Cloud Repatriation: Reverse Cloud Migration as a Data Center Strategy

Cloud adoption remains strong, but cloud repatriation is also a leading trend. In a recent AFCOM survey, 83 percent of respondents said they were repatriating workloads back to on-premises data centers or colocation facilities. Databases, enterprise applications, and custom software were among the resources to be repatriated.

The cloud repatriation trend is driving greater emphasis on optimizing data center infrastructure. Organizations need energy-efficient data centers that can scale to meet growing demands. But how do they achieve those objectives?

What Is Cloud Repatriation?

Cloud repatriation is also known as reverse cloud migration. In simple terms, it refers to the migration of cloud workloads back to customer-owned infrastructure. The concept also encompasses data repatriation, which involves moving data from the cloud to customer-owned storage.

The infrastructure could reside on-premises or in a colocation facility. It could involve traditional IT architecture, a private cloud, or a hybrid model. The shift could be temporary or permanent.

Why Cloud Repatriation?

The primary reason for cloud repatriation is cost savings. Cloud costs often turn out to be higher than expected — in the Flexera 2023 State of the Cloud Report, “managing the cloud spend” was the top cloud challenge, cited by 82 percent of organizations. The cloud spend exceeded the budget by an average of 18 percent, and survey respondents estimated that 28 percent of that spend was wasted.

In many cases, however, the reasons for reverse cloud migration are more nuanced. “Lift-and-shift” migrations, inadequate planning, and unrealistic expectations often play a role. Organizations may also realize that they don’t need the emergency capacity of the cloud or that an on-premises implementation offers better performance with lower latency.

Security and regulatory compliance remain primary drivers of cloud repatriation. Although the cloud is highly secure, misconfigurations and other issues can result in data breaches. Additionally, government and industry regulations may stipulate where data can be stored. 

Cloud Repatriation Exposes Data Center Challenges

In the cloud, organizations aren’t responsible for ensuring the availability and performance of the IT infrastructure. Reverse cloud migration shifts that burden back to the customer, often exposing fundamental data center challenges.

Availability

According to a 2023 report from the Uptime Institute, most data centers experienced outages in the past three years. Outages are costly and disrupt business operations.

Scalability

Data centers that lack adequate space, power, and cooling will struggle to scale to meet demands. Implementation processes are often time-consuming and inefficient.

Energy Efficiency

Rising costs have made energy consumption a significant concern. Additionally, many organizations seek to increase energy efficiency to achieve sustainability goals.

Talent Shortages

The data center industry faces a persistent shortage of trained professionals. Many IT leaders say the talent shortage prevents them from meeting their objectives.

Cost Management

Data centers are costly to build and manage. Operational inefficiencies can lead to higher-than-expected costs.

Data Center Modernization Strategies

Organizations often move workloads to the cloud to avoid painful and disruptive IT upgrades. Reverse cloud migration makes such upgrades imperative and can accelerate a data center’s transformation journey. Traditionally, data center modernization focused on virtualizing systems, updating applications, and optimizing data. However, an effective modernization strategy also emphasizes the physical infrastructure.

Reduce Complexity

Overly complex infrastructure increases overhead and strains staff resources. Highly configurable cabinets and modular systems provide greater consistency while enabling flexibility.

Support Today’s Workloads

Modern workloads are often compute-intensive, increasing demands on data center power and cooling. Organizations should ensure that the data center infrastructure can support increasing rack densities.

Increase Efficiency

Repetitive, manual tasks are time-consuming and increase the risk of human error. Organizations should invest in monitoring and management tools to streamline operational processes. This effort can also help improve energy efficiency.

Enconnex Helps Enable Cloud Repatriation

The data center and IT infrastructure experts at Enconnex are here to help you plan and execute your cloud repatriation project. Our solutions are engineered for maximum flexibility, scalability, and efficiency to optimize your data center operations. Contact one of our specialists to discuss your needs and objectives.