Rackspace Technology is a leading end to end multi-cloud technology services company. Rackspace design, build and operate its customer’s cloud environments across all major technology platforms, irrespective of technology stack or deployment model. In a conversation with CXO Outlook, Sandeep Bhargava, Managing Director – APAC, Rackspace Technology, talks about challenges that companies face when it comes to multi-cloud deployments, Rackspace’s offerings as a leading end-to-end multi-cloud services company, their leading customers in India, and much more.
What are some of the biggest challenges that companies are facing when it comes to multi-cloud deployments?
As businesses embark on digital transformation, IT leaders must adopt a transformative and optimised approach with a digital strategy based on the cloud driving the growth of the business. With the explosion of cloud applications and the rise of hybrid and multi-cloud infrastructures, complexity has begun to overwhelm many organisations.
Here are three main challenges that hinder progress to such transformation:
- Complex applications and infrastructure that are difficult to integrate with the latest technologies including migration to the cloud
- Managing multi- and hybrid cloud environments and spend
- A lack of experience and resources
Businesses want a single view of their usage levels and cost regardless of the number of cloud platforms used so that they can determine if they are getting the optimal return-on-investment for their spending while keeping an eye on their operating expenses.
How can businesses overcome these challenges?
The journey from traditional IT to a hybrid or multi cloud environment can be difficult. With a wide range of choices available, organisations need to select the right cloud platform and tools carefully for different workloads instead of taking a one-size-fits-all approach to cloud deployment. Only by doing so, they will be able to accelerate the value of the cloud with an eye to deliver the desired business outcomes with optimised investment.
As opposed to struggling with challenges in-house, organisations can seize digital business and IT opportunities with the help of a Managed Cloud Service Provider.
The right partner can accelerate an organisation’s digital transformation journey and guide them through complex, competing cloud platform claims and value propositions.
How is Rackspace different from its competitors?
Rackspace Technology is a leading end-to-end multi-cloud services company. We can design, build and operate cloud environments for our customers across all major technology platforms, irrespective of technology stack or deployment model. We partner with our customers at every stage of their cloud journey, enabling them to modernise applications, build new products and adopt innovative technologies.
Organisations need the confidence to know they are getting the maximum value from their cloud investments and minimising risk while accelerating their transformations. No matter where businesses are on their digital transformation journey, Rackspace Technology promises to accelerate the value of the cloud for them. We have the necessary tools to help companies implement and integrate leading applications, deploy these applications on the optimal cloud platform and ensure security and compliance.
Who are your leading customers in India? Can you share some case studies?
We have a very diversified client portfolio ranging from Financial Services, Education, Healthcare, Consumer Goods, Automotive, Media & Entertainment, Retail, Travel, and Hospitality.
How do you define edge computing?
To put the philosophy to work and unlock these advantages, we first need to define the foundational elements of edge computing.
Illustrative edge computing use cases include sensors in a factory or medical setting, a remote oil pipeline, or surveillance cameras designed to recognise security threats. The high volume of data generated by these devices drives time-sensitive decisions or actions. It simply wouldn’t be ideal or cost-effective to send it all to the cloud for processing and storage.
In cases like these, we’re looking to create the fewest number of hops between the device generating the data and the first – but not the only or last – “thing” that will do something with that data.
On this basis, the key components of an edge computing network are the public cloud, compute edge, device edge, and sensor.
Clearly, many enterprise models typically encompass at least two of these things – cloud plus one other – whether you formally recognise them as having an edge component or not. So, it’s a diversion to focus too much on “edge,” or to hype edge computing as inherently and automatically transformative. Instead, the intended business outcome – and the practical application of technology to deliver on it – should always be your strategic driver. Not edge computing for edge computing’s sake.
Why should filtering out to the edge computing hype matter to IT leaders?
Businesses are already generating huge amounts of data, with exponential growth every year as more devices come online — including many items that previously had no business being anywhere near the internet: toothbrushes, doorbells, coffee machines, smart speakers, watches, and – infamously – juicers. As the World Economic Forum reports: “The world produces 2.5 quintillion bytes a day, and 90 percent of all data has been produced in just the last two years.” This has coincided with the growth in hyper scale cloud adoption. Edge computing solves today’s cloud-era challenges around moving and managing data to ensure it generates the most value for the minimum of cost, and that it can be processed and acted on in a timely fashion.
How is data security ensured in a multi-cloud system?
In an environment where companies are being constantly targeted with advanced persistent threats, enterprises can engage with Managed Services Providers (MSPs) to manage their data and applications across cloud, applications, security, data and infrastructure. To minimise cloud risks, organisations will also need to have a multi-layered security strategy on-premise and across multiple clouds to provide detection, response and remediation. Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) will also need to work across more departments in 2021 to ensure that security is not overlooked when innovative solutions and new business processes are introduced.