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Direct Connectivity in an Enterprise Cloud Strategy

By July 17, 2019February 3rd, 2023No Comments

We use the internet for almost everything. Learn a new skill, communicate with one another, stream video content and for many enterprises, connecting to public Cloud services. The internet may be a convenient way to access the Cloud, but it exposes vulnerabilities relating to performance, latency and security.

The solution? A Direct connection to the Cloud. 

Direct connection, or some call it a dedicated connection, is a secure, private link between your enterprise IT infrastructure and the Cloud Service Provider (CSP) of your choice.

Imagine driving along a busy highway during rush hour, which is no different from the public nature of an internet connection. A direct connection is dedicated, private driving lane that can be scaled up to the amount of lanes needed, straight to your destination.

However, enterprises that are embarking on their Cloud journey may encounter some potholes along the way. They may have to deal with their existing IT infrastructure such as on-premise data centres as well as managing the integration of their Cloud services with legacy systems.

Many enterprises would jump straight into their Cloud digital transformation projects with connectivity as an afterthought. However, the performance of any enterprise IT application hosted in the public cloud is integrally linked to the connectivity path on which it travels on, and as such there is an ever increasing demand for direct connections to the CSPs.

How do I setup direct connections to the CSPs?

There are many ways to turn up a dedicated connection to the CSPs, depending on the enterprise’s current IT infrastructure, network architecture and business requirements. You can set up direct Cloud connection in one of the following ways:

1) Connect directly from a CSP data centre location
In this scenario, you will need to be present in the same location as the CSP. This means that you need to have a port within the same data centre campus in order to establish a direct connection to the CSP. You can request from the data centre operator a cross connect for a dedicated interconnection to the CSP.
With this option, you will enjoy ultra-high network performance, reliability and redundancy thanks to the physical connection. It also offers you the lowest latency which makes it especially beneficial for enterprises that need to handle large volumes of data or time sensitive data such as trading exchanges.
You will need to dedicate manpower and resources towards establishing and managing your port at the CSP data centre location. Furthermore, this model means you will need to invest capital expenditure (CAPEX) to host your equipment as you scale your operations.
2) Connect from your data centre or office
 
This option is suitable for enterprises that already have an existing on-premise or colocation environment. You will have to work with a certified network service provider to create a virtual cross connect between your network and the CSP.
It can be a cost-effective option if you are just beginning your Cloud journey; migrating on-premise workloads to the Cloud or deploying a disaster recovery environment. Depending on your service provider, you stand to gain the benefit of on-demand connectivity, programmability of the network and interconnect options.
You can essentially build a hybrid cloud environment that combines your on-premises infrastructure with the public Cloud services.
3) Connect via a Connectivity Provider
 
There are many ‘Born in the Cloud’ companies today that run their entire business in the Cloud and do not rely on any legacy infrastructure. For these companies, they do not see real benefits in managing their own servers or even understand how a data centre works. IT assets are (CAPEX) in their eyes which doesn’t play well with their business model.
If your business is ‘Born in the Cloud’, direct connection to the Cloud via a global connectivity provider might be the best option. You will not need to manage and build a network infrastructure to scale your operations or serve demands in new regions. Many large enterprises with monolithic legacy systems, such as financial services, are also looking at this option because it offers greater cost-efficiency, agility, scalability and security.
Simply work with the CSP’s partner to interconnect your preferred data centre location on their network fabric to the CSP location. Even better, many of these service providers offer on-demand connectivity services which means you do not need to wait weeks or days to turn up a direct Cloud connection.
Epsilon enables you to directly access the world’s leading Cloud services through a single point of connection on our network fabric of over 220 data centres. You can order and provision direct connections to CSPs globally on-demand using our Software-Defined Networking (SDN) platform, Infiny.
Today, we offer a total of 109 Cloud on-ramp around the world while constantly adding new CSPs to our interconnect ecosystem.
We are partners with:
  • Amazon Web Services (AWS) Direct Connect
  • Microsoft Azure ExpressRoute
  • Alibaba Cloud Express Connect
  • Google Cloud Dedicated Interconnect
  • Oracle Cloud FastConnect
  • IBM Cloud Direct Link
  • SAP Cloud (Coming soon!)

We make it simple for you to connect to multiple CSPs and connect globally! Here’s a short video on how you can use Infiny to connect directly to AWS: Infiny | How to establish an AWS Direct Connect Ethernet Service

Want to know the types of services offered by each CSP? We found an informative webpage for you.

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