Cultivating Your Digital Ecosystem: How Interconnection Bolsters Data Center Capabilities

The data center landscape is buzzing with ways to manage burgeoning demands from end users. First, traditional IT was disrupted by mass adoption of cloud solutions and enablers (in a 2018 survey, 51 percent of global enterprises indicated they leverage hybrid cloud solutions to manage their IT environment). Now the edge is the new frontier. With distributed infrastructure helping to leverage cloud solutions and the edge, companies gain benefits such as reduced latency and increased security. Add in the Internet of Thing’s (IoT) push for more data processing at even faster speeds from all sorts of locations (near and far) and it’s clear: in this day and age, more is more. The future of the digital world is shaping up to look like a mass of IT clouds with data management and analysis happening at the edge of the network. This means that the traditional stand-alone, isolated data center will no longer adequately serve the needs of the enterprise. To keep pace with and express the benefits of both the edge and the cloud, businesses will need to go beyond the four walls of their data centers and plug into a more interconnected, distributed network.

So what exactly is network interconnection? Network interconnection is defined by providing connections between different processing elements or nodes on a network, typically connected by switching elements. In essence, interconnection services allow for distributed capabilities over a secure, low-latency, high-resiliency and cost-effective network that businesses can manage and extend to carry data traffic across their entire footprint. Interconnection services enable private connections to and among partners and customers. This includes fast, direct and secure access to software-as-a-service (SaaS) providers outside your business’s direct vicinity and more.

Benefits of network interconnection

The most powerful aspect of an interconnection strategy is its ability to integrate an array of applications, data types, and sources by connecting a range of facilities, platforms and cloud solutions over a distributed footprint that goes wherever the enterprise does. In a world more reliant on hybrid clouds, the ability to delicately balance performance, cost, workloads and more is paramount. For instance, in a January 2019 survey, nearly 70 percent of enterprise respondents noted that managing multiple clouds was either somewhat of a challenge or a significant risk of cloud adoption. With an interconnection solution, leveraging hybrid or multi-clouds becomes more efficient, providing a framework that keeps businesses agile. By establishing the three main components of interconnection to the cloud (a private network, private gateway and private interface), businesses can have more freedom to cost-effectively create and manage an overlay network that is separate from the underlying hardware. Plus, enterprises can create border gateway protocols (BGP) peering between multiple networks, allowing for seamless connectivity across the entire enterprise footprint.

Interconnection also provides unparalleled speed, resiliency, and cost per bit. This is achieved by leveraging Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM). DWDM is a technology that allows fiber to be split into a multitude of wavelengths, allowing data on multiple optical carrier signals to be transferred between sites simultaneously.

Network interconnection implementation

While the benefits of the interconnected network are vast, implementing this new strategy can seem complex. Luckily, MOD Mission Critical serves as a trusted interconnection partner, empowering businesses via a single master service agreement that instantly allows the many-to-many connections, transporting critical applications and data anywhere in the world at wholesale rates. MOD provides a one-stop-shop for access to over 100,000 network Points of Presence (PoPs), products from over 800 suppliers and connections to 400 carriers in 200 data centers and deep experience from deploying networks across over 80 countries.

Whether it’s multinational, long-haul or metro transport, MOD’s expert wide area networking (WAN) services deliver best-of-breed solutions that support any and all critical business needs. Meanwhile, MOD’s cost-effective, high-capacity DWDM service is ideal for overcoming access or capacity constraints. Additionally, MOD offers the true 10Gbps bandwidth over long haul and 10Gbps speeds between PoPs with proactive monitoring to ensure the utmost security to every point and across the globe.

Of course, with MOD, all of the perks of interconnection are enhanced by boutique level care, fully managed services and bespoke solutions that allow enterprises to further customize their network. As demands are stretched and business footprints grow to accommodate more, interconnection is the most promising way to empower digital business and support growth. Going beyond the walls of a stand-alone data center can be daunting at first, but it’s a critical move for any business wanting to maintain a competitive edge. With MOD though, the guesswork is gone. By maintaining fully-managed, industry-leading service, a customer-first design approach and a real human touch, MOD makes it easier than ever to support demands from the edge to the cloud.