The Challenge: Need for Hybrid Solutions
In recent years, Stokken has seen a growing trend towards hybrid cloud environments. In addition to the private cloud environments that are managed by Basefarm, clients are increasingly using the services of public cloud providers such as Microsoft (Azure) and Amazon (AWS). "Although anyone with a credit card can get started with these public cloud services, the connectivity can sometimes be a weak link," says Støkken: "The physical distance to our clients in Scandinavia for example is relatively long, so a connection via the Internet is often paired with unreliable performance and high cost."
Additionally, such a connection with the public cloud environments does not always meet the requirements due to latency, in other words, the slowing down of the connection that arises as a result of the long distances involved. This is why Støkken was pleasantly surprised with the Cloud Connect service from Interxion. The two service providers have been working together successfully for more than ten years now. Interxion's Cloud Connect service was launched exactly at the right time to be able to provide a reliable and cost-effective connection with the public cloud environments to clients with strict latency requirements.
Direct and secure connection with all major cloud providers
Azadeh Baghery, account manager at Interxion, explains: "We’ve been offering Cloud Connect since 2015 via our data centres in Europe. It’s a service that enables a direct and secure connection with the major cloud providers such as Amazon (AWS) and Microsoft (Azure). A connection via the internet is often less secure and offers no Service Level Agreements (SLAs) on availability and performance. So in terms of security and performance, Cloud Connect offers an enhanced connection with the major cloud providers". The connection between Basefarm and Interxion is established in the Netherlands, Støkken explains: "When I started looking for a way to connect our network with the big cloud providers, the geographical location of the partner’s data centre was a factor I took into account. Interxion’s central location in Europe is an advantage, as well as its physical presence in relation to the major cloud providers and ourselves. That is why it was simple to include Cloud Connect in our services package."
The Optimal Hybrid Cloud Solution
Baghery continues: "Many companies increasingly look for a hybrid environment as they can't move everything to the public cloud for reasons of privacy, costs or because some legacy applications cannot be converted. Via Cloud Connect, Basefarm can offer its clients an optimal hybrid solution without the disadvantages of the public internet. An added benefit is the short distance between Interxion and cloud providers, reducing latency to a minimum." "Cloud Connect has been part of our portfolio since May 2018 and the first clients went live in the summer. We have been extremely satisfied with the SLAs offered, as well as the performance and the stability. It is exactly as described: flexible and easy to implement," says Støkken.
We’ve been extremely satisfied with the SLAs offered, as well as the performance and the stability. It is exactly as described: flexible and easy to implement.
