Being a Gartner Cool Vendor: The Future is Now

Mati Lerner
Cloud ComputingCloud Native
11 Dec 2022
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When it all began at Ridge, we knew that the clouds of the future will need to run workloads across the globe, anywhere businesses need them to be. Today, after we’ve built partnerships with numerous IT providers, MSPs, and application owners — and after being recognized by Gartner as a Cool Vendor in Cloud-Native Computing — we know that The Future Is Now.

Why? Because more & more businesses have discovered that they need to customize a cloud for their specific requirements. We’re there for them: By transforming existing capacity — even at the network edge — into a modern cloud-native platform, Ridge Cloud is deployed in the exact location(s) to suit their needs.

It’s been quite a journey from the large public cloud paradigm to a cloud that’s designed for modern applications. Let’s take a quick look at how it’s happened:

 

Here’s a Really Short History of the Cloud…

 

It goes without saying that the public cloud enabled much of mankind’s recent (IT) progress and will certainly continue to be the infrastructure on which businesses develop applications. It’s really convenient: remote interaction, simple interface, services on demand, pay as you go.

However, the triumph of the cloud revealed an inherent weakness: Just as fast highways gave rise to advanced cars, so the public cloud spawned apps that depend on lightning-fast throughput. Other use cases — like connected manufacturing — use on-prem data plus data from private servers AND the public cloud. The hyperscaler public cloud paradigm just doesn’t offer that flexibility.

And so it’s become improbable that cutting-edge new applications can run from a couple of dozen locations operated by a few hyperscale providers (AKA regions). Hence, a Catch-22 on the Cloud: the large public cloud led to amazing growth but also has coverage gaps.

 

….and the Cloud as We’re About to Know It

 

Even small companies may need a hybrid computing strategy: partially on-premises, partially bare-metal, and across multiple continents. And so they need a cloud customized for their needs and existing facilities.

Ridge’s innovative cloud — software based, not CapEx based — integrates into any existing local infrastructure. With zero installation, it runs application workloads on any environment — private, public, on-prem and hybrid. Businesses get a cloud which takes advantage of infrastructure in the locations of their choosing.

Is it the cloud of the future? We certainly think so, and it looks like others, including Gartner, are seeing it our way. We are able to take heterogeneous infrastructure — even on-prem — and provide a cloud-like experience as an alternative to a hyperscale cloud provider. With a cloud that is untethered to any location or region, Ridge is in every location. It goes beyond the public cloud to fulfill the cloud’s fullest potential.

Read the full Gartner Cool Vendor Report here.

 

Gartner Objectivity Disclaimer


Author:
Linkedin Mati Lerner, Co-Founder & CEO | Ridge
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Mati is not only one of the founders of Ridge, but also a cloud expert. He enjoys writing about the benefits of cloud nativity & different cloud architectures.