hardMultiple Choice
Cloud Digital Leader Practice Question: A company uses two different public cloud…
A company uses two different public cloud providers (AWS for their North American operations and Google Cloud for their European operations) to meet data residency requirements and avoid vendor lock-in. Which deployment model does this represent?
⚠ Common exam trap
The GCDL exam often tests the distinction between multi-cloud and hybrid cloud, where candidates mistakenly choose hybrid cloud because they confuse 'multiple clouds' with 'mixed public and private infrastructure.'
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Multi-cloud
This scenario describes using two distinct public cloud providers (AWS and Google Cloud) to meet data residency and avoid vendor lock-in, which is the definition of a multi-cloud deployment model. Multi-cloud involves using multiple public cloud services from different vendors, as opposed to combining public and private infrastructure (hybrid cloud) or simply deploying across multiple regions within a single provider.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Hybrid cloud
Why it's wrong here
Hybrid cloud is an environment that integrates an organization's on-premises data center or private cloud with public cloud services, allowing workloads to seamlessly span both. The scenario makes no mention of any on-premises infrastructure; it only involves two public cloud providers. Therefore, while the term 'hybrid' might suggest a mix of environments, this is purely a multi-cloud deployment because both sides are public clouds and neither is private or on-premises.
- ✓
Multi-cloud
Why this is correct
Multi-cloud is the deliberate use of two or more distinct public cloud providers—like AWS and Google Cloud—typically to avoid vendor lock-in, achieve geographic coverage, or take advantage of each provider's unique services. Using AWS for North America and Google Cloud for Europe is a classic multi-cloud strategy, as each provider serves a different region while remaining under a unified architectural governance. This approach also provides resilience by ensuring that a failure in one provider does not affect workloads running on the other.
- ✗
Multi-region
Why it's wrong here
Multi-region architecture refers to deploying workloads across multiple geographic regions within a single cloud provider, such as using AWS in us-east-1 and eu-west-1 to improve latency and disaster recovery. The scenario explicitly uses two different cloud providers, AWS and Google Cloud, which is the hallmark of a multi-cloud strategy rather than a multi-region one. Even if each provider operates in multiple regions, the key differentiator is the intentional use of independent, competing cloud platforms.
- ✗
Distributed cloud
Why it's wrong here
Distributed cloud is a single-vendor architectural model where a public cloud provider (e.g., Google Distributed Cloud) extends its services to edge locations, partner data centers, or the customer's own premises, while the provider retains control of the control plane. It is not about combining multiple independent cloud providers; it is about geographically distributing one provider's services. In this case, using AWS and Google Cloud means combining two separate public cloud platforms, which is fundamentally different from the edge-centric distribution model of distributed cloud.
Go deeper
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Key term
Model
In IT and AI, a model is a trained mathematical representation that learns patterns from data to make predictions or decisions.
Key term
Hybrid cloud
A hybrid cloud is a computing environment that combines a private cloud (on-premises infrastructure) with one or more public cloud services, allowing data and applications to be shared between them.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This GCDL practice question is part of Courseiva's free Google Cloud certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the GCDL exam.