Public, private, hybrid and multi – the enterprise cloud journey has become increasingly complex as internet carriers and colocation providers each offer various connection options to an increasingly intricate cloud ecosystem.
Amid these many options, two concepts hold true as enterprises continue to seek cloud transformation in 2024. Cloud connectivity options are not one-size-fits-all. And, when enterprises are evaluating their cloud connectivity provider, their priorities should focus on the security, resiliency, and performance of providers’ underlying networks.
For some organizations, the digital transformation journey might only be beginning, but Arelion has been connecting businesses around the world for over 25 years. Arelion serves the world’s largest operators, cloud and content providers, as well as enterprises that rely on business-critical connectivity. Arelion’s #1-ranked global backbone, AS1299, directly serves 70% of all Internet routes. With its unique scale and reach, Arelion connects billions of end-users to critical content and applications - every day.
The Right Network is Key to Successful Cloud Transformation
By 2028, cloud computing will shift from being a technology disruptor to becoming a necessary component for maintaining business competitiveness, according to Gartner, Inc. Indeed, by 2026, Gartner predicts 75% of organizations will adopt a digital transformation model predicated on cloud as the fundamental underlying platform.
To enable enterprise cloud services, network innovation is vital, particularly the underlying networks with an emphasis on optical innovation and low-latency performance to serve the massive computing and capacity needs of enterprise cloud services. This focus on the internet backbone network will help organizations keep pace with industry innovation, support traffic demands and secure reliable revenue streams.
Working with a connectivity provider that deploys, operates and governs the core network can be a win-win for enterprise organizations, but too often today they pay the price for being routed into the hands of third-party consultancies, service providers and others.
However, enterprises are increasingly starting to realize that working directly with the network owner can provide superior value, state-of-the-art security know-how, reduced administrative overheads and no-holds barred performance and availability.
“Connectivity is critical for organizations to succeed in the cloud age,” said Mattias Fridström, chief evangelist at Arelion. “The simple fact is that consumers and value-chain partners will lose quickly interest if they must deal with wait times and lagging connections. The network is paramount to brand perception and core operational metrics.”
“As organizations begin to explore AI and leverage real-time data analytics, access to carrier-grade connectivity only becomes more important,” Fridström continued. “Other consideration factors include network security; Arelion provides a 360-degree view of incoming threats, plus our customer service and support teams are staffed with expert engineers with forensic insights into performance management, traffic prioritization and granular quality-of-service control.”
Ready to Connect?
Planning for the cloud involves several important considerations to ensure secure, efficient, and cost-effective integration of an enterprise’s IT infrastructure with cloud services:
- Security: Networks are inherently vulnerable to cyber-attacks and malware -- unauthorized access can result in significant financial and reputational damage to an organization.
- Scalability: As the size of the network grows, so do issues related to managing and maintaining a greater number of network resources and more traffic.
- Reliability: The network must be available 24/7 and perform consistently – this can be a challenge in large, cross-border networks.
- Integration: Bringing new technologies and devices into a legacy network can be both complex and time-consuming.
- Network configuration and management: As networks grow, they can be more challenging to configure and manage.
- Cost: Implementing and maintaining an enterprise network can be a costly exercise, especially as new technologies and devices are brought online. Apart from new capital investment, there may be costs associated with training and the adaptation of existing platforms and management systems.
- Compliance: Enterprise networks often need to adhere to a myriad of industry regulations and standards - including security and data privacy laws. This can become even more challenging in a cross-border network environment.
Transform Your Business in the Cloud
Enterprises today need a proven and experienced connectivity and network partner that keeps them connected - with minimal disruption and maximum security. Arelion’s Cloud Connect solution enables enterprises to extend the network perimeter to the cloud with dedicated and private connections to AWS, Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure, Oracle Cloud, and IBM Cloud — using Arelion’s global backbone.
What does this mean to organizations in the financial services, manufacturing, pharmaceutical and online gaming industries (among others)?
- Enhanced security - A dedicated private connection between an organization's network and the cloud provider's network ensures that data is transmitted securely. This provides a much higher level of security for sensitive data and applications than a public Internet connection.
- Increased reliability – Cloud Connect offers higher reliability and availability compared to a public Internet solution. By using a dedicated connection, enterprises can ensure that data and applications are always accessible, without the risk of disruptions due to congestion or other network issues.
- Improved performance - Cloud Connect can improve the performance of cloud-based applications by reducing latency and increasing bandwidth. This is particularly important for organizations that need to transfer large amounts of data or run applications requiring low latency, such as real-time analytics or video streaming.
- Cost savings - Cloud Connect became very popular when organizations realized the cost savings cloud resources deliver as a result of lower CAPEX. On top of that, an organization can optimize their cloud architecture by choosing the most cost-effective cloud provider and avoiding unnecessary data transfer costs.
- Flexibility - By connecting to cloud computing services, organizations can add or remove computing resources on demand, without the need for extensive hardware upgrades or changes to network infrastructure.
Mission-Critical Internet Connectivity
Arelion is not only one of the best-established IP Transit providers on the market, but also one of the biggest influencers and innovators in the industry.
Arelion built its backbone using its fiber network, with an abundance of capacity to avoid network congestion. Its fiber and network assets allow Arelion to operate a fully scalable, reliable and diverse network environment to deliver an award-winning customer experience.
Arelion’s backbone stretches across three continents on its own infrastructure. The company has more than two decades of experience meeting significant capacity demands from the world’s largest content distributors, ISPs, and hyperscalers.