Cloud Engines 2 – ShadowBridge: Combining the best of both worlds
Hello everyone,
In the previous post the topic was that large companies and enterprises cannot move directly from Google Cloud or AWS to ICP, because the unfamiliar environment makes them hesitant. The Cloud Engines concept allows a private ICP subnet to be launched on AWS or Google and then migrated to sovereign hardware without code changes. However, the onboarding barrier still remains, especially for legacy systems.
The hybrid model ShadowBridge reduces this barrier. It is a three‑stage path that connects both worlds:
Shadow Mirror (Onboarding Layer)
The existing Google/AWS application remains unchanged. A Live Shadow Mirror is created on ICP, synchronized through HTTPS Outcalls or WebSocket. Data flows in real time. No downtime and no code rewriting are required.
Hybrid Cloud Engine (Transition Layer)
In parallel, new native components are built with Caffeine. These components run as Cloud Engines in the same AWS/Google data center. Traffic automatically shifts between the mirror and the Cloud Engine via the ICP load balancer. Users receive the benefits of ICP — tamperproof and verifiable.
Full Sovereign Migration
When trust is fully established, everything can be migrated to sovereign hardware with a single click, without downtime. The result is complete multi‑cloud portability and end‑to‑end sovereignty.
Shadow Mirror reduces onboarding fear, while Cloud Engines deliver the full value of ICP and the burn needed for Mission 70. Together this means zero‑friction onboarding and maximum sovereignty.
Technically this is already possible with existing tools: HTTPS Outcalls, upcoming Cloud Engines, and Caffeine. It would be interesting to hear the opinion of the DFINITY team or Dominic Williams on this hybrid approach.