eWEEKChat

A3. Probably the single biggest I have comr across is consistency across environments. If you draw a matrix of capabilities (vs) hyperscaler - you'll see holes and inconsistencies that will make your head hurt. Each service - compute, network, data will have nuances

A3: Complexity involved when using vendors that have different management, monitoring, security, and service offerings. It can quickly become a combinatorial challenge to keep apps in multiple clouds operating properly, along with skill breadth issues

A3: Interoperability, central management, and security as the multicloud universe expands

A3: One challenge we see is getting visibility into the entire application / service stack, particularly large enterprises who run on-prem, #cloud & #mainframe – where their business services span #multicloud (&datacenter) environments.

...and trying to achieve consistency with an inconsistent underlying set of capabilities is not easy

@bernardgolden ultimately its about ensuring a consistent experience across multicloud platforms.

A3 Multicloud does not mean least common denominator, providing a consistent user experience while taking advantage of the underlying cloud provider's capabilities is the balancing act.

A3 This is where open really helps IMO. Open APIs, Open protocols and formats can really help drive consistency cleanly

@ramvzz So open source is the holy grail of multi cloud computing?

A3: Open source is a way of achieving consistent functionality and operations across clouds; however, it comes with the cost of taking on curation, integration, and operation of the user's open source components.

org model. ITops is not the way.

@cloudDay_2 (liebow has joined the chat -- technical problems)

@cloudDay_2 What's wrong with ITops in this context?

A3 I find many orgs start down the path of DIY systems based on open source, but find that it requires more investment and ongoing involvement than first assessed.

Open source has its challenges too, but in this context, its powerful, especially compared to the alternative

treating the cloud like just another data center is not the model. You'll hit a wall with antiquated processes and tools.

A2: The simple answer: cost & functionality. Every #cloud provider is looking to differentiate themselves from each other - evolving from purely #Infrastructure as a Service to delivering an extensive Platform as a Services with a broad range of managed services.

A2: Ongoing cloud migrations, cloud competition, vendor lock-in, domain-specific solutions, and redundancy as cyber threats increase

A2. If you focus on whats driving this from within the Enterprise, really 3

A2: Its' customer needs. Optionality is underrated except when you need it. With evolving cost and risk concerns, customers are looking for solutions that best fit their needs, be it on another cloud than their primary choice or even onprem.

1) Multiple business units with each BU having autonomy to make cloud and devops decisions 2) M&A - when a company acquires another 3) app centric development - where some workloads run better on 1 cloud vs other

@ramvzz Love this: " Optionality is underrated except when you need it."

@ramvzz +1 on customer needs. choice and optionality rule this decision in a staggering way

A2: and, as @ramsba pointed out, inevitably a company acquires another which has made a different cloud provider choice and, whoops, you're multi-cloud!

@bernardgolden spot on. one day you are consciously single cloud, one acquisition later boom - you have to deal with multicloud complexity

@bernardgolden "Acqui-Cloud" :)

A2: One topic that has been mentioned so far - regulatory compliance. Customers sometimes have to consider alternative clouds to stay compliant with emerging regulations regarding data governance. For them multicloud is existential.

A2 Heh

@ramvzz Yes, have frequently seen that with financial firms.

A1. Depends largely on the size. Large Enterprise multicloud usage is higher and growing. But as a general principle (for both technical / commercial reasons) most anchor to one cloud and have tentacles as needed on other clouds. Not uncommon to see 90-10 #eweekchat

A1 I would say most customers have multi-cloud plans and typically have systems running in most clouds, but more a case of one app here and one app there rather than an integrated strategy with consistent architectures, operational practices, etc.

@bernardgolden An element of chaos involved? Or not really?

A1: The answer depends on the org. Every customer is on a journey to cloud – typically #multicloud – but are in all different stages and for the most part continuing to expand #cloud adoption.

A1: should have said several clouds, not most. Agree with @ramsba statement about current usage following Pareto principle, but many orgs desire deployment flexibility to more broadly spread deployments percentages.

A1: A fast-growing market with major second-tier tech players making moves to take share from the big three.

@Chris_Ehrlich Definitely a big group of other players attempting to grab share. And succeeding in various niches.

chaos certainly for a variety of reasons

@ramsba Those reasons for chaos include....?

3 primarily - architecture, team / org structure and ops. The choice you make on multicloud will be largely influencing the above