Three Steps to Direct Cloud Connectivity

Get to the cloud with seamless direct connectivity.

Across the globe, cloud has become a highly appealing IT solution for businesses of all sizes, who are increasingly managing and deploying IT infrastructure, applications, and services in web-based environments.

Benefits of cloud include lower costs and reduced management workloads as well as increased flexibility and scalability. But, for those eager to embrace cloud, one major challenge remains—ensuring seamless connectivity between the business, users, and Cloud Service Providers (CSPs).

Choosing the right path to cloud connectivity

Businesses have two main options when connecting to cloud services. The first is using a standard public internet connection; while the simplicity of this option may seem attractive, this type of connection is often not reliable enough to support connectivity to business-critical cloud services.

The second option is private direct connections to CSPs. This is a new and innovative way to command agile and secure connectivity to the services that businesses depend on. The adoption of direct connectivity is rapidly increasing across the region and all over the globe. More reliable than standard internet options, these private connections provide the only way to consistently ensure enterprise-grade performance for cloud applications and services. However, not all direct connections are alike. The ideal direct connectivity provider can be hard to find considering regional challenges such as international capacity demands, complex commercial terms, and long-term bandwidth commitments.

Historically, it was difficult or impossible to find a single provider to get direct connections to multiple CSPs across different regions. When a business needs access to multiple enterprise clouds from different vendors, and across multiple countries, it can be beneficial to work with various consultants and/or system integrators. However, this can incur high additional costs. Alternatively, extensive research can assist in finding the perfect provider.

The following are three steps to get started:

Step one: Choose a provider that gives choice on both ends

Choice is a valuable asset when deciding on a cloud connectivity partner. As an increasing number of specialised enterprise applications and service providers begin offering cloud-based solutions, the right choice can be challenging to figure out. Importantly, a business needs to ensure that their connectivity partner can support changing needs over time, and will reconfigure their service to evolving business requirements.

Ideally, a connectivity partner should:

• • get the most out of a business’s existing network hardware by aggregating multiple connections on one platform

• • enable multiple direct connections into the business’s choice of CSPs

• • expand the choice in direct connection locations across the regions a business operates within
  • facilitate easy migration between direct connection locations as needs evolve

Step two: Stay in control

Flexibility is a key factor in moving to cloud. So, businesses should avoid lock-in connectivity agreements that tie them down and don’t allow for easy contract changes. In fact, network services can be consumption based, thereby paralleling cloud consumption models.

The user should be in control when joining with a connectivity partner, and should ensure they offer:

• • contract flexibility to avoid being locked into terms

• • bandwidth flexibility to scale services up and down as needs change
  • integration with CSPs so that service activation, such as consumption of virtualised services and bandwidth activation, is easy

Step three: Think about tomorrow, not just today

As a business’s own connectivity and cloud requirements change over time, the industry’s available technology and solutions will evolve too. For instance, automation is considered to play a significant part in the future of cloud technology and service delivery. Choosing a provider that will allow a business to embrace this innovation is key.

Even if a business is only just taking its first steps towards cloud, it’s worth thinking about whether the chosen connectivity provider can deliver full API integration capabilities in the future.

Make the right first steps

As enterprises adopt cloud, it’s becoming ever more clear that network connectivity must be a major consideration to ensure performance, reliability, and ROI. Direct connectivity is the key to optimising access to cloud services and infrastructure that businesses require. Megaport’s global SDN has made it possible to move away from the past static and traditional telco experience to network services that align with cloud consumption.

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