To Manage Cloud Sprawl in the AI Era, Choose the Right Networking Strategy

Enterprise IT infrastructure needs to continually evolve as new technologies enter the market, placing pressure on IT teams to remain agile and adapt quickly. In many cases, the right networking strategy can either hinder or accelerate innovation.

In today's technology paradigm, a trio of forces is at play: cloud proliferation, explosive data growth and the acceleration of AI initiatives. As cloud environments sprawl across both enterprise-owned and outsourced IT infrastructure and data proliferates in more places, networking becomes a critical enabler for realizing the value of AI.

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The expanding hybrid multicloud landscape

The modern enterprise operates across a hybrid multicloud landscape that extends far beyond traditional data centers and major hyperscalers. It combines enterprise-owned infrastructure-private clouds, on-premises systems and hardware deployed in colocation facilities-with an expanding array of outsourced cloud environments.

When people think cloud, they often default to Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud. But enterprises now rely on a more complex mix: their own private infrastructure alongside dozens of outsourced platforms. Organizations use an average of 112 different SaaS applications, with large enterprises relying on around 158 applications.[1]

. Every SaaS application-whether Salesforce for CRM, Workday for HR, or Microsoft 365 for productivity-represents another cloud where critical business data resides.

Beyond traditional and SaaS clouds, the landscape is rapidly diversifying to meet specific enterprise needs. As AI development accelerates, neoclouds like Nebius, Groq, CoreWeave, and Lambda Labs have emerged, offering specialized GPU-accelerated computing with flexible pricing models, faster access to the latest hardware, and personalized support for AI-specific use cases.[2]

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This trend of landscape diversification extends to specialized cloud platforms that address broader business requirements: data residency compliance for regulatory needs, industry-specific security certifications and unique capabilities not available from mainstream providers. While these environments address key organizational capabilities, they further diversify the hybrid multicloud landscape, creating challenges with cloud sprawl and placing even greater reliance on the networks that connect them. A multicloud network tune-up can help solve the evolving complexity of hybrid multicloud environments.

Data lives everywhere, making the right network connectivity essential

With so many platforms operating across their IT landscape, modern enterprises find that their critical business data is increasingly distributed. Customer data lives in Salesforce, financial information spans on-premises ERP systems and cloud expense tools, inventory data sits in specialized on-premises systems and productivity assets are spread across collaboration platforms.

This distribution reflects reality-no single platform can optimally handle every business function. A single business outcome now relies on a diverse set of infrastructure and platforms that need to communicate in near real time for an optimal user experience. As these interconnected systems become more intelligent and complex, the volume of data flowing between them will grow exponentially.

Modern workloads are reshaping network demands

Enterprise adoption of AI exemplifies how modern workloads are fundamentally changing networking requirements. To deliver meaningful insights, AI systems require access to data distributed across the entire hybrid multicloud ecosystem.

Consider an AI-powered customer service system that needs to access customer history from Salesforce, product information from an on-premises ERP, support interactions from ServiceNow and inventory data from supply chain systems-with a near real-time response to ensure customer satisfaction. Traditional networking, designed for predictable data flows between fixed endpoints, cannot support these dynamic, multi-source requirements.

This evolution extends beyond AI to all advanced digital use cases. Modern applications increasingly span multiple environments by design, creating new demands on networking infrastructure. Organizations must simultaneously govern where data is stored to meet complex regulatory requirements-such as GDPR in Europe, data residency laws in emerging markets, and industry-specific compliance standards-while ensuring an optimal user experience across their global operations.

Users expect consistently fast response times, and they don't care how far data has to travel to reach them. The networking architecture that supported yesterday's predictable, siloed applications cannot support tomorrow's intelligent, interconnected business processes. Enterprises need a multicloud networking strategy now to future-proof their hybrid multicloud environment.

Identifying networking requirements for modern enterprises

The convergence of AI adoption, data growth and cloud proliferation creates both opportunities and complexity. Organizations that act now to implement a hybrid multicloud networking strategy-using vendor-neutral, software-defined connectivity across their entire technology stack-can transform complexity into competitive advantage. Those who delay will find themselves constrained by networking limitations.

Key insight: cloud sprawl across hybrid environments isn't a problem to be solved but rather an opportunity to optimize.

These factors demand a new approach to hybrid multicloud networking that addresses several critical requirements:

• Consistent connectivity: Connecting enterprise-owned infrastructure to the full spectrum of outsourced cloud and SaaS environments through a single platform, avoiding the complexity and cost of multiple point-to-point connections.
• Predictable performance: Ensuring that network performance characteristics-latency, bandwidth, reliability-remain consistent whether data flows between private infrastructure, hyperscaler environments, SaaS platforms or neoclouds.
• Security and compliance: Maintaining data security and regulatory compliance as information flows across hybrid environments with different security models, jurisdictions and compliance requirements.
• Operational simplicity: Reducing the operational overhead of managing connectivity across dozens of platforms through centralized management, automation and standardized interfaces.
• Future flexibility: Supporting the integration of additional cloud platforms and services without requiring architectural changes to the underlying network design, enabling organizations to adopt emerging technologies without networking constraints.

Accessing a global hybrid multicloud networking solution

Enterprises need a comprehensive framework and solution designed to manage the complexity of hybrid multicloud environments. Equinix's cloud-neutral approach, with its boundless connectivity and versatile, integrated digital ecosystems, has proven to be effective for thousands of enterprises worldwide. Strategically located Equinix colocation data centers in 76 markets across 34 countries serve as neutral connection points where you can connect your infrastructure to cloud and network service providers (NSPs), as well as business partners.

Enterprises like yours use Equinix Fabric® software-defined interconnection for the rapid deployment of private connections across hybrid multicloud environments. For direct connections between clouds on a neutral platform, you can deploy Fabric Cloud Router's intelligent routing capabilities in minutes rather than months. Also, you can rely on Equinix Network Edge for rapid deployment of virtual networking services to optimize your multicloud network.

The digital ecosystem at Equinix provides you with direct access to all the major hyperscalers, NSPs, SaaS, technology and GPU as a Service providers, alongside emerging specialized AI cloud and technology providers. Since they're all accessible from a single interconnection platform, you don't need to set up separate connectivity solutions for each environment.

Learn more about how to modernize your multicloud network by downloading our Thriving with a hybrid multicloud strategy white paper.

[1] "10+ Key SaaS Statistics to Know in 2025," Backlinko, January 30, 2025.

[2] "The Rise of 'Neoclouds': Shaping the Future of AI Data Centers," TLC is Creative, January 2025.