The quarterly publication of the International Legal Technology Association
Issue link: https://epubs.iltanet.org/i/810339
21 WWW.ILTANET.ORG BEST PRACTICES The Evolution of Cloud Connectivity Solutions ยป Cloud Aggregation Points: For midsize to large organizations that leverage more than single or dual cloud providers, or for enterprises that already leverage physical data center facilities, the cost of adding multiple dedicated links or multiple express routes can become high or unmanageable. This leads us to a rise in "cloud exchange" service providers that aggregate connectivity to the cloud providers on one end and offer the customer a jumping-off point to the cloud sphere. Many of the traditional co-location facility providers are offering this; several of the carriers now offer the same. SAMEER HILAL Sameer Hilal is co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of vCom, a managed service provider focused on the procure-to-pay life cycle management for IT spend in the areas of telecom, network, mobile, collaboration and cloud services. Sameer excels at helping clients gain unprecedented visibility and efficiency to transform how their IT environment is managed. Law firms leverage vCom's platform and services, from design and onboarding to billing and support. Contact Sameer at sameer@vcomsolutions.com. Gartner predicted public cloud services would grow to $246.4 billion in 2017, with the largest growth percentage coming from infrastructure as a service (IaaS) at $34.6 billion. The Right Strategy Determining the right strategy for your firm is an essential part of managing a successful deployment. Evaluate and determine the optimal design, evaluate pros and cons of the various solutions and vendors, and distinguish sales speak from technology reality. Then negotiate the right contract terms and manage and support the deployment. Reassess regularly, and evolve the strategy as the needs of the firm change. P2P Source: Microsoft Source: Equinix network. These virtual connections offer more reliability, faster speeds, lower latencies and higher security than typical internet connections. They make the cloud infrastructure one hop away from any location, which reduces latency and congestion. In addition to quicker and safer access to the cloud, some carriers integrate the MPLS connection with leading providers via soware-defined networking (SDN) capabilities and proprietary technology. The carriers interconnect to cloud providers (Azure, Amazon Web Services, GoogleCloud and others) at multiple points, so the transfer of data between on-premises systems and the cloud provider can yield significant cost benefits, in addition to providing network redundancy.