Things You Need to Know About Cloud Computing

I have spoken at many conferences, seminars, gatherings and customer meetings and in pretty much every case there is STILL confusion about what it means, its relevance and how best to go about getting an informed view on how it can help.

So let me introduce Interoute’s Virtual Data Centre and start at the beginning.

With Interoute’s Virtual Data Centre – it’s your data, it’s your servers, it’s your network.

• YOU decide where the data is kept and only YOU have access to it. It will only move, delete, copy or archive when YOU decide it should. It has EXACTLY the same controls as you have today with any private data.
• Your data and all your traffic are SEPARATED, SECURE and PROTECTED using the same technology that is used to separate your data today. If you are using MPLS as your VPN technology (over 90% do) then your data uses exactly the same separation. If you have your current data attached to a network in your comms room, private data centre or shared facility it uses the network to ensure that it is separated from the outside. The Interoute Virtual Data Centre is exactly the same.
• You can have as many data centre’s as you like and you will only pay for what you use. Any network between virtual data centre’s is FREE. If you are an existing Interoute VPN customer the network in and out of the virtual data centre is FREE. You can build a 5 site virtual data centre infrastructure running active-active and we will only charge you for the computing and storage you use.
• The virtual data centre gives you complete control over the network so you can recreate “real” designs with “private and public” networks – not simply all public with a few firewalls to separate traffic. This is much faster and massively more cost effective.

To sum it up, the Interoute Virtual Data Centre is what you are used to but better; as secure, more scalable and faster (5 times faster than Amazon EC2). But I hear you ask: in order to do all this does it then lose the flexibility of the public cloud? The public cloud may have its detractors BUT it is brilliantly simple and convenient to use. NO – Not in the slightest, read on.

The Interoute Virtual Data Centre gives you the simplicity of the public cloud. You can build data centre’s in minutes, use it for as little as an hour and scale it to serve millions all without leaving your chair. This isn’t smoke and mirrors with mad dashing behind the scenes, this is real time automation on top of Europe’s largest cloud infrastructure – integrating not just computing and storage but also Europe’s largest network and communication platform. ALL AUTOMATED.

Furthermore, with the Interoute CloudStore you get a fully populated application and appliance marketplace that puts it all together so you don’t have to. Network, computing, storage and communication infrastructure is integrated so whether you are building a Microsoft Lync Unified Communication suite, 100% available web presence direct into Europe’s biggest markets, or simply saving 50% on your hardware budget by buying the Interoute Virtual Data Centre, it’s all there.

So what can you do with it and where should you start?

1. Testing and development. If you never use VDC for anything else use it for this. You can build complete environments, save them for later or deploy in production but you never have to buy more than you need or find a home for the boxes when you finish.
2. How good is your disaster recovery and continuity? Mostly variable because it’s an insurance policy that for many gets eroded; ironically the more successful you are. Only when you need it do people take the real cost seriously. With VDC you can build exact replicas of your current primary production sites and have them on standby warm or cold or full on active-active. Because we control the network we let you set up disk replication into any remote site as standard. Whatever you do it will be cheaper, faster and more flexible that what you have today.
3. Build a unified communication solution that truly ‘unifies’ your communication. Interoute is one of Europe’s most connected voice and video platforms able to reach over 10Bn phones, smartphones and video conferencing units globally at a fraction of your current costs.  Working with Microsoft, we offer the faster way to unify your communications simplifying the way your teams work and saving a bundle in the process.
4. Server consolidation and migration. Most people will have stray servers scattered throughout their organization; on-premise so costing 10 times as much as on-network and underutilized. The Interoute Virtual Data Centre is the perfect vehicle for gently, or not so gently, cleaning up your server estate, reducing costs not only on the support, power and maintenance but also on the level of administration.
5. The “Swiss Army Knife” of IT.  The Interoute VDC can be used in conjunction with appliances in the Interoute CloudStore to solve a whole host of niggly problems.
   1. Better remote access coverage for your mobile workers – you can deploy firewalls using VDC as an extension of your network, typical time from start to finish 30-60minutes, in the old world 3-4 weeks.
   2. FTP servers to move large files around your organization
   3. Temporary storage as part of an office move
   4. Temporary or small site network access – Fast integration of a new acquisition integrating in the first week what normally takes months
   5. Scalable platform for your corporate web site. Fully resilient and able to scale for whatever your customers throw at it. (Remember Interoute is the underlying supplier for the majority of Europe’s cloud infrastructure so we already serve most of it)

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