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Growth in cloud over the last three years has been phenomenal. It has changed the enterprise IT landscape and is finally driving change in global networks. And as cloud growth continues to rise, enterprises need new and innovative models for connecting their cloud services.
Research firm Gartner expects that global spending on infrastructure as a service (IaaS) reached almost $16.5 billion in 2015, an increase of 32.8% from 2014, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) from 2014 to 2019 forecast at 29.1%.
The traditional networking model is simply not fast enough to keep up with a cloud ecosystem moving this quickly. Traditional networking can no longer match the needs or expectations of enterprises that are rapidly adopting cloud services. For too long networking has lacked the agility, flexibility, stability, and visibility that cloud services require.
Removing the limits on cloud
Cloud-based applications are only as good as an enterprise’s ability to connect to them. Traditional models rely on slow manual procurement processes that mean enterprises have to wait to connect their cloud services. Typically, this involves emails and spreadsheets being exchanged between enterprises and their suppliers with long wait timers until the service is actually available. Demands within the enterprise can change but the network isn’t ready to immediately respond to these changes.
Similarly, long inflexible contracts lock enterprises in for years, making it difficult to adjust or scale their services. This hurts an enterprise’s ability to realise the benefits and efficiencies of cloud services. It limits them and keeps them from scaling up or down locations based on changing demand.
Always on and on-demand
For enterprises, waiting for connectivity is no longer an option and they are using cloud connectivity platforms to solve these challenges. These platforms are removing the barriers around customising and shaping network services to meet enterprise-specific business needs and can give them on-demand Ethernet access from an online portal.
No more emailing and no more waiting.
Enterprises need to see increased levels of automation from their connectivity providers that enable them to procure services instantly with visibility into network performance. From building-to-building, data centre-to-data centre or cloud-to-cloud, networking models must deliver on-demand connectivity that simplifies how enterprises connect to the cloud. This should be available from an online portal that offers click-to-connect procurement and end-to-end monitoring that supports quality of experience for end users.
The days of ‘best effort’ services that need a team to manage them are over.
On-demand connectivity delivered from cloud connectivity platform is rapidly replacing traditional networking models because it gives control back to the enterprise and enables them to self-serve 24/7.
Today, connectivity is a barrier to success. With new models that include cloud connectivity platforms, the network can be the foundation for new innovation in cloud. It can be central to cloud enablement while supporting widespread adoption. When enterprises are able to gain friction-free access to cloud connectivity they can realize the full potential of the cloud.