Navigating Through the Clouds: Innovation and Security in Multicloud Management

The cloud and edge landscape has evolved. Distributed architectures are the new standard – whether businesses have planned for it or not. Today, almost 90% of organizations operate their applications in multiple environments across cloud, edge, colocation, and data centers – and 38% run apps across six or more locations. They’re doing this for a good reason: flexibility. Deploying each app in the environment best suited to its requirements means end users get the best experience possible. But it’s a challenge to operate legacy and modern apps across all these environments, each of which requires different skills and uses different services. Without the proper tools in place, the multicloud dream of efficiency and speed can quickly become an operational nightmare. This is exactly the challenge that McGraw Hill – a global provider of traditional and digital learning resources – was confronted with. The company needed to transition dozens of crucial internal applications out of its on-premises data centers and into the cloud. To get there, McGraw Hill needed to enhance their security measures and also streamline their entire management process. The challenge McGraw Hill’s objective was daunting: they needed to migrate around thirty-six internal apps to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) within a two-year span. These apps were the lifeblood of their operations, supporting 40 international offices and the creation and distribution of their educational content. Complicating this mandate was the looming closure of three on-premises data centers, a move driven by economic considerations. This foray into the cloud was not entirely new territory for the company. They had previously used AWS and Microsoft Azure for customer-facing applications. Adding OCI to their multicloud portfolio introduced fresh challenges, particularly the limitations of OCI’s native security tools, which fell short in areas like DDoS protection and necessitated labor-intensive configurations for load balancing. Charting a course in cloud security McGraw Hill needed a solution that could withstand the rigors of a multicloud environment. They needed something that promised comprehensive availability and security features, deployable swiftly as a SaaS-based solution – aligning seamlessly with the company’s focus on cloud and SaaS technologies. The solution needed to be simple, adaptable, and capable of enabling cloud integration regardless of where the apps were hosted. A crucial turning point in this journey was the endorsement of McGraw Hill’s cybersecurity team to the new approach. Initially, the team was reluctant to shift from their existing OCI-based toolkit. However, when they realized the need for a robust security portfolio – featuring advanced functionalities like malicious user detection, IP reputation filtering, API security, and bot defense – they swiftly altered course. New frontiers in cloud integration After a comprehensive proof-of-concept showed how a new solution could revolutionize McGraw Hill’s OCI cloud utilization and integration with other environments, they opted for a solution which offered versatile deployment options, security, and connectivity in a single package. It enabled the secure operation of applications in both public and private clouds, and avoided the limitations of traditional proxy-based architectures. Internal apps could be safeguarded without exposing their app or API endpoints on the public internet and they could have local security services deployed without sacrificing management or observability. Enhanced security and simplified management The new platform ushered in a new era for McGraw Hill’s infrastructure. It removed the necessity for an intrusion prevention system, as the API security features of the solution filled this role more efficiently. This streamlined approach to cloud security epitomized the shift towards more effective and integrated security measures in a multicloud environment. The transformation of McGraw Hill’s multicloud infrastructure, overcoming the complexities of securing and managing multiple environments, serves as a powerful testament to the capabilities of innovative cloud solutions. It mirrors a larger trend in the technology industry – where flexibility, security, and operational efficiency are of paramount importance. Embracing multicloud This case study exemplifies the transformative impact of embracing state-of-the-art cloud solutions on the challenges of multicloud management. McGraw Hill not only achieved its ambitious migration objectives but also elevated its security standards and streamlined its cloud management processes. They showed how strategic technological adoption can lead to significant organizational growth and innovation and demonstrated the considerable potential of adapting to and harnessing the power of cloud technologies. No single cloud is perfect for every application, so businesses should do the right thing for each of their apps by embracing the flexibility that multicloud architectures deliver. With an easy, efficient way to secure, scale, optimize, and manage all applications – no matter where they’re deployed – businesses can flourish in a multicloud world.