Cloud Based Collaboration Needs a Hub

With its business-oriented tools, enterprise software has been on the scene many years and drives such operations as project management, network management services, IT service management, automated billing, online payment processing and many other programs. In most instances, a collection of computer programs provide common business applications for an entire organization. However, in 21st-century computer technology, cloud-based collaboration and interconnection for businesses of all kinds is becoming increasingly important. The digital workplace is mobile and requires fast, secure connections and cloud services that can be distributed among offices, employees and business partners located anywhere in the world.

Life in the Cloud and Beyond

In its simplest terms, cloud computing refers to Internet-based computing that provides users as large as mega-corporations and as small as home-based businesses with on-demand access to a shared pool of resources. These include document storage, networks, servers, applications and services. Advocates cite a number of advantages to cloud computing:

• companies avoid upfront infrastructure costs
• improved manageability for applications with less maintenance required
• IT staff can adjust more rapidly to fluctuating business demands

High-capacity networks plus low-cost computers along with service-oriented architecture have led to the growth of cloud computing. However, customer requirements for high-performance network management and reliable, collaborative infrastructures are in demand.

Out With the Old

New ways of working are constantly appearing on the computing landscape. Trends in collaboration are also evolving and reshaping tools and applications, making them into ecosystems that can be connected to one another. As a result, older network architectures are feeling the stress because their traditional infrastructures were not built to handle these increased levels of collaborative activity.

Operating From the Hub

This growing need for collaboration among companies and organizations in today’s business world requires greater agility and coordination between networks. Enterprises and providers of cloud services are addressing this with Interconnection Oriented Architecture™, or IOA™. This allows users to securely connect locations, people, clouds and data.

The Benefits of Interconnectivity

Connecting through a virtual private cloud network provides improved application performance and faster migrations. Swift, secure and cost-effective connections result in seamless collaboration and improved productivity. What was a VPN service provider years ago has now transformed into a network management service for his middle tier and enterprise clients. An IOA interconnects customers, partners and employees using their preferred channels, devices and services. IOA provides the enterprise customers of service providers secure access to clouds and network management services, plus more collaboration and productivity applications.

Direct interconnection allows people in businesses of all kinds to adapt quickly to change, react in real time, leverage their digital supply chains as well as peer-to-peer sharing, and create better value and new growth.