In today's world of software development, DevOps and cloud computing are considered hand in hand. Both emerged to solve the same problem. Integrating the work of development and operations teams to enable faster software delivery, improved scalability, and better software reliability.

But this close relationship brings up an interesting query.  

The straightforward response is yes, there are other alternatives to the cloud for DevOps. Exploring the long answer reveals more complexities. Cloud technologies of today offer many advantages, but even with them, DevOps can function without cloud environments.

Understanding DevOps: Philosophy Comes Before the Platform  

Mostly, DevOps is not a set of tools, nor a requirement for cloud-native. Rather, it is a philosophy with practices centered on automation, collaboration, and continuous integration or delivery (CI/CD). It seeks to minimize the software development lifecycle, boost product quality, and improve the culture of responsibility shared between the development and operations teams.  

Before the eruption of cloud services, companies used on-premise infrastructure to try and adopt DevOps principles. They used scripts to automate deployments, Puppet and Chef for configuration management, and CI/CD pipelines with Jenkins servers.

Limited, but Still Achievable: DevOps Without the Cloud  

Infrastructure Limitations: On-premise environments are costly due to capital expenses on hardware, ongoing maintenance, and personnel costs. Adjusting to shifting demands, scaling up or down. It is difficult, slow, costly, and complicated.

Issues in Automation: The cloud makes it easy to automate resource provisioning, scaling, and even monitoring.

CI/CD Implementation: Without cloud resources, setting up reliable CI/CD pipelines is more challenging. It will require a lot more configuration and system administration to host version control systems, artifact repositories, and test and staging environments on-premises.  

Security and Compliance: With an on-prem setup, an organization can take better control of its security posture, but this also means that internal teams need to fully manage compliance, patching workflows, and security. Especially with small teams, these processes can become very tedious and prone to making mistakes.

High Entry Barriers for Startups and SMEs  

These services may be accessible to larger enterprises. However, the physical infrastructure becomes incredibly costly and complex to maintain, proving to be a barrier for small and medium-sized enterprises seeking to implement DevOps practices. The cloud computing certification incorporates all the necessary topics related to the devops and cloud infrastructure. Hence, increasing the chances of aspirants to find their opportunities in MNCs, startups, & MSMEs.

DevOps and Cloud Computing: Together at Last  

Cloud computing removed so many roadblocks to adopting DevOps that it practically supercharged its uptake. This is exactly how the cloud aids DevOps. It is not a prerequisite, but it enhances its entire framework and reaps the maximum benefits.

On-demand Resources: Platforms such as AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud provide the necessary elastic compute, storage, and network resources and are provisioned on a load basis. These are perfect for DevOps pipelines.

Integrated Toolchains: DevOps tools offered by cloud providers (AWS CodePipeline, Azure DevOps, Google Cloud Build) improve integration and automation and decrease setup time.

Immutable Infrastructure: Cloud platforms are Terraform and AWS CloudFormation friendly, supporting the use of Infrastructure as Code, thus programmable infrastructure that DevOps embraces.  

Global Availability: Cloud allows teams to instantaneously deploy applications in multiple regions, helping achieve high availability and redundancy.

Cost Efficiency: Teams are free to experiment, iterate, and scale with cloud infrastructures thanks to minimal upfront costs and a pay-as-you-go model.

Reasons: DevOps Can Work Without Cloud

In some cases, the lack of cloud resources for DevOps functionality can be beneficial for certain sectors:  

1. Highly Controlled Sectors: Companies operating in the finance, healthcare, or defense sectors face strict compliance and regulatory policies that require on-prem infrastructure.  

2. Legacy Applications: Some companies utilize an outdated IT system that is expensive to move to the cloud or challenging to update.  

3. Confidential Data: Corporations with sensitive information, trade secrets, or classified data may prefer lesser reliance on cloud service providers.  

4. Geopolitical Restrictions: Specific regions may be subject to local laws or sanctions restricting access to certain cloud services.  

In all of these scenarios, using DevOps is possible, but with significantly less flexibility. Many organizations seek to solve this challenge by building private clouds that use OpenStack or VMware to provide on-prem environments with cloud agility.

Hybrid and Multi-Cloud: The Middle Ground  

There is an increase in the adoption of hybrid and multi-cloud systems, which integrate private or public clouds with an on-premise data center. Having a hybrid or multi-cloud system lets teams control operation-critical elements while having the expansion capability and agility offered by the cloud.  

Within such setups, DevOps acts as the integrating layer, allowing for precise control and automation of integration, deployment, and monitoring for various systems and processes.  

Conclusion  

It is important to recognize that DevOps is a workflow enabled by technology, a reflection of culture, and it relies on collaboration across disciplines. It predates the cloud and can function on a purely on-premise framework. It is undeniable, however, that the cloud strongly supplements and accelerates DevOps through processes such as automating functions, reducing costs, increasing availability, and scaling.  In the end, every organization has its unique drivers, technical considerations, and strategic focus. Thus, every cloud computing certification includes them together and helps learners gain a better hold on the software development process.