What is distributed cloud?

Distributed cloud is a cloud model that interconnects data and applications stored and managed on multiple locations into a centralized cloud platform.

Traditional storage and on-demand IT services delivery include geographically diverse on-premise servers, cloud services, and third-party colocation. The cloud services can be categorized into public cloud, private cloud, hybrid cloud (private and public cloud services), and multi-cloud (multiple cloud service providers). Distributed cloud computing is an architecture that combines these categories and storage locations to offer a single platform that can be managed from a centralized control panel by the public cloud service provider.

The distributed cloud architecture lets organizations have multiple data centers without disrupting the centralized management process. Businesses use distributed cloud services to:

Support cloud and edge computing: Edge computing is the process of ingesting, storing, and processing data closer to its source (edge locations) instead of moving to cloud data centers. Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) create large volumes of data from multiple applications. Distributed cloud services keep the data closer to the respective edge locations across the organization, resulting in lower latency.

Meet data privacy and storage compliance: Countries across the globe are embracing strict data privacy and storage rules which mandate personal data storage to be within the country's jurisdiction. The distributed cloud allows organizations to store user data by compiling these regulations. It also gives the flexibility to locate the cloud infrastructure in locations other than the cloud provider's availability zones.

Centralized management: Distributed cloud infrastructure enhances visibility across multiple IT and cloud service deployments by offering a cloud infrastructure with centralized control with a single set of tools.

Business benefits of a distributed cloud approach

Fast delivery: Optimized real-time data streaming leads to faster loading of applications and data retrieval.
Enhanced performance: Proximity of the processing task to the end-users reduces latency, leading to higher performance and delivery.
Control and Security: The centralized management ensures greater control and visibility of the infrastructure, enhancing security.
Resilient: Small allocation units minimize the impact of system crashes and congestion.
Scalable infrastructure: Operating on distributed servers allows to add or remove resources without rebuilding the cloud infrastructure
Cost efficiency: On-demand scaling helps organizations to save the cost of on-premise infrastructure provisioning
Resource efficiency: The public cloud provider manages all aspects of the cloud infrastructure, so there's no need for an internal team.