Best cloud brokers of 2020: integrate services for hybrid clouds

Cloud brokers allow to your mix and match – and manage – a range of cloud services under a single platform. The aim is to simplify the process of managing hybrid clouds while also ensuring the services remain optimized.

While there is an increasing range of cloud services available, it often pays to mix and match, not least to avoid vendor lock-in. Additionally, services from the different providers might offer potential benefits, so getting them to work together means a more efficient IT service management.

And because of the scale of data management that can be involved, being able to centralize everything into a single infrastructure with its own dashboard can make everything so much easier to manage and maintain.

Therefore here we’ll list some of the biggest and best in cloud brokers solutions for mixing and matching your IT services for hybrid clouds.

• We’ve also highlighted the best cloud storage

• Want your company or services to be added to this buyer’s guide? Please email your request to desire.athow@futurenet.com with the URL of the buying guide in the subject line.

Best cloud brokerages – at a glance

1. AWS Service Broker
2. IBM Cloud Brokerage Managed Services
3. Cloudmore
4. Jamcracker Cloud Services Brokerage
5. Dell Boomi

1. AWS Service Broker

AWS Service Broker is an open source service provided by Amazon that allows its services to integrate directly with third-party cloud services, such as Red Hat OpenShift, Pivotal Cloud Foundry, SUSE Cloud Application Platform and Kubernetes.

The result is a single platform from which multiple cloud services can be managed, whether public, private, or hybrid clouds, which don’t need to work with the AWS API. However, the full range of AWS CloudFormation templates are available to customize as required to manage infrastructure and resources.

Other AWS services can also be used, such as for relational databases, storage, and querying (AWS RDS, AWS S3, and AWS SQS) for example, as well as a range of other supported AWS features.

However, the service broker ensures best practices when working with both AWS and third party clouds for availability and retention, and again templates can be configured for individual needs.

The overall result is a unified interface that allows AWS services and third-party services to be more easily managed.

AWS has three different pricing models; ‘Pay as you Go’, ‘Save when you reserve’ and ‘Pay less using more’. To get prices for all these you need to contact Sales directly.

However, AWS provides a free tier. This offers users certain services for 12-months. After that you have to choose to sign up for any of the plans above or to cancel your AWS subscription.

• You can sign up for AWS Service Broker here

2. IBM Cloud Brokerage Managed Services

IBM may offer its own cloud platform, but they also offer managed cloud brokerage services to allow you to bring together cloud services from multiple suppliers under one roof.

With the IBM Cloud Brokerage Managed Services you can play, design, and manage all cloud models from a single platform, while still ensuring compliance. Though the migration of apps and optimization across all your services you should be able to minimize costs.

A key aim it to help allow managers and executives bring their IT infrastructure under control in a single cloud platform to reduce hybrid sprawl, especially when different departments may have their own cloud operations for CRM, sales, or ecommerce, which can otherwise complicate the overall IT environment.

While initial costs may be initially higher, operational savings should easily outweigh these. Additionally, IBM provides cost management tools with built-in analytics to help improve efficiency further.

Bringing together all your IT needs onto a single platform should provide added benefits in terms of easier management, not least having a clearer idea of needs, services, and costs, and being better able to balance these, without having to drop needed tools and processes.

Overall, IBM expect that half of all enterprises will move into cloud brokerages over the coming years, not least the better balance the interests of developers, line-of-business executives, and IT administrators.

• You can sign up for IBM Cloud Brokerage Managed Services here

3. Cloudmore

Cloudmore is a Swedish company with offices in Estonia, the UK and US. They were founded in 2007. The solution works to bring all cloud-based IT services together into one unified platform

Cloudmore is delivered as a SaaS service. There is no hardware to buy or initial set-up costs. Everything you need from a brokerage solution is available from the get-go except for add-ons you might decide to include as you progress.

The interface is simple to use and easy on the eye. It is intuitive ensuring usability for all clients.

Cloudmore’s Brokerage platforms is based on a pay-as-you go pricing structure. The solution charges for the management of services which are usually paid for by the vendor. Users also have the option to purchase add-ons.

Cloudmore’s API’s easily integrate into your systems. This allows for end-to-end automation. Microsoft Online Services is part of their many integrations.

Users need to contact Cloudmore directly for more information and a quote

4. Jamcracker Cloud Services Brokerage

Jamcracker Cloud Services Brokerage also offers organizations the opportunity to manage diverse cloud services from a single platform. This brings with it the ability to unify public, private, and hybrid cloud operations and deliver them both across departments and also to customers.

This can involve unifying SaaS, IaaS, and PaaS needs, along with any other virtualizations, and Jamcracker provides support for multiple languages, currencies, and time zones.

As above, the expectation is that simplifying cloud IT infrastructure should result in positive cost and efficiency savings, but by being a cloud services broker (CSB) companies can look to not simply apply these benefits internally but also resell their own value-added services – something Jamcracker is keen to develop with its customers as required.

Overall, Jamcracker has positioned itself as a key provider for unifying cloud operations and management, while also being able to offer cloud brokerage services that enterprise business can take in house and repackage for use among its own clients or suppliers.

• You can sign up to Jamcracker Cloud Services Brokerage here

5. Dell Boomi

Dell Boomi is a business acquired by Dell in 2010, which specializes in cloud-based integration, API management and Master Data Management. Major clients include Micorsoft Azure, MapAnything and Novartis.

Users can build on-premise to on-premise, cloud-to-cloud and hybrid integrations. The interface gives you access to the tools needed to build end-to-end workflows.

Dell Boomi has a handy drag and drop feature which makes integration simpler. It is an enterprise integration Platform as a Service. Users can build, deploy and manage all integrations seamlessly.

Boomi ‘Suggest’ allows users to show others in the community ideas for integrations and receive feedback.

Users can submit data on integration processes to ‘AtomSphere’ to test against future changes. Boomi is a multi-tenant platform which manages all your data management software. They have connections to multiple providers such as MailChimp, GoogleCloud and Slack.

Altogether, Dell Boomi aims to accelerate the delivery of integration projects while ensuring management, optimization, and reliability are maintained.