Fudge Sunday - MultiCloudWashing Detergent
Fun fact: A year ago was my last day with Dell Technologies. For this installment, we examine cloudwashing through a multicloud lens as multicloudwashing.
Last week
Last week we looked at everything from SciFi to DIY cloud repatriation to systems of organization telemetry. Oh my!
MultiCloudWashing 101
First, let’s get a definition started.
Depending on your reading, cloudwashing was coined by either Thomas Jefferson or John Treadway. Both?
2009: Cloud-Washing with a dash
Spoiler alert: Dash eventually gives way to no dash.
RightScale was so far ahead of their time.
2011: #MultiCloud hashtag is born
Spoiler alert: It takes a decade to catch on… sort of.
Corey Quinn, as per usual, is ahead of everyone else’s comic timing.
2020: Multi-cloud with a dash of snark
Multi-cloud dreams dashed?
Now, as multicloud (or multi-cloud) enters more conversations, it’s natural that a concatenation could occur. The first concatenation to form multi cloudwashing was probably David Linthicum but Thomas Jefferson was not available for comment.
Multi (space) cloudwashing (no space)
Yes. We’re all out of dashes to give.
In a stark (snark?) departure from the rich decade long traditions of dash and the months long tradition of spaces, let’s fast forward to one word:
MultiCloudWashing
What’s my definition?
I thought you would never ask. Here goes…
MultiCloudWashing: A marketing technique which positions any product previously associated with an initial public hyperscale cloud service provider to be multi-cloud or multicloud as soon as a second or third cloud consumption model is launched into general availability.
Example: Our MegaRadWidgetWare for AWS is now available in both Azure Marketplace*** and Google Cloud Marketplace*.
* Fine print: Your licensing and entitlements are [waves hands] not portable, and each cloud is a different operational burden left up to you the customer… and hey look is that a baby wolf?!?!?!? [runs away with your purchase order]
Onwards and upwards with tons of cloud suds
Google Trends can be interesting but often it’s about finding the terms and filters to make a point. So, here are just a couple of examples.
Cherry picked to make a tenuous point
Cherry picked to make a tenuous comparison
Cautionary tales of cloud ring around the collar
Twitter is a source of interesting multicloud threads. Where else can one find cloud practitioners that have been there, done that, and have the cycles to share what they learn? Dashes, spaces, or none of the above – you can learn a lot from the different perspectives found on Twitter.
In fact, if you just look at a simple search for #multicloud with more than 300 likes… you get… well, a very short list. My favorite?
#multicloud https://t.co/7fRBV6WOha
Practical cloud laundry tips to defy data gravity
Vendors aside, the good news about multicloud is that more companies are taking data first strategies to defy data gravity. These companies are finding ways to maximize access to centers of innovation across all public hyperscale cloud service providers.
First and foremost, companies want to understand what technology is possible, permissible, repeatable, sustainable, and advisable. These “ibles and ables” are table stakes.
Faction MultiCloud Technical Overview - Interview with Matt Wallace
Any multicloud journey must begin with a compelling use case. What starts as one use case can quickly become many use cases.
Multicloud Data Fabric Use Cases with Faction
Home on the range is more about having a range of options than making any one specific cloud a home or leaving repatriation patterns outside consideration. In the future, it’s a good bet that workloads, workflows, and platforms will shift to the ever growing edge – and the edge will be less edge case and far larger than we might imagine today.
Home on the Ranch - Mulicloud Data Repatriation
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