Moving to the Cloud? Pack Enough Bandwidth.
So, you want to move to the cloud, eh?
These days, it’s almost impossible to avoid discussion of the cloud. People from all walks of life have embraced cloud services, some without realizing it. Apple’s iCloud and browser-based email are just two examples of how cloud-based solutions have found their way into everyday life. Convenient, backed up, always available from nearly anywhere…these are just a few of the reasons cloud life has become a mainstay.
What does this mean for businesses?
Most organizations have either looked at, are currently looking at, or already use some sort of cloud-based solutions. The same reasons the general public has turned to the cloud ring true for businesses of all sizes; except for the business world, the benefits are immense.
Businesses joined in on the technology revolution and are now looking to cut the costs of owning a data center. Power, cooling, and the sheer amount of space data centers take up make them a significant, continual cost to the bottom line. Add in the ongoing cost of maintaining a proper IT hardware lifecycle – the servers, switches, storage, backup solutions, etc. – as well as the manpower, time, and risk to the business, and one can see how cloud services look more and more attractive. Moving from a massive IT footprint to only needing internet connectivity is a considerable cost saving.
However, what many organizations fail to consider are the risks associated with cloud-based solutions. More specifically, while organizations are removing servers, powering down storage, and decommissioning network switches, many forget the one thing that is absolutely mandatory for cloud usage: the need for additional internet bandwidth with automatic failover.
Increased Reliance on Connectivity
Gone are the days when bandwidth simply allowed for basic internet connectivity. Many organizations agree that the internet is now mission-critical to the operations of the business, but when migrating to the cloud, connectivity goes from mission-critical to business-critical. Care must be taken to ensure that the bandwidth in use by the organization can accommodate the increase in constant, always-on applications, much like what was built in an “old-fashioned” data center.
If there’s a failure in internet connectivity, that failure can cause applications to crash, phone calls to drop, and online meetings to lag. The impacts of these range from minor inconveniences to embarrassing apologies. To avoid this, businesses need another, safer path to their applications and data that seamlessly moves traffic from one provider to another without customers ever noticing the failure. Knowing how to properly plan for and engineer around multiple types of internet failure scenarios is tricky, yet in business-critical situations, failure isn’t an option.
Businesses have better things to do than stress over potential internet failures. Waiting for the day a failure occurs is a losing proposition; eventually, a single internet connection will experience an outage at just the wrong time.
Prepare Like a Pro
GMI’s team of experienced network consultants has the skills to evaluate the connectivity needs of your organization. We can design and implement internet connectivity solutions to ensure that you stay connected to your cloud-based applications, regardless of internet failure. With enough bandwidth to keep applications flowing without hesitation and a properly engineered internet edge, you can rest assured that no one will know when failures occur. That pays dividends.
Give us a ping to learn more.
Bret Filipek
With more than 25 years in IT, Bret Filipek is a seasoned pro. He's worn such titles as Systems Engineer, Network Engineer, Security Engineer, Network Operations and Engineer Manager, and IT Director. His experience includes working with the largest hosting provider, the largest financial transaction processor, and small non-profits as well. When he isn't helping organizations solve IT challenges, he can be found hiking and making the most of the scenic Arizona outdoors.