We need a hyper-cloud

The cloud needs an overarching management layer, argues FCA's Ajwat Hassan

The cloud is a tool that massively streamlines application development and management - but like any new tool, it has its own set of complications. Many of these, said FCA cloud architect Ajwat Hassan, speaking at Computing's annual Cloud and Infrastructure Summit, are to do with the lack of integration between vendors.

Most organisations in the cloud today are using one of the Big Three (AWS, Azure, Google), but these have no way to integrate; by making multiple vendors' clouds work together, consumers would be able to choose a cloud based on their needs. Hassan calls this ‘Cloud for Cloud'.

More than half of the world's workload will be run in the cloud within the next two years - but do we understand the challenges that they're facing? "There is a lack of understanding of the risks associated with cloud management," said Hassan.

Cloud challenges

Using a multi-cloud environment has many benefits in terms of flexibility, but is difficult because vendors don't build their platforms to work together; moving data between or running applications in both AWS and Azure is time-consuming.

Legacy applications are especially difficult to run in the cloud, and - ironically - lack flexibility. Customers running workloads on-prem have choice in applications and vendors, but after cloud migration they are locked in to a single ecosystem. If they decide not to use the vendor's application(s), they must pay more and/or lose functionality to get their existing applications running on a competing vendor's cloud; they also run the risk of losing any relationship with their current supplier.

Data is another challenge; not just the amount, but handling it securely in an online environment. Then customers need to consider the different vendor cost models (charging by various metrics: the minute, hour or megabyte); the general cloud skills shortage; and the impact of vendor outages.

Finally, it is important to have an exit plan. Vendor lock-in is antithetical to cloud's inherent flexibility, but widespread. How are you as a customer going to move your data and applications from one cloud to another?

Learning from others' mistakes

Learning from your own mistakes is all very well; but it is better to learn from other peoples' and avoid making any of your own in the first place. Hassan discussed the lack of an ecosystem (rules and regulations), which limits the use of autonomous cars; and the migration from platforms (the Sony Walkman, which had a monopoly) to products (iTunes).

"We need a cloud for the cloud", turning individual clouds into products, not platforms. This ‘hyper-cloud' is called an abstraction layer, which sits above vendors' clouds. All monitoring, backup and control would happen there, and it would connect with different clouds through plug-ins. Applications could be delivered through containers to be vendor-agnostic.

The abstraction layer is a new concept, but it is something that has become a need.

What form should it take?

Hassan had several requirements for his concept:

There was concern from the audience that spreading data out like this would lead to a loss of security and data sovereignty, which is important for the GDPR. "If spread across different providers, the abstraction layer will ensure that data is secure and encrypted; the whole idea of the layer is that it removes pain," said Hassan. "Even in multiple clouds, there's just one abstraction layer; data management will become easier."