Cloud Solutions: Difference Between Multicloud, Intercloud, and Distributed Cloud 

Cloud Solutions: Difference Between Multicloud, Intercloud, and Distributed Cloud 

Keywords: cloud solutions, multicloud, intercloud, distributed cloud

There sure are a lot of cloud solutions out there – and the number keeps on growing! Wondering what multicloud, intercloud, and distributed cloud are? 

Centroid has got you covered with this quick guide to the latest cloud solutions terminology. 

Save time and leave the latest cloud terminology definitions to someone else. Trust Centroid to be your cloud experts, so you can get back to what really matters: running your company. Contact Centroid now. 

What Is Multicloud? 

While cloud platforms like AWS and Google refer only to “the cloud” as if there is only one cloud out there, the truth is that there are multiple clouds. (Namely: Oracle, AWS, Azure, and Google.) 

Multicloud refers to leveraging more than one of those multiple cloud solutions for your enterprise operations.

Examples include running your Oracle Autonomous Database on Oracle Cloud, analytics on Google, block storage on AWS, and Microsoft apps on Azure. Multicloud setups can also leverage SaaS apps, such as Salesforce.

In short: Multicloud is using more than one cloud solution to run your business.

What Is Intercloud?

If “multicloud” consists of using two or more cloud solutions, “intercloud” takes that usage a step further. 

Intercloud means you use more than one cloud solution to actively manage data.

In practice, this would look like a hybrid environment with its resulting complex architecture requirements, but between two or more clouds. An example would be running a Microsoft PowerBI dashboard for Salesforce data. 

A big consideration to look out for in intercloud environments are those pesky data egress charges, which are the fees you may see adding up fast as you move data out of one cloud and into another when you don’t have the right setup. 

In short: Intercloud is when you use more than one cloud to work together with the same data. 

What Is Distributed Cloud?

The “distributed cloud” is a whole new way to think about cloud solutions – one that we’ll all probably be seeing a lot more of in the future.

If you think of the cloud today, you know it is housed in specific data centers in specific regions. To ensure faster cloud communication between your end points and your cloud data, you want your data to be housed on a server in the data center nearest you. 

While this isn’t a massive consideration here in the U.S. where we have a rich infrastructure of cloud data centers, this does become an issue in different geographical regions where there may only be one cloud data center in a country or region and latency may therefore be high. Distributed cloud solves this problem by, in essence, bringing the cloud to you. 

Much like having Wi-Fi hotspots everywhere, the distributed cloud houses “mini” cloud data centers anywhere and everywhere. 

When a public cloud provider (Oracle, AWS, Azure, Google), creates this distributed cloud infrastructure, it empowers their customers to ensure that they always have reliable, fast cloud access wherever they are.

In short: Distributed cloud solves the problem of finding appropriate geographical cloud data centers because it brings the cloud to you.

Want to Know More About Cloud Solutions? Ask the Experts!

For nearly 25 years, the Oracle Cloud experts at Centroid have been helping clients across a wide range of industries get the most from their Oracle solutions. If you’re looking to move Oracle workloads to any cloud using a multicloud or intercloud model, we’re the team to trust.

As cloud pioneers behind the world’s largest Oracle IaaS / PaaS implementation, one of the most highly awarded Oracle partners in the Oracle ecosystem, and the team behind the fastest cloud migration tool in existence, Centroid are the experts to turn to for your complex Oracle Cloud needs. 

Get in touch with Centroid today.

Photo by Dominik Dancs from Unsplash