How a Cloud-Adjacent Model Supports Healthcare Continuity

From EMR platforms to imaging archives, healthcare systems rely on continuous availability. Delivering that reliability — especially in the face of growing data demands, regulatory pressure and unpredictable disruptions — requires infrastructure that is both high-performance and highly resilient.

A cloud-adjacent architecture offers healthcare IT teams a way to reduce latency, streamline disaster recovery and maintain strict data control while supporting multicloud flexibility. This blog explores how that model supports healthcare continuity and why it’s gaining traction as a modern infrastructure strategy.

What is the cloud-adjacent model?

The cloud-adjacent model refers to a hybrid architecture in which critical healthcare workloads are hosted in data centers physically located near public cloud environments. This proximity supports low-latency performance, streamlined disaster recovery and strong data protection, all while enabling a flexible multicloud strategy.

One example of this approach is how Rackspace Technology positions its private cloud solutions near major hyperscalers like AWS, Microsoft® Azure® and Google Cloud. This infrastructure design gives healthcare organizations the best of both worlds: the performance and control of private infrastructure, with the scalability and integration benefits of public cloud.

Why healthcare needs a cloud-adjacent model

Healthcare organizations face a unique set of infrastructure challenges that make a cloud-adjacent model especially compelling. Common concerns include:

1. Reliability and uptime
   Healthcare systems require high availability, particularly for critical applications like electronic medical records (EMR) and patient monitoring. Downtime can delay care, disrupt clinical workflows and put patient safety at risk.
2. Low latency
   Clinicians need real-time access to patient data to support fast, informed decision-making. High-latency environments can reduce efficiency and impact the quality of care.
3. Data security and compliance
   Healthcare providers must protect sensitive data while meeting regulatory requirements such as HIPAA and HITRUST. Security incidents can carry significant financial and reputational consequences.
4. Disaster recovery and business continuity
   Maintaining service availability during system failures, natural disasters or cyberattacks is essential. Effective disaster recovery planning is a foundational requirement.
5. Cost management
   Balancing operational efficiency with budget constraints remains an ongoing challenge. Traditional on-premises systems are often expensive to maintain and lack the flexibility needed for modern, scalable care delivery.

How the Rackspace Technology cloud-adjacent model addresses these needs

Our cloud-adjacent model is built to help healthcare organizations reduce latency, improve resilience and strengthen continuity. Here’s how this architecture supports your priorities:

1. Uninterrupted care continuity

When your critical workloads are hosted in data centers located near public cloud environments, latency drops significantly. With round-trip latencies under 5 milliseconds, your teams can access clinical systems and patient data in real time, helping clinicians make faster, more informed decisions.

The model also supports high availability for applications, reducing the risk of service interruptions during peak demand or localized outages.

2. Enhanced disaster recovery capabilities

The Rackspace Cloud-Adjacent Model offers superior disaster recovery solutions by providing geographically distributed data centers. In the event of a localized disaster, workloads can be shifted to unaffected locations with minimal downtime.

• Automated backup systems: Regular backups help to ensure that data can be quickly restored following a disruption.
• Failover mechanisms: In the event of a failure, systems can automatically switch to backup infrastructure, preserving service availability.
• Isolated recovery environment: A secure, air-gapped environment is used to safely restore and validate mission-critical data and workloads after a cyberattack by keeping recovery systems logically or physically separated from production and backup environments.

3. Improved data security and compliance

Data security is one of the biggest concerns for healthcare organizations, particularly when dealing with sensitive patient health information (PHI). The Rackspace Cloud-Adjacent Model helps you strengthen your security posture without adding operational complexity through:

• HIPAA and HITRUST compliance: Certified environments that meet the highest standards for data protection.
• Data encryption: Protecting data both at rest and in transit to mitigate the risk of breaches.
• Continuous monitoring: Real-time threat detection and rapid response capabilities to help ensure that vulnerabilities are promptly addressed.

4. Cost-effective scalability and flexibility

Traditional on-prem infrastructure often requires overprovisioning just to meet occasional peaks. With the cloud-adjacent model, you can scale your resources up or down as demand changes, especially during seasonal surges or public health emergencies.

In addition, by shifting from a capex cost model to an opex model, you can gain better control over your budget and only pay for the resources you use.

5. Streamlined multicloud integration

If you’re running workloads across multiple cloud platforms, the cloud-adjacent model helps you do it more efficiently. Rackspace architectures enable seamless interoperability between private, public and hybrid clouds, promoting efficient data sharing and improving overall system performance.

Why Rackspace Technology stands out

For healthcare IT leaders looking to modernize infrastructure without compromising performance, Rackspace Technology offers solutions purpose-built for healthcare continuity. The cloud-adjacent model is backed by:

• Specialized expertise: Teams with experience supporting regulated healthcare environments and complex clinical workloads
• Comprehensive support: 24x7x365 access to certified professionals who help monitor, troubleshoot and maintain uptime
• Scalable architecture: Cloud solutions designed to adapt to shifting demand, regulatory requirements and evolving care delivery models

Cloud-adjacent infrastructure provides a strategic path forward for healthcare organizations seeking to enhance availability, reduce risk, and modernize at scale. Explore Rackspace Technology healthcare solutions to see how this model can support your continuity goals.