Cloud Repatriation - Buzzword or a Logical Trend
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Public cloud has been on the market for a pretty long time. In 2006 AWS came, in 2008 came GCP and in 2010 Azure. The advent of the Big Three brough the hopes of lower prices, lower operations costs and savings on licenses. But these platforms have not fulfilled the hopes.
We have asked IT professionals in a poll where do these professionals think companies will probably head ti within the cloud repatriation process (March 2024). Not one of those who voted thought that companies will opt out for returning to own servers.
So companies started to look for alternatives to the public cloud – because it has not delivered on the promises. After the initial hype, many companies arrived at higher costs and vendor lock-in.
And outside of the little steps, cloud repatriation entered the stage – that is leaving the public cloud and transferring activities namely to on-premise solutions or to a physical infrastructure managed a provider.
A nicely done study was published by Kiran Jewargi – Public Cloud to Cloud Repatriation Trend. We will cite some of the main points and if you interested in more details, the whole study is linked above.
What Is Cloud Repatriation?
We have already mentioned that cloud depatriation in general is the transition from the large public cloud providers to on-premise solutions. However, this definition is very limited and it would be more appropriate to say that companies are choosing alternative solutions to hyperscaled puublic clouds. Regardless of their format.
An important aspect is the company viewing its IT not as a whole, but as a sum of activities that are individually defined by their needs. The initial problemm with unfulfilled hopes stems from the fact that the companies mindlessly jumped after the services of big brands without actually verifiying that that is the right step for themm.
Such companies were the victims of ads slogans tempting with all the benefits that could actually never come true for the company in questions.
What Reasons Do Companies Have for Cloud Repatriation?
We will look at them in more detail than just as a loss of illusion. We have mentioned in the beginning that public cloud lured with finances, licenses and better management.
FinanceS
Public cloud has undoubtedly saved companies a lot in investment costs for hardware. Since this area has been fully in the hands of the provider, the customer didn’t have to take care of anything in this sense. But – the costs that were saved on investments waas then transformed into the costs for specific service properties that should not have had a price tag in the first place.
Logically, when I acquire cloud, I pay for renting the computing resources – procssors, RAMs and storage. That is completely fine. Bus public cloud has been demanding its customers to pay fees for turning on the servers or transferring data. All financial benefits have then been morphed into a pretty nasty nightmare.
Besides these items are quite often listed on an invoice in a way that makes it almost impossible to figure out what is actually covered by the fee. Another advantage down the drain – transparency.
LicenceS
At first glance, it is a logical decision to go to Azure since Microsoft is the provider of operating system licenses. It should mean better price for the licenses for your virtual servers.
But then the reality hit with its force – licenses do have better prices but your whole environment is then locked with a provider that will not let you go anywhere. You can catch more flies with honey than vinegar but no easy way out exists. And we are not only talking about Azure.
Better management
Of course it is more comfortable to manage IT environment online than run around a server room with yards of cables. But an knot is as easily made on a piece of wire as on your brain.
Public cloud introduced pre-configured sets of virtual servers that don’t match specific needs. You have to settle for the next best thing. And you can also be penalized for wanting some thing more, say faster storage – the faster the storage, the larger it has to be.
What Decision Can You Make with Regard to Repatriation?
Even though public cloud has not really made the best impression, the reality is not that it is a rotten solution we have to get rid of. We are back at the basic truth overlooked by many companies – each firm has to analyze its needs and based on the findings make an informmed decision. Then the decision is is based on relevant data and not on y hype or feeling. As The Clash would say – should I stay or should I go?
The first crucial idea is that not all clouds are the same. Public cloud from a global provider is not the only option. A second crucial idea is not to perceive your whole IT as one homogenous whole. That is not the truth – each activity or application, each system or process, they all have requirement that are very specific. It is, therefore, not possible to generalize the appropriate environment for everything at once.
maintain the current solution
Yes, that is of course an option. Your analysis can tell you that services of public cloud by a large provider can be the most beneficial to you. This can be from the point of view of related services that just cannot be replates and it would not make economical sense to built everything from the ground up somewhere else. Reasons can differ but the main thing is to build them on the right information.
move to a hybrid cloud
If you are thinking about exchanging a public cloud for physical infrastructure, maybe you don’t have to sacrifice either. Hybrid cloud is a combination of physical infrastructure and cloud. If then some activities in your company cannot be run on a public cloud, just leave there only those that enjoy it.
move to a multicloud
As the name suggests – multiple clouds is also an option. If you want to maintain something in the public cloud but you want to move other activities somewhere else – not physical infrastructure – then another cloud solution could be an option that will cover the remaining needs.
migrate to a local provider
As we have already mentioned, not all clouds are the same. Public cloud from the Big Three is not the only public cloud available. You can also approach local providers – some of them focus on a truly personal approach which is something that is missing from a public cloud in general.
You can also switch from a virtual privare server to a virtual data center, or from SaaS to IaaS. There are many options and it would be a shame to damn a potentially eficient silution based on a bad experience with a totally different service just because there is a link to cloud.
switching to private cloud
Then you can also use physical infrastructure in a lit bit different way. Private cloud enables you to fully move your IT to your own physical infrastructure while the operation is maximally efficient thanks to virtualization. So you basically have public cloud on your own servers.
using collocation
Not all companies are like Dropbox that can leave AWS and build its own data center. For such cases, you can always use a data center as a service. Collocation enables you to land in a data center without having to expend high investment costs for own environment and equipment.
return to on-premise
And then there is a solution between your own data center and the collocation one – own server or server room. Just several physical machines running all you need. Just don’t forget to verify that that is truly the right solution for you.
Here is a good start:
What Should You Base Your Decision on?
Mood?
Feeling?
Impulse?
Thorough analysis?
We can only advise you about the options and also provide you with the necessary information. And we can also provide you with your tech team to consult with you for free. The decision is then all yours. How about we start with a meeting?
