Breaking Vendor Lock-in
A true multi-cloud strategy requires more than just running workloads in different clouds — it requires a unified network plane that connects your environments seamlessly. When done right, your AWS VPCs, Azure VNets, and Google Cloud projects behave as a single, cohesive intranet.
This enables you to pick the best service from each provider: AWS for machine learning, Google Cloud for data analytics, Azure for enterprise integration — all working together without network boundaries creating friction.
Why multi-cloud? Organizations adopt multi-cloud for many reasons: avoiding vendor lock-in, regulatory requirements, best-of-breed services, M&A integration, or regional availability. Whatever your driver, we design networks that make multi-cloud practical.
Core Multi-Cloud Services
Inter-Cloud Connectivity
The biggest challenge in multi-cloud is connectivity. Default approaches route traffic through the public internet, introducing latency, security concerns, and unpredictable performance. We architect private, low-latency connections:
- Cloud Exchange Connectivity: Using cloud exchange providers like Equinix Cloud Exchange, Megaport, or PacketFabric to establish private connections between clouds without touching the public internet.
- Transit Gateway Mesh: Connecting AWS Transit Gateways, Azure Virtual WAN, and Google Cloud NCC into a unified routing domain.
- Encrypted Overlay Networks: WireGuard or IPSec-based mesh networks for organizations that need encrypted cross-cloud connectivity without dedicated circuits.
- SD-WAN Integration: Leveraging SD-WAN platforms (Aviatrix, Cisco Viptela, VMware VeloCloud) for intelligent path selection and policy-based routing across clouds.
We help you avoid the "hair-pinning" effect where traffic exits to the public internet just to enter another cloud — a pattern that adds 50-200ms of latency and exposes traffic to the public internet.
Unified Policy Management
Managing security and networking across multiple clouds is operationally complex. Different clouds use different primitives, different APIs, and different terminology. We implement centralized control planes:
- Infrastructure as Code: Terraform modules that abstract cloud-specific networking primitives into a unified configuration language. Your engineers work with a single codebase regardless of target cloud.
- Centralized Firewall Policies: Security group and network ACL management through a single policy engine that translates to each cloud's native format.
- Unified Monitoring: Aggregated network telemetry from all clouds into a single observability platform — no more switching between three different consoles to troubleshoot issues.
- Compliance Automation: Continuous compliance checking against CIS benchmarks and custom policies across all cloud environments.
Cost Optimization & Egress Arbitrage
Different cloud providers charge vastly different rates for data transfer. We design routing policies that minimize your monthly cloud bills:
- Egress Cost Analysis: Detailed analysis of your current data transfer patterns and costs across providers.
- Intelligent Routing: Traffic engineering that routes bulk data transfer through the cheapest paths — potentially saving 30-50% on egress costs.
- Committed Use Planning: Recommendations for committed use discounts on dedicated interconnects and bandwidth.
- Regional Optimization: Ensuring data stays within regions where possible to avoid cross-region transfer fees.
Cloud Provider Comparison
| Capability | AWS | Google Cloud | Azure |
|---|---|---|---|
| Transit/Hub Service | Transit Gateway | Network Connectivity Center | Virtual WAN |
| Private Connectivity | Direct Connect | Cloud Interconnect | ExpressRoute |
| Global Load Balancer | Global Accelerator | Cloud Load Balancing | Front Door |
| VPN Gateway | Site-to-Site VPN | Cloud VPN | VPN Gateway |
| DNS Service | Route 53 | Cloud DNS | Azure DNS |
We have deep expertise in all three major cloud providers and can design architectures that leverage the strengths of each.
Multi-Cloud Architecture Patterns
Distributed Services
Different workloads run in different clouds based on their requirements. For example:
- Compute in AWS (EC2 spot instances)
- Analytics in Google Cloud (BigQuery)
- Enterprise apps in Azure (Active Directory)
Network requirement: Low-latency private connectivity between clouds.
Multi-Cloud Disaster Recovery
Primary workloads in one cloud with DR in another. Provides vendor-level resilience beyond single-cloud multi-region.
- Primary in AWS us-east-1
- DR in Google Cloud us-central1
- Automated failover via DNS
Network requirement: Replication connectivity and failover routing.
Data Sovereignty
Regulatory requirements force data to stay in specific regions or with specific providers.
- EU data in EU-based cloud regions
- Government data in sovereign clouds
- Financial data with certified providers
Network requirement: Secure, compliant connectivity with audit trails.
M&A Integration
Post-merger, organizations inherit multiple cloud environments that need integration.
- Acquired company in Azure
- Parent company in AWS
- Shared services needed immediately
Network requirement: Rapid integration without disrupting operations.
Implementation Approach
Our multi-cloud engagements follow a structured approach:
- Current State Assessment: Document existing cloud environments, network topologies, and traffic patterns.
- Requirements Gathering: Understand connectivity requirements, compliance constraints, and performance SLAs.
- Architecture Design: Create target state architecture with connectivity options, cost modeling, and migration path.
- Connectivity Implementation: Deploy interconnects, transit gateways, and routing configurations.
- Policy Deployment: Implement unified security policies and monitoring across environments.
- Validation & Handoff: Test failover scenarios, document runbooks, and train operations team.