In a previous blog post I talked about the role of the network in supporting cloud applications. In that message, I touched upon Saas desktop productivity software and some options for pairing the network and the application for optimal performance. Further proof of the growing need to match your cloud services with the correct network technology came out recently when Amazon Web Services (AWS) announced a new service called AWS Direct Connect – targeting Enterprise customers. In this case, AWS and enterprise customers are achieving the value in matching AWS with high-speed, dedicated bandwidth services from Level 3.
AWS Direct Connect opens the door to a wide range of private network alternatives to pair with your specific applications. For example, latency-sensitive traffic like financial data, complex modeling or Video-over-IP transmissions now can be optimized by running across a private circuit instead of the public internet, eliminating unnecessary interruptions and avoiding the costs that are sometimes associated with delays.
By segregating this traffic in a private environment, enterprises also maintain greater end-to-end control to ensure the performance of all your sensitive data services in the priority you choose. It’s easy to see how optimizing network-related costs and performance in this way can lead to big gains in flexibility, productivity and profitability.
Another important consideration underscored by the AWS announcement lies in the critical nature of BCDR activities throughout your network infrastructure topology. High-capacity connectivity, typically private lines or optical wavelengths, play a key role in enabling large data transfers (for business continuity through redundancy or data replication for disaster recovery, for example). Services like AWS Direct Connect improve real-time management of private infrastructure and help ensure that important data replication and virtualization activities can be executed flawlessly.
Finally, it’s also important to consider a broad range of elements when optimizing your managed datacenter networking services for performance and truly-elastic demand. Ideally, your solution will be flexible enough to deliver SONET, MPLS, and Wavelength transmissions, both synchronous and asynchronous, while guaranteeing the security that’s required by your business regulations and policy requirements.
Kudos to AWS for acknowledging the unique needs of their cloud-services customers and launching AWS Direct Connect. This launch represents an important step in enabling customers to better optimize their services and unlock the cloud’s true potential. If you’re interested in learning more, I highly recommend watching this cloud-services video to familiarize yourself with various cloud configurations.
And for more info on getting Level 3 provided AWS Direct Connect, feel free to shoot us an email at aws@level3.com.
About Ted Wagner
