The surprise reason your cloud adoption strategy isn't working
This blog has been expertly reviewed by Darren Hogan, Director of Portfolio at Nasstar.
The power of cloud adoption cannot be overstated. For many organisations, there are countless tangible benefits to be had when the cloud is successfully implemented including the ability to:
rapidly deploy and scale IT infrastructure
provide access to new applications
adopt new ways of working to increase productivity
transform existing business processes
While all of this is good news, many cloud adoptions actually fail due to a lack of consideration for the key enabler in successful cloud adoption - connectivity.
Historically, the only option for connecting to a public cloud service was over the public Internet. However, with the monumental shift to cloud computing, we’ve come to demand better security, lower latency, increased reliability, and higher throughputs – all of which are difficult to achieve with the public Internet.
Why connectivity matters
“Rather than being considered an important enabler to cloud adoption, the connectivity fabric is typically thought of as ‘just internet access’. The problem here is that, although connectivity and cloud are often pictured as separate discrete technology towers, they have a symbiotic relationship in delivering the promise of cloud computing.” Darren Hogan, Director of Portfolio at Nasstar explains.
“For IT buyers, a utility-based approach is often taken, focusing on cost as a metric for success in designing and maintaining the connectivity solution. However, this can come at the expense of performance and reliability.
“For example, if you built a factory that constantly innovated and produced the most sought-after products in the market, would you not give equal consideration to the distribution of those products in a timely and qualitative manner? Spending millions to build the factory without establishing how your goods will be distributed is simply bad business.” he continued.
“You can look at cloud adoption in the same way. Your cloud environment is your productivity factory, but to realise the value of it and ensure you’re getting the best return on investment, you need to factor in how you will get content and services to your customers. This is where the ‘Power of three’ is invaluable.”
The Power of Three – ICC
Nasstar has established a solution that gets you to the cloud in the most efficient, secure, and beneficial way. Our Intelligent Connected Cloud (ICC) connectivity fabric is designed to optimise the user experience with high-speed connectivity, guarantee availability, and deliver an integrated security fabric. The solution consists of three main components:
- ICC Access – Last mile underlay connectivity into the Nasstar ICC infrastructure
- SD-WAN – Software Defined Networking overlay technology
- ICC Cloud Connect - Cloud onramp into your choice of hyperscaler
1. ICC Access
The first element to ICC is ICC Access which brings your business into the Nasstar connectivity infrastructure. Using our ecosystem of connectivity partners, we can provide cost-effective, high-speed connectivity that allows site-to-site communications as well as Direct Internet Access for the consumption of public cloud SaaS applications.
ICC Access provides a smart and efficient solution that can unite your locations through one single, unified connectivity fabric, simplifying how you connect by reducing complexity and workloads.
You’ll also have access to a variety of connectivity options, including broadband, mobile, and business-grade Ethernet services, enabling you to choose the best option for your business needs. Whether you need private connections or those via the internet, ICC Access can support.
2. SD-WAN
With connectivity being a cornerstone of several cloud adoption frameworks and your overall strategy, it’s a key element in our ICC offering. Our SD-WAN solution simplifies and strengthens wide area network (WAN) connectivity to provide site reliability, reporting, and analytics. This is especially beneficial for customers running branches with performance and resiliency requirements.
Our SD-WAN solution links and extends enterprise networks across vast distances, harnessing a range of connectivity options that allow businesses to access critical corporate apps, services, and resources. It can also be extended to bring the many benefits of SD-WAN deployment directly into the public cloud application landscape. Whether that’s facilitating remote work from anywhere with an internet connection or enabling a more secure network infrastructure.
3. ICC Cloud Connect
While connecting to the public cloud privately can be complex, ICC Cloud Connect aims to simplify the process. We deliver a dedicated and centrally provisioned private connection between Nasstar’s Intelligent Connected Cloud network and your chosen hyperscaler environment (AWS, Azure, GCP, and more), resulting in a single, streamlined connection.
Our innovative solution empowers businesses, giving you the freedom and flexibility to select your preferred hyperscaler. Using a layered approach, ICC Cloud Connect also means you can privately access critical resources within your chosen hyperscaler from any location on your network. The key benefit here is that you can save valuable time, while also significantly reducing the costs associated with managing multiple disparate hyperscaler connectivity solutions.
Leverage the Power of Three
By combining our ICC offerings, your business can embrace cloud adoption and migration more effectively. Not only will you experience a robust, high-speed, dedicated connectivity fabric that allows transformation activity such as cloud workload migration, but you’ll also have a future-proof solution for cloud application and data consumption. It just makes sense.
At Nasstar, these services can be accessed as a single managed cloud service too. We can design, deliver, and manage all elements of ICC and cloud adoption frameworks for you, enabling you to focus on the bigger picture.
Speak to our team about ICC and how you can leverage it for cloud success today.
