Stream Data Centers in Data Center Frontier: Cloud Connectivity Solutions

Modern enterprises value cloud connectivity for the ease with which they can tap into evolving software, services and industry platforms. An increasing number are rightly turning away from legacy networking solutions and connecting to the cloud. Unfortunately, for many businesses, this migration can quickly become harder than it needs to be.

From dealing with costly hardware investments to the hassles of ongoing in-house administration and long-term contracts with bandwidth limits, enterprises across America can fall into a few common pitfalls in their quest for cloud interconnection. Most recently, Eric Ballard, our VP of Network and Cloud Services here at Stream, sat down with Data Center Frontier to talk about differing approaches to accessing cloud services. Especially important, Mr. Ballard reveals some fundamentally important reasons why combining the reliability of a proven data center with the adaptability of software-defined networking (SDN) can be an optimal solution for end-users.

According to Mr. Ballard, many organizations looking to connect to the cloud often opt for two of the following strategies:

1. Reinventing the wheel with a do-it-yourself solution
2. Assuming your service provider can solve your cloud connectivity issues

Both approaches can create more problems than they are meant to solve. With the first, organizations must continually invest in both capital and operating expenditures to procure and manage the equipment needed to connect securely to the big cloud providers. With the second approach, many providers simply are not ready with the infrastructure to provide connections to the cloud on-time and on-budget. Often, enterprises find themselves forced into long-term contracts not backed by service level agreements (SLAs) and paying for bandwidth they are not using.

Fortunately, there is a third and better way. At Stream, we offer direct cloud interconnection through strategically-located data centers. This provides customers with the flexibility needed to establish cross-connects quickly and with scalable bandwidth. In short, they pay only for the services used and bandwidth consumed, which makes a lot of sense for them from a business perspective. Partnering with a trusted data center provider like Stream gives enterprises the peace of mind they need, knowing that we have both the expertise and adaptable cloud network solutions in place to help them stay nimble as new opportunities emerge.

Read the full article in Data Center Frontier originally published January 31, 2018, and contact us with your questions. We’re ready to serve!