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When Multi-Cloud Becomes a Telco Operational Problem

Over the last few years, multi-cloud has become a cornerstone of telco modernisation strategies.
The promise was clear: flexibility, freedom of choice and faster innovation.

In practice, the outcome has often been the opposite.

For many telcos, multi-cloud has not simplified operations.
It has fragmented them.

The problem is not multi-cloud. It is how it is operated

Today, it is common to find telco environments where the following coexist:

R On-premise infrastructure

R Multiple public cloud providers

R Distributed edge and MEC platforms

R Different networking, security and operational models per environment

Each domain works reasonably well on its own.
But they do not operate as a single system.

The result is an operational model that directly impacts what matters most to telcos:

R OPEX

R Time to market

R Operational risk

The same pain points, again and again

Across conversations with infrastructure, cloud and network cloud teams, the same challenges consistently emerge.

1. Platform-driven operational silos

Each environment introduces its own APIs, tooling and automation logic.
What works in one cloud cannot be reused in another.
Edge deployments add yet another set of exceptions.

Multi-cloud quickly turns into multi-operation.

2. Hybrid networking that does not scale operationally

Connectivity across clouds, edge and on-prem remains one of the biggest bottlenecks:

  • Connectivity and tunnels configured manually

  • Environment-specific routing and security models

  • Changes that are slow, risky and difficult to validate

Moving a workload is not just about compute.
It means reworking network, security and dependencies.

3. Costly and fragile Day-2 operations

Patching, upgrades, configuration changes and rollback still rely on:

  • Platform-specific scripts

  • Manual intervention

  • Long maintenance windows

This directly affects resilience, service quality and operational costs.

4. No true end-to-end visibility

Each platform provides observability — but only for its own domain.
There is no unified view of services spanning multiple clouds and the edge.

5. Growing dependency on specialised skills

Teams need experts for each stack, toolchain and operating model.
Scaling operations means scaling people — an approach that does not hold long term.

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The common mistake: adding more tools

Faced with this complexity, many telcos respond by adding layers:

  • More automation tools

  • More point-to-point integrations

  • More environment-specific exceptions

The outcome is usually the opposite of what was intended:

  • Higher complexity

  • Increased fragility

  • Less ability to adapt

This is not a problem that can be solved with more scripts.

The right question telcos should be asking

The key question is not:

“Which cloud should we move to next?”

The real question is:

“How do we operate infrastructure, networking and applications across cloud, edge and on-prem as one system?”

Because the challenge is no longer infrastructure choice.
It is end-to-end operational governance at scale.

Orchestrating applications across multi-cloud environments

Multi-cloud challenges are not limited to infrastructure.
Applications introduce an additional layer of complexity:

  • Different deployment models (VMs, containers, CNFs, xNFs).

  • Environment-specific configurations and dependencies.

  • Inconsistent lifecycle management across sites and clouds.

Without a unified approach, application orchestration becomes tightly coupled to the underlying platform, limiting portability and increasing operational effort.

To operate applications effectively across multi-cloud and edge, telcos need:

  • A declarative model to describe applications once and deploy them consistently everywhere.

  • Policy-driven placement based on latency, cost, compliance or locality requirements.

  • End-to-end lifecycle management, from onboarding and scaling to upgrades and rollback.

  • Integrated observability, linking application KPIs to infrastructure and network state.

How NearbyOne restores operational control

This is where NearbyOne, and specifically the Glide module, comes into play.

Glide is not another cloud platform, nor a point solution tied to a single vendor.
It is a cross-domain orchestration and connectivity layer that allows telcos to operate infrastructure, networking, and applications across on-prem, public cloud and edge as a single coherent system.

As part of the NearbyOne platform, Glide enables telcos to:

  • Decouple applications and workloads from infrastructure providers, treating them as declarative services with consistent descriptors and policies across environments.

  • Orchestrate application placement and lifecycle across multi-cloud and edge, independently of the underlying platform.

  • Unify hybrid connectivity through consistent networking policies and automation, avoiding network redesign every time an application moves.

  • Apply a single Day-0 to Day-2 operational model for infrastructure and applications alike.

  • Integrate existing platforms as first-class environments, without forced migrations or disruptive “rip and replace” strategies.

  • Reduce OPEX and operational risk by eliminating silos, exceptions and brittle automation.

The result is not just technical flexibility.
It is real operational control.

The ability to decide where an application runs today — and to change that tomorrow based on cost, regulation, latency or strategy — without rebuilding operations each time.

That is the real goal of multi-cloud in telco.
And it is exactly what NearbyOne and its Glide module were designed to deliver.

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