December, 2016

WAN – Wide Area Network, the three magic words that connect our world. Simply put, WAN is the network that connects local areas spread across the world.

The word network might conjure visions of tangled cables and blinking routers, but we have come a long way from the days when a 9.6 Kbps line was considered fast! Since its inception in the 1970s, WAN has been responsible for connecting people and facilitating business.

We trace the WAN journey through all its technological leaps from the 1970s to the present day and take a quick peek into the future of Enterprise WAN.

WAN evolution – 1970s to the present day

The late 1970s saw, what could be called, the start of WAN with X.25 Networks – a popular option with the maximum speed of 9.6 Kbps, which was used by many companies at that time.

The 1980s saw considerable innovations in WAN technology and through the decade network speeds of leased point-to-point lines kept improving. 1987 saw Cisco introducing routers to replace remote bridges.

At the beginning of 1990s, frame relay service was introduced and revolutionized the enterprise WAN industry by drastically reducing costs and increasing operational efficiency. In less than a decade, even the most reluctant organizations were using the technology.

The next big leap came with MPLS (Multiprotocol Label Switching) – a successor to Frame Relay. Since its launch in early 2000s, it has been widely adopted by the majority of enterprises. It provides an IP based service to deliver voice, data and video on one network. Over time,WAN optimization technology has been added to MPLS networks to squeeze out more bandwidth and lower costs.

Enterprise WAN in the coming decade

Plagued by performance and reliability issues, WAN technology could not get the desired flexibility and cost effectiveness that other Internet based services achieved.

Cloud computing platforms changed this. SD- WAN (Software Defined-WAN) is the technology which will be the foundation of the next generation of enterprise WAN. It is software controlled, virtualized Network delivered through the cloud; with all the cloud related benefits of scalability, cost effectiveness and fast deployment.

Now that cloud service providers are offering cloud aligned network solutions, organizations can finally get access to the next generation of WAN to keep pace with cloud-based application.

Organizations need to move from using widely disparate and hybrid networks to integrated cloud-enabled networking platforms that can provide seamless manageability, high performance and high degrees of resilience and security. Watch this insightful video on WAN transformation

As cloud adoption accelerated, service providers listened to their customers experiences and problems; tweaked and optimized their cloud solutions to create the Hybrid cloud solution – a cloud platform with the benefits of both the public and private cloud. Hybrid cloud allows enterprises to cherry-pick the cloud solutions that provide the perfect balance between their business needs and budgets.Its no surprise, that hybrid cloud has seen the fastest adoption rate in the last year, with over 70% of enterprises deploying hybrid systems. But what exactly makes it so popular in the business IT world?Here are the reasons..

Best of both clouds

Public cloud offers flexibility, scalability and cost benefits, while private cloud allows greater control and complete data security. With a hybrid cloud platform, businesses can merge the two cloud models to maximize benefits while minimizing the risks. Companies can keep sensitive data on their private servers and use public cloud for running less critical applications and larger workloads.

Cost benefits

After deploying hybrid cloud, businesses can count on a quantifiable reduction in costs. The pay per use models drive cost efficiency and reduce wastage of resources.

Enhanced security

With the flexibility of storing sensitive data on dedicated servers, the biggest cloud concern around security has finally been laid to rest. Businesses do not need to miss out on the advantages of cloud computing while prioritizing compliance and security.

Are their challenges in moving to Hybrid Cloud?

As with any migration to new systems, deploying and operating hybrid cloud also has its fair share of complexities. Building a complex hybrid system needs skills and strategy and can get expensive if not handled and planned well. The biggest challenge lies in integrating data with applications and ensuring compatibility across the two levels of infrastructure.

But with increasing adoption of hybrid cloud systems, it is obvious that service providers and businesses have found a way to successfully deploy and integrate hybrid platforms in diverse business settings.

With almost 95% businesses using cloud in some form or another, the business world has accepted cloud computing as an inevitable IT structure. The debate has moved on to the pros and cons of the various cloud platforms. With the hybrid model the search for the perfect platform, with all the advantages and none of the risks, is finally over.

 

Sify offers Public, Private and Managed Cloud services, leveraging enterprise-class technology to guarantee high availability, performance, scalability and security. The services are a testament to Sify’s proven expertise in Cloud services and are offered in customizable, cost-effective models that are easy to deploy and use. The breadth of Sify’s expertise in end-to-end IT services makes Sify the ideal partner to manage the full spectrum of the IT needs of all organizations, across sector and scale.

According to a recent survey conducted by Right Scale– 93% of businesses are using cloud technology in some form or another. Chances are that your competitors are already using cloud platforms and are growing their businesses at your expense. To stay competitive it’s imperative to leverage the benefits of cloud. Embracing the cloud is no longer a choice; it has become inevitable.

But migrating your business to the cloud is easier said than done, like all large and potentially expensive business decisions it requires detailed analysis. Among countless choices, one critical decision is choosing the right type of cloud platform, a cloud solution that fits the requirements of your business, now and in the future.

There is a lot of discussion around the competing benefits of private and public cloud; But what are the main differences between the two and which is the best fit for your business?

Private Vs Public Cloud

Public cloud

In a public cloud your data and applications are hosted on shared physical hardware owned by the service provider, your company has no hardware and maintenance costs at all – the service provider bears complete responsibility for the management and upkeep of the Data Center.

Public cloud offers unmatched scalability, businesses can ramp up or down within minutes and pay for only what they use. Economies of scale work in favor of public cloud systems, businesses have access to fast and reliable IT resources at a fraction of what it would cost them to build and run their own IT infrastructure.

Private Cloud

Private cloud or Enterprise cloud, is custom made infrastructure dedicated to your company, but can be hosted either on premise or in Data Centers run by service providers.

Security and control are the obvious advantages of the private cloud and for organizations with strict regulations and compliance obligations this is an absolute must. Private cloud also allows for greater customization of the hardware and other resources to serve specific business requirements.

A quick checklist to find out which cloud fits your business

While cloud platforms, on the whole, offer huge advantages over traditional IT ecosystems, enterprises need to carefully consider the pros and cons of the various cloud solutions in the market.

Public Cloud could be the right choice for you if:

• Your business is dynamic and has seasonal bursts of intense activity, requiring a corresponding spike in bandwidth.
• You need access to the latest IT resources to grow your business, but do not have the budget to build your own IT infrastructure.
• Businesses that have stringent security and regulatory requirements.
• Organizations with deeper pockets who can afford to spend on capital investment.

Because of its irresistible combination of speed, agility and scalability with cost effective models, cloud is now the default IT system for all businesses; it is definitely here to stay. As the technology matures, service providers and ICT companies will continue to create and offer a larger variety of options to its customers. But as always, the choice between money and security will be the key deciding factor for most businesses.

Sify offers Public, Private and Managed Cloud services, leveraging enterprise-class technology to guarantee high availability, performance, scalability and security. The services are a testament to Sify’s proven expertise in Cloud services and are offered in customizable, cost-effective models that are easy to deploy and use. The breadth of Sify’s expertise in end-to-end IT services makes Sify the ideal partner to manage the full spectrum of the IT needs of all organizations, across sector and scale.

The biggest digital disrupter of the decade has finally hit the IT industry! The convergence of new technologies – social, mobile, cloud and data analytics, has fundamentally changed the way business is being done. Enterprises are, naturally, under immense pressure to adapt their existing infrastructures, strategies and workforce to deal with these changes.

But during this hectic time, businesses need to pause and reflect on how they want digital transformation to impact their long-term strategy and growth. Do they want to fire fight the next wave of disruption or be ahead of the curve? Do they want to patch on technology cures or create a future ready system?

To ensure that digital transformation finally results in a strong and adaptive business structure, here are the 5 key areas of consideration

Invest in creating a Digital Vision

Transformation is a top down process: senior management, from across all departments, need to come together to create a long term and holistic strategy to deal with enterprise digital transformation.What is needed is a digital vision to articulate the immediate impact and long-term opportunities that could come up due to the transformation process.

100% Customer focused approach

To create a truly future focused and adaptive business, the customer must be kept at the center of all business functions: this is the fundamental on which enterprises need to base their long and short term digital strategy.

Enterprises that listen to its customers, present and potential, are the ones that will, not just flourish in the current digital rich environment, but will be better prepared to ride the next wave of disruption. To build customer loyalty and a differentiated brand, customer engagement has to be amped up to deliver continuously improving and truly interesting and innovative 360° customer experience.

Follow the data, but with a context

Even though organizations are using Analytics and Big Data mining to improve their bottom-line, often the sheer amount of data can leave managers with a sense of uncertainty.

What is needed here is Context. An open communication structure within the organization will encourage employees from different departments to weigh in on how to interpret and use the data.

Transform your employees

Transformation will only work as well as the people running it. For many employees digital transformation can be a disruptive and challenging process and targeted training and change management will help to keep the workforce motivated.

To change ingrained mindsets is not an easy task, but to create an agile business, inter departmental collaboration must become part of the work culture. Employees, new or existing, must be encouraged to stay updated and learn digital skills and should be assessed on their ability to contribute to the new system.

Embrace the culture of Innovation

Finally, organizations have to foster a deep-rooted culture of innovation and experimentation. Talented teams from across departments must collaborate to constantly experiment and test new technologies and processes to reach more and more digital users. This quick thinking and agile workforce will create a business that is not just ready to manage the next big change but will actually create the next new technology disruptor.

Digital transformation is not an end in itself; it is a continuous process. For enterprises to constantly stay ahead of the curve, digital culture must seep into its very core. It changes not just how companies deal with its customers, but also impacts its internal structures, functions and processes. It becomes part of the organization’s DNA.

We are Sify and we transform businesses for a digital world like no other. With our SMAC network, global inter-cloud connectivity, agile IT and seamless access across platforms, we transform the way enterprises do businesses providing a unified customer experience.