Many businesses are now turning to distributed cloud architecture to meet their needs. Distributed clouds use cloud servers in multiple locations to optimise performance and meet regulatory or compliance requirements.

What is a distributed cloud?

A distributed cloud is a public cloud computing service. It allows public clouds to be managed in more than one location, all from a single control panel. These locations might include: third-party data centres, other cloud providers’ data centres, and much more. The great thing about having your cloud services distributed in different locations is that optimising performance is a lot easier.

Compared to the likes of multiclouds and hybrid clouds, a distributed cloud can iron out a lot of performance issues. For example, running applications in various environments can help boost your performance requirements. This is because you can spread out your services across multiple locations to make the most out of each.

Distributed clouds are also perfect for edge computing, and this is because their applications run closer to the original data point. Speaking of edge computing…

What is edge computing?

Edge computing and distributed clouds are often used together. Edge computing is the practice of running your applications as close to the point of data creation as possible. This type of computing has become essential for catering to large volumes of data, processing these at increasingly high speeds to ensure low latency. Edge computing can operate separately from a distributed cloud, but in combination, they make a wonderful match.

How does a distributed cloud work?

Each component of a distributed cloud is spread across various locations through micro-cloud satellites. In order to communicate with one another, a distributed cloud uses both messaging and APIs. An application programming interface is a type of software that allows public clouds to communicate with each other, within a distributed cloud. This maximises performance and efficiency. The distributed cloud provider will still have control over all of the infrastructure, security, and other features, allowing you to access every part as a single cloud.

What are the benefits of a distributed cloud?

Perfect for a wide range of services, distributed clouds have a number of great benefits:

Improve multi-cloud and hybrid cloud management

In order to boost control over hybrid and multicloud structures, a distributed cloud can be implemented. This helps to control everything from one localised panel.

Cost-effective and scalable

If you’re wanting to cut data-led costs, a distributed cloud may be the next best thing. Using a distributed cloud allows users to build on their existing infrastructure and deploy to other locations without paying for a costly physical structure.

Speedy content delivery

Boost your content delivery network with a distributed cloud. By storing content closer to your users, a distributed cloud boosts content performance.


Does your business require distributed cloud architecture? Chat to our sales team, they'll be able to guide you towards the products and solutions that are right for you. Or, if you're just getting started, take a look at our cloud servers.