Our UK Cloud Snapshot Survey 2017 exposed a number of challenges facing UK organisations, including GDPR, Brexit, Data Sovereignty and the increase in Cyber Security attacks. One of the less difficult issues to address, for over 70% of the surveyed respondents, are the options to connect a private network to the cloud, such as Azure ExpressRoute. 35.7% use Azure, and yet very few use Azure ExpressRoute, in fact only 28.3% used a direct Cloud Connect to any of their cloud services.
Cloud Connect Explainer Video
Why use Azure ExpressRoute?
As I’ve covered before, in Cloud Connectivity Providers Explained, Azure ExpressRoute is a service that enables customers to create private connections between Microsoft Azure data centres and their own networks, such as on-premise infrastructure or colocation. Azure ExpressRoute connections are direct, they don’t rely on public internet, and offer far greater reliability, significantly more security and lower latency (speed) than can be achieved over a typical internet connection. Almost always Azure ExpressRoute connections can result in cost-savings. You can find out more detail regarding Azure ExpressRoute here: ExpressRoute Overview: Extend your on-premises network to Azure.
Azure ExpressRoute Network OverviewHow to get Azure ExpressRoute
In order to take advantage of all the goodies Azure ExpressRoute can provide, we work with ExpressRoute connectivity partner providers. One of our partners is Megaport, who are one of the most accomplished ExpressRoute partners in the world, supporting 18 ExpressRoute locations across the globe. Megaport was the world’s first SDN-based Elastic Interconnection platform designed to provide a secure, seamless, and on-demand way for enterprises, networks, and services to interconnect.
Provisioning connections between data centres and external services has always been a problem, either due to cost or due to complexity. A decade ago I remember the only viable option was a direct Point-to-Point, which unless the two locations were within reasonable proximity, high capacity connections were an eye-watering expense. Connections between diverse geo-locations, such as between countries, required backhauls and XConnects between friendly data centres or peers, often taking weeks or months to provision. You can read more about the many DIY options in Cloud Network Providers | Connect Your Private Network to the Cloud.
Why use Serviceteam IT & Megaport
Megaport want what we want:
- consistent connectivity to optimise the provisioning process
- flexible contractual terms
- to make connectivity options broader, simpler, and far more streamlined.
“For the last three years, we have rapidly expanded our network and one of the biggest values of Megaport is the ability to provision service to Azure specifically from any location to any Azure region in less than a couple of minutes. Our business model complements the cloud business model: no lock-in contracts, pay-as-you-go, and you only pay for what you need.”
Matt Simpson, Director of Global Cloud Strategy, Megaport.
True multi-platform cloud connectivity
One of the things that allows Megaport to stand out against their competitors for Serviceteam IT is the shared commitment to a vendor-agnostic vision of the cloud. By consolidating multiple cloud vendors, enabling customers to quickly and simply deploy multi-cloud environments, leveraging multiple public cloud options as well as their own data centres, which are all accessible from a single interface.
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