Hybrid Cloud vs Multi Cloud

Cloud computing has proliferated both in its popularity, as well as its scope. Businesses today use cloud computing to meet a number of their needs. Cloud ecosystem today is filled with a number of different things that were unheard of before. Just as the National Weather Service defines clouds to be of 10 basic types, “the digital cloud” is also the main force behind digital transformation.

In the world today where the terms for the types of clouds are increasing every passing day almost exponentially, it has become difficult for the users to differentiate between them. According to a report by RightScale, there are at least 6 different clouds accessed by an average business. The most common question to ask in this case is whether it is a multi-cloud solution or a hybrid cloud solution.

When you are comparing multi-cloud with hybrid-cloud, the differences appear to be insignificant for most of the people. Even many well-informed people use the two terms interchangeably. To be able to get a cloud solution that suits your needs, understanding these two cloud systems is very important. 

Hybrid Cloud

What is it?

A mix of an on-premises private cloud and a third-party public cloud with a connection and orchestration between the two. There are two types of clouds in this case, an external cloud and the one used on premises, or a public and a private one. It allows the burstability of a public cloud and the security of a private cloud.

• Hybrid cloud always includes public and private clouds.
• The components of a hybrid cloud work together. This allows for processes and data to intersect and intermingle in a hybrid environment

Multi-Cloud

What is it?

As the name suggests, multi cloud allows for the use of a mix and match of different cloud services from different service providers. It is used to meet specific workload needs but the different services are neither orchestrated nor connected with one another. Multi-cloud is actually more of a strategy. You will not find any vendor saying here is our multi-cloud.

• Multiple-cloud always includes multiple public clouds and can also involve virtual and physical infrastructure. It can include private clouds as well.
• Multiple-cloud makes use of different clouds that are used for different task.

What’s on the Horizon?

While the different types of cloud deployments tend to be confusing, it gives various options to the IT professionals and teams to meet the specific needs of each business unit of the organization. There is now need to prioritize or compromise one process over another. There is no need for the users to compromise too. The demand for bandwidth, in both multi and hybrid cloud system, is met without the trouble of slowing down other processes. Different levels of security can also be executed while only authenticated users can store and access data.

Now that you know the differences between hybrid and multi-cloud systems, you will be able to make a better choice for your organization based on its specific needs.