Brian Bradley

When forming a hybrid cloud to consume cloud-hosted services, secure and reliable network connectivity is an obvious requirement. While VPN is a great way to get started for private PaaS/IaaS, it is still at the mercy of the dynamic and vulnerable nature of the enterprise internet service provider’s Public Internet BGP routing exchanges. This can lead to the occasional sub-optimal routing, with latency and jitter impacting the services the enterprise is consuming. This also impacts non-VPN, publicly reachable, SaaS-delivered services hosted in the cloud. The solution to all these problems is a Direct Connect (DX) circuit to AWS with BGP peering.

Many corporations announce mergers frequently. Once the ink has dried on the deal, the integration plan begins to take shape. The immediate challenge of interconnection is tasked to IT so that application systems integration or data sharing can securely take place. Often the operations need to remain only partially integrated, as they operate within different data sovereignty laws and corporate polices. How do we do this securely when both organizations have existing AWS account footprints?

For years, we have used MPLS and, more recently, SD-WAN to ensure a quality network experience for our office site users. I've noticed a lot of clients still keep their MPLS carrier service, but at a reduced bandwidth with SD-WAN overlays. This works great to deliver apps and services from centralized or regional network hubs.

The Cisco Meraki MX and Z3 have the native ability via presets to do Meraki AutoVPN or AWS/Azure-native IPSec VPN. Both your existing facilities and Public Cloud presence can also host and accept IPSec. AWS Cloud Hub or Azure vHub can host and accept and function as—you guessed it—an IPSec Hub.

While washing our hands at a sink, do we think about the source of that water… or do we just expect it to be there when we turn it on? Do we set hot, warm, or cold temperatures according to our unique comfort levels?

Business travelers and those who have traditionally worked from home have enjoyed the evolution of connecting via mobile apps for a while now. For some though, recent events may have just introduced them to the possibility of doing so. Let's take a closer look at some of these service types, and review ways to incorporate additional layers of security while connecting your newly remote corporate users to them.

As the “temporary” new normal sets in, some of our traditional methods of connecting users to resources have changed. Here are some ways that networks can adapt to best serve predominately remote workforces.