Once synonymous with migrating workloads to a single hyperscale provider, cloud computing has evolved into a complex, heterogeneous reality: the multi-cloud era.
Multicloud refers to the use of services from two or more cloud providers — public, private or a mix — enabling businesses to select the best-fit solutions for each workload and avoid dependence on a single vendor.
This model offers flexibility, resilience and the ability to optimise performance and costs, while also presenting new challenges in management and security.
Utilising services from multiple cloud vendors is no longer just an emerging trend but has become a strategic imperative to harness best-of-breed technologies from a diverse ecosystem of providers.
As leading technology companies innovate in this space, multicloud is reshaping how enterprises build, deploy and manage applications across diverse environments.
Here, Technology Magazine runs through 10 of the world’s leading multi-cloud operators.
10. SAP
CEO: Christian Klein
HQ: Walldorf, Germany
Employees: 110,000
A dominant force in enterprise applications, SAP enables multi-cloud strategies primarily through its SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP).
BTP serves as SAP’s Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) offering, designed to run on major hyperscale infrastructures including AWS, Azure, GCP and Alibaba Cloud — utilising environments like Cloud Foundry and Kyma.
This allows customers to extend, integrate and build applications that connect with their core SAP systems while leveraging the underlying infrastructure of their choice.
9. Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE)
CEO: Antonio Neri
HQ: Texas, USA
Employees: 62,000
HPE’s GreenLake edge-to-cloud platform offers a unified, hybrid operating model. GreenLake brings the cloud experience to customers' data centres, co-locations and edge environments, providing infrastructure, software and services on a consumption-based model.
This "hybrid by design" approach aims to simplify operations across multi-vendor IT estates, offering flexibility in workload placement and control over data, cost and security.
8. Cisco
CEO: Chuck Robbins
HQ: California, USA
Employees: 90,000
Cisco extends its influence into the multi-cloud space by focusing on connectivity, security and observability across distributed environments.
Its Cisco Intersight platform offers cloud-based infrastructure management, supporting Cisco UCS and HyperFlex systems, as well as third-party hardware.
Intersight aims to provide unified visibility and automation across data centers, remote sites and edge locations.
Optional modules like Intersight Workload Optimizer (IWO) add capabilities for performance analysis and resource optimisation across hybrid and public clouds.
7. Dell
CEO: Michael Dell
HQ: Texas, USA
Employees: 120,000
Dell approaches multi-cloud from its foundation as a leading infrastructure provider.
Its Dell APEX portfolio offers infrastructure, storage and data protection solutions as-a-Service, explicitly designed for ‘multicloud by design’.
APEX Multi-Cloud Data Services allow customers to store data on Dell infrastructure while accessing it simultaneously from multiple public clouds, aiming to avoid vendor lock-in and high egress fees.
6. Oracle
CEO: Safra Catz
HQ: Texas, USA
Employees: 160,000
Oracle’s multi-cloud strategy centres on extending its dominant database technology and high-performance Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) into heterogeneous environments.
Recognising customers utilise multiple clouds, Oracle has forged key partnerships, most notably Oracle Database@Azure, allowing customers to run Oracle databases directly within Microsoft Azure data centres, tightly integrated with Azure services.
OCI itself is designed with multi-cloud integration features, including high-performance networking interconnects to other clouds.
5. VMware by Broadcom
CEO: Raghu Raghuram
HQ: California, USA
Employees: 16,000
Following its acquisition by Broadcom, VMware continues to be a pivotal player in enterprise multi-cloud, building on its legacy of data centre virtualisation.
Its strategy focuses on enabling consistent infrastructure and operations across private and public clouds.
Key offerings include the Tanzu portfolio for modern application development and management on Kubernetes as well as the Aria suite — incorporating former vRealize and CloudHealth technologies — for multi-cloud management encompassing cost, performance, configuration and delivery.
Broadcom is consolidating these into core offerings like VMware Cloud Foundation, emphasising a subscription model and aiming to streamline hybrid cloud operations for its large enterprise customer base.
4. IBM
CEO: Arvind Krishna
HQ: New York, USA
Employees: 293,000
Leveraging its acquisition of Red Hat, IBM’s multi-cloud strategy is anchored by Red Hat OpenShift, providing a consistent Kubernetes-based platform across environments.
Built on OpenShift, IBM Cloud Paks deliver containerised, AI-powered software for critical domains like data, automation, integration, security and network automation, designed for deployment flexibility across hybrid landscapes.
IBM combines this powerful software portfolio with its extensive consulting and integration services, focusing on helping large enterprises manage the transition to and operation of complex hybrid multi-cloud architectures, addressing challenges like lifecycle management and policy-based deployment.
3. Alphabet
CEO: Sundar Pichai
HQ: California, USA
Employees: 183,000
Alphabet's Google Cloud Platform (GCP) champions openness and workload portability as core tenets of its multi-cloud strategy, heavily leveraging its leadership in Kubernetes.
Google Cloud Anthos is the company’s flagship offering, providing a consistent platform to build, deploy and manage containerised applications across GCP, other public clouds and on-premises infrastructure.
This approach aims to mitigate vendor lock-in and empower developers with flexibility.
GCP also differentiates through its strengths in data analytics, AI and machine learning, offering tools that can be applied across heterogeneous environments, further enabling modern application development and data-driven insights anywhere.
2. Amazon
CEO: Andy Jassy
HQ: Washington, USA
Employees: 1.5 million
As the dominant public cloud provider, Amazon’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) is strategically extending its reach into hybrid and multi-cloud scenarios.
While championing its native cloud services, AWS offers solutions like AWS Outposts — bringing AWS infrastructure on-premises — AWS Systems Manager and AWS Control Tower to provide a consistent operational experience across environments.
Tools like Amazon Security Lake centralise security data from diverse sources, including other clouds, and IAM Roles Anywhere facilitates secure access from external workloads. AWS’ focus is on simplifying management and enabling customers to leverage familiar AWS tools and security postures beyond its own data centres.
1. Microsoft
CEO: Satya Nadella
HQ: Washington, USA
Employees: 228,000
Microsoft stands as a leader in the multi-cloud space, leveraging its deep enterprise roots and the expansive capabilities of Azure.
Its strategy centres on Azure Arc, a control plane extending Azure management and services to any infrastructure, including on-premises data centers, edge locations and even rival clouds like AWS and GCP.
This approach provides consistent governance, security management and deployment for applications and data services, regardless of where they reside.
Microsoft’s vast software portfolio and strong hybrid cloud history further bolster its position, enabling seamless integration and familiar tooling for organisations navigating complex multi-cloud environments.
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