread multi-cloud adoption for AI, security, and global expansion, coupled with forecasts indicating that businesses spending on cloud computing infrastructure will surpass $1 trillion for the first time this year – have introduced a pressing need for organizations to streamline operations. Supercloud networking proposes to do just that.
The term “Supercloud” has been circulating for a few years now, and this is a concept gaining significant momentum in cloud networking. Though some may dismiss it as merely another buzzword in a sea of tech jargon, Supercloud embodies a vision rather than a specific technology like eBPF or WASM. It aims to untangle the intricate web of management complexities that organizations face due to inherent differences in tools and APIs required to deploy, operate, and monitor apps and APIs across various cloud platforms.
To grasp the significance of the Supercloud and its potential value, it is crucial to understand both the advantages and obstacles of multi-cloud deployments.
Distinguished Engineer & Chief Evangelist at F5.
So, what exactly is Supercloud?
In my view, “Supercloud, at its core, is a cloud architecture that enables hybrid IT to seamlessly operate every layer of the IT stack across different cloud providers, traditional on-premises setups and cloud environments, and at the edge.”
So, to turn this vision into a reality, we need to start by addressing the foundational layer of the IT stack: infrastructure. That’s the connective tissue between the data center and public cloud – the networking layers that make it possible for consumers to consume, clients to call, and packets to pass from one place to another. The solution proposed to simplify connectivity is often called multi-cloud networking or MCN in the market.
Fundamentally, multi-cloud networking simplifies connectivity by standardizing the way networks are established and operate across all environments – be it public or private cloud, in the data center or even at the edge. By creating a unified networking mesh across all properties and when approached strategically, multi-cloud networking can help organizations to eliminate the complexity of multi-cloud environments. It achieves this by employing consistent constructs, configurations, and management consoles to operate and monitor across all locations. This approach enhances security, performance and scalability, enabling businesses to adapt more quickly to changing demands.
However, not all multi-cloud networking solutions offer the same capabilities. Therefore, it’s crucial to evaluate the solution for both its security and application performance optimization abilities, as well as to connect multiple properties.
Evaluating the solution
For many businesses looking beyond the time and money saving opportunities of cloud migration, there will still be significant challenges. These often revolve around security and data protection issues. So, without comprehensive security measures, the solution only eliminates some of the complexity while leaving the challenge of applying consistent security across all applications unaddressed. As a consequence, organizations risk leaving applications vulnerable to cyber threats, undermining the integrity of their entire IT infrastructure. That being said, incorporating these Supercloud services into a multi-cloud networking solution further streamlines operations by offering scandalized tools and a unified management console.
Complexity introduced by the need to optimize application performance is just as important to address – since no one connects clouds just for the pleasure of connecting clouds. Organizations leverage multiple clouds to achieve global reach, or accelerate growth through rapid scale, or nowadays, to take advantage of AI services to gain a competitive advantage. So as the need to adopt new platforms and as-a-service offerings grows, optimizing application performance is crucial to maximizing the benefits of multi-cloud environments.
Those uses ultimately mean applications and APIs – and applications need application services. These are security and delivery technologies that optimize, secure, and scale applications and APIs. They are a part of the connective tissue, often surfacing as proxy-based solutions that provide capabilities like identifying and stopping bots, defending against DDoS, and automatically adjusting delivery location to ensure the best user experience possible.
These services, too, add to the complex ball of yarn that makes delivering digital services today an often frustrating – and costly – task. Multi-cloud networking that includes application services as part and parcel of the solution can offer the same benefits of standardization as that of the network – lower cost, similar tools, and a single console through which to manage them.
Tackling the complexities of multi-cloud
In summary, the ideal multi-cloud networking solution should address the following challenges that customers face when operating across multiple cloud and data center environments:
1. Ensuring consistent security for all applications and APIs
2. Managing complexity and costs associated with diverse tools, APIs, and consoles
3. Optimizing application performance
For nearly a decade, these challenges have consistently topped the list of multi-cloud challenges. Supercloud aims to address these issues, with multi-cloud networking serving as the foundational building block for achieving this vision.
Multi-cloud networking should be designed to tackle these complexities of multi-cloud operations and pave the way for a more streamlined approach to hybrid IT management.
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