🎙️ Episode #78: Data Mesh in Multiple Environments

With Roberto Zagni, Author and Senior Leader in Data Architecture (Italy)

Everyone talks about Data Mesh. Many try to implement it. But very few organisations understand what happens when Data Mesh needs to operate across multiple environments — cloud, on-prem, hybrid, subsidiaries, and legacy landscapes that refuse to disappear.

Most enterprises assume Data Mesh is only an organisational pattern. In reality, multi-environment Data Mesh is an architectural, operational, and governance challenge that requires clarity on boundaries, interoperability, ownership, and platform responsibilities. Without this, Data Mesh becomes a slogan instead of a system.

Data Mesh in real enterprises is not a greenfield ideal. It is the messy reality of distributed platforms, different maturities, inconsistent governance, and data products that must work reliably across environments with different rules.

We explore:• Why Data Mesh principles change when you move from single-environment design to multi-environment reality• How domain boundaries, ownership, and interoperability must evolve when multiple platforms and clouds are involved• The difference between distributing responsibility and fragmenting accountability• Why data products must be portable, discoverable, testable, and governable across heterogeneous environments• How semantic contracts and metadata standards enable federation instead of chaos• Why platform teams must provide shared capabilities without becoming bottlenecks• The operational implications for observability, lineage, SLAs, cost transparency, and cross-domain governance

Key takeaways:• Multi-environment Data Mesh is not decentralisation at all costs — it is coordinated autonomy• Data products must behave consistently regardless of the underlying platform• Federation works only when governance, semantics, and quality expectations are explicit• A well-designed Mesh should reduce friction between domains, not increase it• Success depends more on operating models and clarity of responsibility than on technology choices

A line to remember:“Distributed environments do not weaken Data Mesh — they reveal whether the organisation truly understands it.”

If your organisation is navigating hybrid environments, multiple clouds, or distributed data responsibilities, this conversation will help you understand how to make Data Mesh real, reliable, and scalable across diverse landscapes.

#DataMesh #DataArchitecture #DataProducts #EnterpriseData #FederatedGovernance #DigitalTransformation #LetsTalkAboutData #DataStrategy #SemanticLayer #Interoperability