Cloud Computing at the Edge: From Evolution to Disruption
Cloud computing has revolutionized the way businesses procure and manage their IT resources and operations, offering scalability, flexibility and cost-efficiency. Predominantly, cloud computing utilizes a centralized approach where a relatively small number of very large data centers provide IT services worldwide.
As the demand for more localized yet interconnected IT services grows, the cloud model is adapting to provide localized IT services too. The ongoing response of cloud computing to IT requirements at the edge of the network is undergoing a significant change by moving away from incremental advancements to the legacy cloud model, and toward disruptive transformations that may lead to an entirely new approach for cloud computing.
From the outset, these phases of change are similar to the phases experienced during the transformation of the car industry from internal combustion engines (ICEs) to electric engines. The first phase was the hybrid car followed by the second phase of battery electric vehicles (BEV).
In the first phase, hybrid cars emerged as an evolution of the standard internal combustion engine vehicles. They leverage a small electric engine to provide several advantages over cars utilizing only gas-powered engines. However, they still depend on ICEs due to the limitations of their electric engine. They also didn’t require major changes to the ecosystem since they leverage existing gas stations and the service and support infrastructure that was already in place for gas-powered cars.
The emergence of BEVs was disruptive. BEVs eliminate the need for ICEs altogether, opening up new opportunities while threatening the very existence of ICEs. However, unlike hybrid, this phase was not obvious and straightforward. To fully leverage the advantages of BEV, a new ecosystem had to be built and a new network of charging stations had to be deployed all over the country. Therefore, this disruption took a long time and required significant investment. But as we all know, it dramatically changed the car landscape for the benefit of all of users, generating winners and losers along the way.
Similarly, there are pros and cons for the two phases of change for cloud computing — incremental and disruptive — that require definition and exploration to better anticipate the future of cloud computing.
Understanding the Phases
Phase 1: Incremental Advancements – Evolution
Phase one of cloud computing support of the edge focuses on incremental advancements aimed at bridging the gap between traditional on-premises infrastructure and the cloud. One example of such evolution is AWS Outpost, a hybrid cloud solution introduced by Amazon Web Services. AWS Outpost enables organizations to deploy AWS infrastructure and services on premises, offering an extension of the AWS cloud into local data centers. However, despite providing increased flexibility and data sovereignty, solutions like AWS Outpost have limited functionality, require a connection to the centralized cloud, and can’t communicate on a peer-to-peer basis with other on-premises instances, thereby limiting their independence, autonomy and sovereignty.
Phase 2: Disruptive Transformation – Paradigm Shift
Phase 2 marks a shift toward disruptive transformations in cloud computing, characterized by the emergence of scalable multicloud architectures that prioritize local services across hundreds and thousands of locations, and interconnectedness via peer-to-peer communications between cloud instances. Unlike traditional centralized cloud models, where all data processing and storage occur in a single location, multicloud environments distribute workloads across multiple cloud locations and potentially multiple cloud providers. These clouds serve clients locally to minimize latency, enhance performance and improve security. These edge clouds communicate with each other, exchanging data and processing to optimize all available cloud resources and add value for users. The allocation and distribution of compute and data resources is done behind the scenes, so organizations get the benefits of both cloud computing and a localized service with increased resiliency and performance without additional complexity.
The Pros and Cons of Phase 1
Advancements in cloud computing play a vital role in bridging the gap between traditional on-premises infrastructure and the more modern cloud-based environment. Hybrid cloud solutions such as AWS Outpost are an example of this transition, providing organizations with heightened flexibility and data sovereignty. These solutions allow businesses to maintain control over their data while simultaneously tapping into the scalability and agility offered by cloud platforms. Organizations can run workloads on premises, leveraging local resources and capabilities provided by the cloud provider to integrate with centralized cloud services, initiating a gradual transition toward more inclusive cloud infrastructure. This incremental approach not only lessens the chances of potential disruptions but also provides businesses with the time to optimize their resources and operations.
Relying solely on the centralized cloud for specific functionalities can hamper an organization’s autonomy and independence within their digital infrastructure. While hybrid solutions that integrate on-premises and cloud-based resources offer a middle ground, they can introduce complexities in management and integration processes.
Managing disparate systems and ensuring communication between on-premises and cloud environments can pose challenges for IT teams when addressing latency, scale and cost. Additionally, the hybrid nature of deployments raises concerns about data security and compliance. The existence of sensitive data across multiple platforms necessitates robust security measures to safeguard against potential breaches or regulatory violations. While hybrid solutions provide a flexible approach to cloud adoption for services at the edge, organizations must navigate these complexities to maintain the integrity and security of their data.
While hybrid cloud solutions provide a cloud experience from an operational point of view, they are not supporting the flexible consumption-based pricing model of the cloud. Organizations must purchase or lease IT resources for on-premises deployment up front from the cloud provider rather than on demand. And while they can scale up, they can’t scale down and reduce cost if their usage is reduced. Moreover, the fact that the local extensions can only communicate with the centralized cloud and can’t communicate among them is a major limitation to the scalability of this model.
Disruption Brings Transformative Change in Phase 2
Scalable multicloud architectures offer a robust solution to address IT services at the edge of the network. They provide a comprehensive cloud experience at multiple locations. Proximity to users enhances performance, particularly for localized services and applications, by reducing latency and improving responsiveness. Interconnected clouds facilitate seamless data exchange and collaboration, supporting innovation and agility within organizations.
This approach enables data sovereignty and mitigates the risk of downtime and data loss by providing redundancy and resilience across multiple clouds. Interconnectedness allows businesses to utilize the strength of cloud platforms while mitigating the limitations of individual sites and providers, ultimately helping them to optimize their operations and drive competitive advantage in the digital landscape.
The largest challenge of phase 2 is the complexity associated with the deployment, interconnection and management of multiple clouds on a peer-to-peer basis. While it is going to take time to deploy such a configuration at a large scale across multiple cloud providers, limited configurations deployed by a single cloud provider are already available.
Managing multiple sites and multiple cloud providers presents a more challenging task. Compatibility issues often emerge between different cloud platforms, necessitating efforts in standardization and interoperability to ensure seamless integration and operation. Despite these challenges, the advantages of phase 2 are huge, and unlike phase 1, phase 2 has the potential to replace the centralized cloud computing model altogether. It’s very possible that the same transformation that took place in the on-premises world, where distributed client server architectures replaced the centralized model of mainframes and minicomputers, will repeat itself in the cloud computing world.
As cloud computing continues to evolve, transitioning from incremental advancements to disruptive transformations, businesses must adapt to harness the full potential of these developments. While first-phase solutions like AWS Outpost offer immediate benefits in bridging the gap between traditional and cloud infrastructure, phase 2 of scalable interconnected multicloud architectures present new opportunities for innovation, better performance and collaboration.
By understanding the definitions as well as the pros and cons of each phase, organizations can navigate the evolving cloud landscape, ensuring they remain agile, resilient and competitive, especially for workloads that have required localized IT.
