WHY SWITCHING YOUR BUSINESS TO A CLOUD DIRECT CONNECT MAY BE A GOOD IDEA

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DIRECT CLOUD CONNECTIONS

In many cases, a direct connection to the cloud helps businesses reduce network costs, increase bandwidth throughput, and provide faster Internet-based connections to other cloud services. In this article, we define what a “direct connection” to a cloud is, why your business should use a provider that offers it, how much it costs to connect directly to the cloud, and how businesses can connect to it. Why connect directly with the cloud?

Public Internet is simple and inexpensive, but it is not always the most reliable, efficient, or secure way to transfer data between an on-site data center and a cloud provider. Some cloud services require network access, and when accessing the cloud, most companies use their existing Internet Service Provider (ISP).

In addition, large companies and global companies can rely on their existing dedicated Internet access (DIA) ISP. A DIA is a special connection to the Internet and it is an important part of a cloud service provider’s business model.

DCC PROVIDERS

However, using a DIA to connect your business to the cloud can increase latency and performance problems, limit available bandwidth, increase the cost of the Internet network and increase the cost of the Internet network. On the other hand, a direct cloud connection is used to establish a connection between the company and a cloud service provider’s infrastructure. Simply put, companies do not share bandwidth with other customers. Many companies that have adopted cloud-based services have failed to implement an Internet-based networking strategy that has become more inclusive, increasing cloud usage across the organization.

Popular Cloud Direct Connect services come from all major cloud providers, including Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform and Microsoft SQL Server. In this article, we will focus on three of these major cloud providers and quickly summarize their offerings. Each provider offers a direct cloud connection, but all offer it in different ways, such as as as a private or public cloud or via a hybrid cloud.

AW Direct Connect allows your business to connect directly to a private or public cloud or hybrid cloud environment. The dedicated connection is divided into several virtual interfaces, and each virtual interface can be adapted over time to meet your changing needs. This allows you to use the same connections to access objects stored in Amazon S3 via the public IP address space or Amazon EC2 instances in an Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) with private IP storage, while maintaining network separation between public and private environments.

To purchase a AWS Cloud Direct Connection, you must purchase a subscription to the AWS Direct Connect service from your AWS provider, such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud Platform (GCP) or Microsoft Azure. ISPs, or you can buy it directly from Amazon, Google, Microsoft and other cloud providers.

EXPRESSROUTE

The Microsoft Azure ExpressRoute connection does not run on the public Internet, but provides a private connection that can be established via private networks such as Google Cloud Platform (GCP) and Amazon Web Services (AWS).

In some cases, using an ExpressRoute connection to transfer data between operating systems in Azure can provide a significant cost advantage. Businesses can connect to Azure via an existing WAN network, VPN or VPN from a network service provider (ISP) and connect Azure directly to AWS or the Google Cloud Platform (GCP) or AWS Web Services. Google Cloud Interconnect enables the development, testing and deployment of applications on Google’s highly scalable and reliable infrastructure. With high availability and the best SLA in the industry, Google Cloud Interconnect delivers enterprise-specific performance and throughput.

In addition, businesses can build API integrations with the infrastructure in the Google Cloud to simplify service management, minimize route complexity and network congestion, and manage all their cloud services, such as data centers, servers, and storage from a single location. Central, office and colocation environments are also connected to the cloud provider via a direct cloud connection. 

As mentioned above, businesses can purchase a direct cloud connection through a data center connected to the cloud provider. Businesses can also buy it through data centers that connect to cloud providers. These include cloud service providers such as Amazon, Google, Microsoft, IBM, Oracle, HPE and IBM Cloud and depending on the region and network availability, your company may use several different providers. There are numerous colocation providers and data centers that are connected, but only a few of them have access and availability to a direct cloud connection. Your business should also consider the availability of the cloud provider’s data center in the area and the location of your data center. Make sure that your cloud providers offer you a direct cloud connection. 

FINDING THE RIGHT PROVIDER

In the procurement process, companies switch to cloud providers, colocation providers and data centre providers when they purchase a cloud connection. Your company also may need to change its data center provider through procurement processes. It is important to note that the price of a direct cloud connection can change, but public cloud providers typically charge a monthly fee of $0.05 to $1.00 per hour. For example, a cloud provider can charge between 0 and 30 cents per hour for a 1 Gbit port, and outgoing data charges can range from 0 to 02 cents per GB, depending on the location of your cloud setup. 

Finding the right Direct Cloud Connection provider can be an overwhelming process. Let our team of experts here at Technology Resource Group help you find the best Direct Cloud Connection provider by utilizing our free services!