The Cloud of Clouds: Pros and Cons of Meta-Cloud Adoption

Enterprise adoption of multi-cloud strategies continues to rise as businesses ramp up cloud adoption, with 85% deploying two or more cloud platforms.

But although mixing and matching providers enables specialization and optimized pricing, it is challenging to design workloads and applications that integrate with siloed, heterogenous platforms, services, and interfaces effectively.

Disorganized infrastructure management exacerbates the problem, with redundant services, security vulnerabilities, and specialist labor shortages common issues that hinder effectiveness and efficiency.

The Meta-cloud is an emergent solution that applies an additional compatibility layer to cloud infrastructure. The enterprise-wide layer is located above disparate cloud platforms and handles common capabilities required by every platform, such as:

• Data storage
• Computation and processing
• Cloud ecosystem security
• Cloud operational governance
• Container orchestration and management
• Common database services

By imposing central control over dispersed cloud enterprises, meta-clouds can achieve significant cost and process efficiencies by standardizing cloud procedures across providers. Meta-cloud operators can leverage cloud services on their terms, rather than depending on compatibilities determined by CSPs.

In this blog, we’ve gathered 3 reasons to adopt the fledging technology – and a primer on its challenges for early adopters.

The meta-cloud has the greatest impact on operational vision of cloud resources, processes, and ongoing activity. Access to common resources from the compatibility layer enables the establishment of a unified call-level interface (CLI).

The interface functions as a central command center, giving developers vision and control of CSP platforms and services via standardized APIs. Specific advantages include:

• Streamlined management and maintenance. With automated resource provisioning, scaling, and cost optimization processes, less time is spent on run-type tasks that keep functions running
• Enhanced flexibility and capacity when onboarding cloud platforms. Reduced maintenance costs make it easier to integrate new solutions without extensive changes to cloud architecture
• Accelerated detection of redundancies, technical debt, and other inefficiencies as they emerge
• Faster process speeds. AI and automated tools can manage knowledge-sharing between public clouds, further accelerating processes and responses

Operational centralization and enhanced process vision also benefit cloud security. Shared meta-cloud resources mitigate many of the risks inherent to fragmented multi-cloud strategies. Security benefits include:

• Standardized security configurable to every provider. Instead of siloed security arrangements for each CSP platform, the meta-cloud’s CLI standardizes security requirements and implementations
• A staging area for security measures before deployment to specific providers, such as:
  • DevSecOps/FinOps applications and solutions
  • Vulnerability management processes
  • DR, BCP, and failover and failback contingencies
• Swift detection and elimination of redundant services, reducing threat surfaces and enhancing privacy on public clouds

The ongoing IT talent shortage makes qualified cloud professionals rare commodities. Meta-clouds can help existing teams do more with less by:

• Reducing the need for specialists dedicated to particular platforms
• Freeing personnel from run tasks with automation, leaving them with the time to add strategic value to high-value tasks
• Compressing staff training times and streamlining learning cycles by adopting standardized, general meta-cloud skillsets
• Shortening task turnaround and minimizing the chance of misalignment between cloud platform teams with simplified command and communication structures

Leveraging more with fewer IT staff drives further efficiencies in solutions development, deployment, and maintenance workflows. Resource utilization is continuously optimized as meta-cloud expertise is incorporated into knowledge centers and adaptations streamline operations further.

Despite clear advantages, the road to widespread meta-cloud adoption and development is fraught with obstacles. Businesses should be aware of the difficulties and dangers of implementing and calibrating meta-clouds, such as:

• Introducing additional complexity. A poor CLI configuration misaligned with API setups will introduce more complexity, leading to technical debt, process vision blind spots, and delayed process times as teams get lost navigating the compatibility layer
• Lack of CSP support due to provider commoditization. The business case for meta-clouds can be hampered by a lack of vendor support, as CSPs offering the meta-cloud’s hyperscaling and simplicity-as-a-service functions negate their competitive advantages and differentiation in the market
• Developmental challenges. Few vendors are offering meta-cloud solutions due to the provider commoditization effect. Calibration via trial and error will be needed to achieve compatibility efficiencies between common points of interaction, like APIs and service provider interfaces

The meta-cloud is only the latest emergent solution to the multi-cloud dilemma. It may yet prove a mere interim solution. Cloud has historically favored consolidation by re-factoring or tightening license utilization – not middleware or additional orchestration engines.

The concept is young, and the jury is out as to whether it will take off or fizzle out. Consult cloud experts to keep up with the rapid evolution of cloud solutions and discover those that suit your needs best.