Unveiling the hottest trends in technology: My journey into Platform Engineering and Cloud Repatriation

Over the past couple of months, I’ve had the privilege of attending several conferences and meet-ups, immersing myself in vibrant discussions and absorbing fascinating insights about the current trends in the technology industry.?

Two key themes have consistently emerged during these events: Platform Engineering and Cloud Repatriation. Their prominence was primarily discussed outside the conference hall over a Beer or slice of Pizza. The subsequent discussions have led me to believe these are critical subjects worth delving into and sharing thoughts about.

That’s not to say that some of these topics didn’t come up during the events themselves,

as you can see from my previous posts. Platform engineering has been talked about “all over” the industry. But I must admit that the more exciting conversations did happen while sitting in the breakout rooms and most certainly by the bar, where I was either butting heads with people on the subject or speaking with like-minded folks “All forms of debate” are good in my book!

A better life with platform engineering

Platform Engineering is a term that is gaining a lot of traction in today’s tech landscape. It is a transformative concept, reshaping how we approach IT infrastructure and development operations.?

Although there are many objectives for the platform engineering paradigm, “in the main,” the goal is to create a self-service environment where developers have the freedom and the resources to innovate without getting bogged down by operational stuff. This shift in approach is not merely about providing a set of tools but developing a service that promotes efficiency, agility, and innovation.?

This thinking is closely aligned with technology widely, but it makes more sense, somehow, because people are at the core of it. And let’s be honest; everyone wants a more leisurely life and more freedom to express themselves in a job they love! I can see why developers want to do just that !!

What I found interesting

The three key pillars of a successful platform engineering program are self-service, platform operations, and platform as a product. The self-service aspect is driven by on-demand cloud infrastructure and aims to eliminate the need for developers to rely on internal IT teams for approval and things like script execution.?

The platform operations pillar leans towards the Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) approach, focusing on providing a reliable platform-level service. Lastly, it seems that viewing the platform “as a product” itself truly can be transformative and turns developers into ‘internal customers’ and so encourages a gravity well where developers will play a more critical role in decision-making processes.?

This is very cool and what we are all genuinely aiming for!?

“I have written a previous Blogg on the subject of Developer experience you can find it here”

https://virtuslab.com/blog/great-developer-experience-is-key-to-success/

Here comes the twist: Cloud repatriation

On the other hand, the trend of Cloud Repatriation caught my attention for its counter-intuitive nature. The concept refers to transferring workloads from public cloud infrastructure to on-premises or private cloud environments.?

The reasons driving this trend are the increasing costs of public cloud services and the complexity of complying with different regulations. This was always a tricky conversation, but more or less, “in the conversations I had,” loose agreement had been reached; we agreed at least that looking into this more might benefit a business and most certainly has benefits beyond the critical drivers mentioned here.

Fascinating controversies that caught my attention

So we go full circle, one minute, we want all in the cloud, and now we want to bring that back? The truth is that cloud-agnostic solutions are now the future and certainly backed up by some of my conversations, hybrid solutions are the focus for many regulated markets.?

Cloud-native is being adopted more now than ever, and one day in the not-too-distant future, the power will be back in the hands of customers, not the vendors/hyperscalers.

The Cloud has been a catalyst for digital transformation for years now. In some cases, it has also led to uncontrolled and unforeseen increased expenses, with worldwide cloud infrastructure expenses witnessing a year-over-year increase of 28% in Q3 of 2022. Moreover, it is projected that costs will rise further in 2023.?

Adding to this, compliance challenges have only made the situation more complex. As a result, businesses are increasingly exploring the idea of cloud repatriation to reduce overheads and streamline compliance.

Let’s back up a second

It’s important to note that cloud repatriation isn’t about altogether abandoning the public cloud. Instead, it’s about optimising hybrid strategies and achieving what the industry now calls optimum “workload placement” so having workloads reside wherever they are best suited.

A significant example of cloud repatriation is Dropbox, which saved nearly $75M over two years by moving most of its workloads from the public cloud to its custom-built infrastructure. But this trend isn’t limited to just a few companies.

My reflection on an inspiring journey

In summary, Platform Engineering and Cloud Repatriation are two significant trends shaping the current IT landscape. And I am sure we will hear much more about them.

Let’s continue to explore, discuss, and share ideas about these subjects, as they will undoubtedly play a vital role in the future of tech.

Few supporting links

https://itseotechblog.com/with-curiosity-in-cloud-repatriation-on-the-rise-platform-engineering-eases-builders-ache-of-on-prem-database-?

https://a16z.com/2021/05/27/cost-of-cloud-paradox-market-cap-cloud-lifecycle-scale-growth-repatriation-optimization/

https://virtuslab.com/blog/cloud-cost-reduction-strategy-wp/