What is the difference between a hybrid cloud and multicloud approach?

Let’s understand the concepts of hybrid and multicloud strategies.

Both hybrid and multicloud solutions consist of using multiple cloud services, but there are key differences. Let's learn about the concepts of hybrid and multicloud strategies and their main difference.

What is a hybrid cloud?

A hybrid cloud solution is a cloud computing strategy that involves a company combining a private cloud solution (e.g., a dedicated cloud for the company in its internal data center) and a public cloud solution (e.g., a cloud provided by an external cloud service provider) and using them as a single integrated infrastructure. That is, companies utilize cloud technologies to maintain partial data and applications on-premises for security or compliance issues while using cloud services for other parts. This allows companies to spread their workloads out between their own data centers and cloud services.

What is multicloud?

Multicloud is the use of multiple cloud service providers. Multicloud allows companies to utilize multiple cloud services and enhance the availability and scalability of their services. This means that companies can use multiple cloud services on demand, since a multicloud approach optimizes the properties of each cloud solution. For example, one cloud provider may offer optimized large-scale data processing, and another may be better suited for high-performance processing, such as real-time traffic engineering. In this case, a company can use the multicloud architecture to choose services with the best performance from each provider. Multicloud solutions offer a flexible combination of multiple cloud services, allowing companies to achieve their business goals; however, there are things to keep in mind. In order to seamlessly integrate into a single environment, you must consider service compatibility, data mobility, security, and regulatory compliance across multiple cloud architectures. That is why proper integration and management tools are necessary to implement multicloud architecture.

With multicloud solutions, companies can establish an optimized cloud strategy by choosing individual cloud services for certain workloads or purposes this way.

Let’s understand the main difference between hybrid and multicloud.

The hybrid cloud strategy utilizes different types of cloud services by mixing a private cloud and public cloud. On the other hand, the multicloud strategy uses multiple public clouds, but it

simultaneously deploys clouds of different cloud service providers.

Hybrid cloud solutions focus on protecting sensitive data and applications, leaving general tasks to public cloud solutions. By contrast, the significance of a multicloud strategy lies in using multiple cloud providers in a single integrated environment to lower dependency on a specific vendor and enhance availability and cost efficiency.

Let’s understand hybrid and multicloud using a transportation analogy.

A hybrid cloud approach is like using both your car and public transportation.

By using your car, you can store or move things safely while maintaining a certain degree of security and privacy. On the other hand, public transportation allows you to avoid traffic and save on costs. By using both your car and public transportation, you can retain security and flexibility at the same time.

A multicloud approach is like using multiple forms of public transportation.

Each method of transportation helps you get to various destinations or provides different advantages. By using many different forms of public transportations, you can choose the best way to get to your destination and enhance punctuality since you can use other transportation when there is a problem with one of them.

By now, you probably understand the differences between hybrid and multicloud. To summarize, a hybrid cloud solution focuses on data security and flexibility, whereas a multicloud solution focuses on service availability and minimizing vendor dependency. It gives companies options to choose between a hybrid cloud and a multicloud according to their requirements and business goals.

Let’s take a look at some use cases of hybrid and multicloud solutions.

Effective use case of a hybrid cloud #1: Bank

Banks oversee sensitive information, such as customer data and transaction data in their internal private clouds. This approach enhances their data security. Meanwhile, the general work of providing customer services, such as websites or mobile applications, can be processed in a public cloud environment, allowing banks to increase flexibility and reduce costs.

Effective use case of a hybrid cloud #2: Medical institution

Medical institutions maintain data security by storing sensitive information, including patient data and medical records, in private clouds. Conversely, a public cloud solution handles business processes, such as collaboration tools for research and website management.

Effective use case of a multicloud #1: Online streaming service

A multicloud strategy can be deployed to provide streaming services for movies or TV programs to minimize service interruptions. You can choose the best combination after comparing availability, performance, and cost efficiency of each cloud service provider (CSP). For example, you can combine Samsung Cloud Platform (SCP), Amazon Web Services (AWS), and Microsoft Azure. If one of the cloud service providers you use has a breakdown, you can quickly switch to your other provider to minimize service interruptions.

Effective use case of a multicloud #2: Global manufacturer

Global manufacturing companies can use a multicloud solution to comply with different regional requirements and regulations by region. They can select optimized cloud service providers by country in consideration of their data center locations and services. For instance, a Korean sales site can use Samsung Cloud Platform (SCP), while an American sales site can use an Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud. This helps minimize vendor dependency and provides consistent services to customers worldwide.

Effective use case of a multicloud #3: Software development company

A multicloud strategy can be useful for software development companies as well. For example, you can use features of Google Cloud Platform, which is the current leader of machine learning and artificial intelligence, and at the same time, you can use Lambda of Amazon Web services (AWS) for its serverless computing capability to optimize resource use and management. Also, Samsung Cloud Platform (SCP) can be used together for fast, stable network services that are optimized for various cloud environments with its networking products.

From these cases, you can see how hybrid cloud and multicloud strategies can be applied to various scenarios and business requirements. To conclude, a hybrid cloud strategy focuses on data security, whereas a multicloud strategy emphasizes minimizing vendor dependency and service availability. However, selecting a strategy depends on company requirements, business goals, data security, and vendor dependency.

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