What is Edge-To-Cloud Computing? How Does Cloud Connect Help?
Many people in a single organisation work across different locations globally. With businesses going online even customers for those businesses are spread across different geographical areas. On-premise data servers are no longer capable of collecting and storing data effectively. Mainly, because a lot of data generated by companies doesn’t happen on-premise. Having secure access to a Public Cloud can help businesses collect and store data from different areas. That’s why there is a growing need for businesses to have edge-to-cloud capabilities.
With emerging technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Internet of Things (IoT), edge-to-cloud connectivity becomes essential. These technologies aim to provide real-time data from remote areas for quick decision-making. For example, a self-driving vehicle will rely on AI to identify if the object ahead of it is another vehicle, a person or a rock. This decision has to take place within a fraction of a second. Therefore, it’s important to have a speedy and stable connection from the edge to the Cloud.
Here’s a look at the benefits of edge-to-cloud connectivity for your business:
Speedy response - It increases the ability to respond quickly to any business request. By making your business more agile in responding to market gaps, it will reduce the time to market for products.
Minimal latency - Edge-to-cloud connections will offer maximum availability with little to no downtime. This is ideal when you want to use AI for analyzing business-critical data that is too large to move to the Cloud.
But the main benefit of an edge-to-cloud connection is the ease of switching between an on-premise data center and a public cloud. This is called a Hybrid cloud environment
This allows you to run applications on an ‘as-a-service’ cloud platform without having to change the user experience. You can continue using existing app associations without changing any processes. A hybrid cloud model will also allow you to monitor and manage resources on a public cloud.
But how does an edge-to-cloud connection work?
To explain this process, let’s take a look at an example. Jio Cloud Connect, provided by JioBusiness, is one of the premium edge-to-cloud solutions available in India.
It offers fast and secure connectivity to a public cloud over a high-speed MPLS VPN connection. Apart from speed, the MPLS VPN ensures security while carrying out operations over a public cloud. The dual path network ensures minimal downtime.
Jio Cloud Connect has partnered with Microsoft ExpressRoute to extend the on-premise infrastructure to a public cloud. This ensures a private connection to Microsoft Azure Cloud which supports bandwidth speeds up to 100 Gbps. This feature allows easy Cloud access in Central, West and South India simply through a corporate MPLS connection.
Among other benefits, Cloud Connect also enables Traffic prioritisation, Virtual Routing and Forwarding (VRF), and Quality of Service (QoS) related features.
Cloud-to-edge computing is set to play a vital role in businesses of the future. You can stay ahead of the competition and improve your service by adopting this Hybrid Cloud Model.
Reference links
Jio Cloud Connect
Cloud Edge Computing: Beyond the Data Center
Edge to Cloud