AWS, are you there? ??

In a digital era heavily reliant on cloud computing, a recent Amazon Web Services (AWS) outage left thousands of websites and applications unusable for several hours.

The disruptive event not only impacted some high-profile businesses (e.g. Nike, McDonald’s and Netflix, just to name a few) and their customers — it’s also shed light on the vulnerabilities associated with relying on a single cloud deployment model.

For this month’s edition of the Proact Pulse, I’d like to explore the importance of adopting a hybrid architecture to achieve redundancy and failover capabilities, mitigate risks and ensure uninterrupted operations in the face of unforeseen challenges.

The risks of single-cloud dependency

Public cloud providers such as AWS offer numerous benefits including scalability, cost-effectiveness and simplified management. But the recent outage serves as a stark reminder of the risks involved when a business has all its critical data in one place — whether this is private or public cloud, or even on-premises in a data centre.

Despite robust infrastructures, even the most reliable cloud providers can experience unforeseen downtime. This can result from hardware failures, network issues, cyberattacks and more. These outages can cripple businesses, leading to significant revenue losses and reputational damage.

And while they weren’t a part of this incident, there are two more risks usually associated with cloud dependency: Data loss and vendor lock-in.

Data loss: Although generally secure, cloud providers aren’t immune to data breaches or accidental data loss. So relying solely on one cloud provider for data storage and backups increases the chances of losing critical information, compromising business continuity and exposing sensitive data to potential breaches.

Vendor lock-in: Exclusive dependence on a single cloud provider can make it challenging to switch platforms or negotiate favourable terms. This lack of flexibility can hinder an organisation's ability to adapt to changing business needs or leverage emerging technologies.

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How hybrid cloud architectures can help

Organisations are increasingly implementing hybrid cloud architectures to avoid the challenges outlined above. Combining the best of both public and private cloud environments, a well-designed hybrid cloud provides a strategic approach to leverage their respective strengths.

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Here's how a hybrid architecture can enhance business continuity:

Redundancy and failover: By integrating a mix of deployment models, applications and data can be replicated and distributed across multiple environments, ensuring high availability and minimising the impact of a single cloud provider outage.

Optimal workload placement: With hybrid cloud, organisations can allocate workloads to the most suitable environment based on performance requirements, data sensitivity and compliance regulations.

Critical applications can be hosted on-premises or in a private cloud, while less sensitive workloads can utilise the scalability of the public cloud. This flexibility optimises resource utilisation and enhances overall system performance. It also equates to happy customers accessing the organisation’s websites or applications.

Additionally, hybrid cloud setups can incorporate robust security measures tailored to the unique needs of each environment, ensuring data integrity and protecting against cyber threats.

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Why rely on a partner for hybrid cloud?

Implementing hybrid cloud on your own can be daunting. A more widely distributed architecture provides more opportunities for attack, and it can also be difficult to find employees with the competencies required to manage multiple types of deployment models.

The right partner can offer expertise in architecting, securing and managing hybrid deployments. With our deep understanding of diverse cloud technologies, Proact empowers businesses to reduce their dependency on a single deployment model — ensuring maximum availability and mitigating risks associated with outages or data loss.

Find out more about how to:

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—?????even in the face of unforeseen challenges, by visiting proact.eu/cloud-transformation