An interview with Michael Ulrich, Senior Business Development Manager at DataStore for Barracuda Networks, which considers the question: do business-critical applications belong in the public cloud?
Absolutely, says Michael Ulrich. Read our interview to find out what he has to say about implementing a “cloud-first” strategy and what SASE has to do with it.
Why are companies moving business-critical applications into the public cloud?
At the very top of the list of reasons is the availability of data from anywhere and the flexible adaptability of resources. If you want to avoid substantial extra expense, this can only be achieved through the public cloud. Where customers once favored a hybrid approach, today companies are increasingly relying on a cloud-first strategy.
The major cloud providers like Microsoft, Amazon, and Google have made enormous investments in infrastructure and security. They now offer a variety of tools for different scenarios which have reached a high degree of technical maturity and user-friendliness. Adequate levels of security and encryption are absolutely possible in the public cloud today. This limits risk and has in recent years led to broad acceptance of the public cloud, including in our region, and faster than many expected.
What advantages does a cloud-first strategy offer?
Cloud-first allows the use of applications, services, and new features with the greatest possible speed. This supports technological change, which in turns offers customers potential competitive advantages. Customers benefit immediately from a flexible, high-performance infrastructure without first having to invest money and resources themselves. With “pay-as-you-go” models, resources can also be adapted quickly to changing demand.
What’s your advice for companies who are considering a cloud-first strategy?
Establishing cloud technologies comprehensively throughout the company and deploying them uncompromisingly means a culture change. Successful migration requires careful planning. Advice from a competent IT service provider who is experienced with cloud computing can help here – above all in choosing the right tools and systems, adjusting processes, and ensuring the technical interoperability of services.
And a cloud-first strategy always means a certain dependence on the internet and therefore its availability and performance. “Secure access service edge” solutions, or SASE for short, help in maintaining optimal connection as automatically as possible via multiple service providers. The SASE approach combines networking and security in a common architecture.
What are the specific advantages of SASE solutions?
With SASE, all relevant components required for secure data traffic can be represented in one architecture. These components include next generation firewalls, advanced threat protection, SD-WAN, IPS, and zero trust network access. In other words, SASE replaces isolated solutions with solutions that combine all components in one. This also helps companies avoid the additional expense of acquisition, staff training, licensing, and maintenance. The cloud acts as a central anchor point from which the required functionalities are sent to the edge device in appropriately parameterized form. The company’s own computing center becomes an additional anchor.
Interested? Your questions about the topic will be answered by:
Michael Ulrich
Senior Business Development Manager
Email: info@datastore.ch