CIO Bulletin

Reinventing networking for the cloud era with global unified network infrastructure delivered as-a-service—Alkira Inc.

The day is coming when enterprise IT professionals will be able to order network infrastructure components from a menu of options, have them configured to fit their business needs, and have the whole thing delivered and running, and managed in perhaps hours.

Network as a service technology provides networking hardware, software, operational, and maintenance services as an operating expense instead of the traditional upfront expense. Like other cloud services, NaaS is managed by the service provider and delivered for a fixed fee.

NaaS is the logical outcome of many business processes moving to the cloud. NaaS replaces VPNs, MLPS connections, legacy network configurations, and several types of on-premises hardware, such as load balancers and firewall devices. Naas will have a significant influence on enterprise networking architecture.

For organizations that find a subscription approach to enterprise networking appealing, NaaS offers a turnkey solution that typically includes equipment, software, orchestration, and management at a fixed recurring cost, with services tailored to meet the adopter’s specific business requirements. This enables the enterprise customer to smooth out the financial and operating lumps that come with ongoing technology refreshes.

For the vast majority of enterprises, no other model really makes sense. NaaS is by far the better option for many organizations as the scope for traditional private networking services is shrinking, and the scope for a new access-based model is growing.

One of the leading providers of cloud network-as-a-service solutions is Alkira Inc. Alkira reinvents networking for the cloud era with a global unified network infrastructure delivered as a service.

Alkira cloud network as a service solution offers enterprises a dramatically simplified experience for deploying global high-speed hybrid and multi-cloud networks connecting users, sites, and clouds with integrated network and security services, end-to-end day-2 operational visibility, advanced controls, and governance. There is no need to procure hardware, deploy complicated software solutions, or learn cloud networking architectures. Alkira Network Cloud is trusted by the global Fortune-100 enterprises, leading system integrators, and managed service providers.

Infrastructure-as-a-service and software-as-a-service have changed the game for enterprise IT. Storage, servers, applications, and IT resources now reside in the cloud, where any authorized user can access them from just about any web browser. This has stripped much of the cost, complexity, and rigidity out of enterprise computing, enabling business agility. So why don’t we have the same concept for cloud networking?

At Alkira,the team foresaw that cloud networking would only be valuable when complexity, cost, and provisioning times were reduced. They thought, why not provide an entire cloud network within minutes to meet all of the customers existing on-premises, data center, and multi- or hybrid-cloud requirements?

Unleashing your cloud network to meet your actual needs

WAN remains complex, expensive, time-consuming, and capital-intensive to build and secure the network infrastructure you need for your unique cloud environment.

Alternatives to legacy technologies continue to prevail, but they don’t address the real challenge of cloud networking, which is to provide instantaneity, complete control, and flexibility over cloud networking.

For example, SD-WAN drives many business networks today, but deploying and securing the cloud networks can be pretty complex. Those networks take special effort to roll-out, coupled with attendant cost. They function very well, but wouldn’t it be better to controlthe cost and speed of connectivity at your fingertips through a portal? Where can you see and quickly decide the IT pathway for your company rather than relying on conventional wisdom to dictate your strategy?

Alkira was founded knowing that innovating an as-a-service model for cloud networking would simplify the complexity, reduce cost and make it easier for you to respond to real-time dynamics you see in your business sector. You know best;they want to get you there at the speed of business.

Alkira’s on-demand Cloud Network-as-a-Service (CNaaS) extends cloud connectivity to any network. Alkira’s solution is the first unified, on-demand, multi-cloud offering. It empowers networking professionals to build and operate a network as a utility, and now they have extended that to providing a cloud networking service as a backbone connectivity solution.

Empowering businesses with cloud insights and analytics

Keeping a manual inventory of cloud networking and security infrastructure is time-consuming and challenging. As soon as a manual list is completed, it is almost immediately out of date given the dynamic nature of cloud computing and the pace of change across the business network environment. Third-party solutions exist that provide discovery but offer little remediation insight or results. They can come at a steep cost.

You can use Alkira Cloud Insights to understand and improve your AWS and Azure usage. Alkira Cloud Insights provides you with recommendations on improving security, reducing spending, and improving performance. Alkira Cloud Insights point out duplicate IP addresses, unused network and security resources, and unsanctioned internet access. Best of all, it’s fast, easy, and free.

Cloud Insights is accessible right from the Alkira portal for existing customers, and new users can try it out for free with no obligation via alkira.com. Users can sign up, enter basic cloud information, and Alkira’s secure, read-only API engine does the rest, serving up a full report on the state of your cloud in just seconds.

Q. How does Alkira’s Cloud Insights work?

Alkira Cloud Insights leverages Cloud Provider APIs to collect information related to networking and security assets. The service requires a read-only IAM role to conduct periodic scans and inform users of changes and updates to their cloud networks. Alkira allows discovery with provided credentials and performs indexing and historic versioning of resources. The Cloud insights perform audits on collected resources and provide recommendations and best practices with alerts sent to administrators. The service also provides scheduled reports at any desired intervals.

Key Features and Benefits

Rapid Discovery

Gain a complete and automated inventory of cloud resources and their networking and security configurations

Actionable Data

Get recommendations to improve cloud usage, security, and spending. Delivered in a centralized dashboard that is easy to use or via powerful insights that can help safeguard data and cut costs

Automated Reporting

Keep up to date on your cloud environments with automated reporting tailored to the specific needs of your business, arming you with the data you need to make informed decisions that keep the company agile, competitive, and secure

Take cloud visibility to the next level

Use Alkira Cloud Insights to understand & improve your AWS & Azure usage. You’ll get recommendations on improving security, reducing spending, and improving performance. Alkira will point out duplicate IP addresses, unused network and security resources, and unsanctioned internet access. Best of all, it’s fast, easy, and free.

With the data provided by Cloud Insights, your IT organization will be better positioned to make intelligent business decisions, analyze cloud resource spending, and mitigate risks by ensuring security policies are applied end-to-end across the cloud infrastructure.

Cloud Insights provides:

Rapid discovery for a complete inventory of your cloud infrastructure in minutes
Security insights that expose vulnerabilities presented by infrastructure configurations out of step with corporate IT policies
Cost savings data highlighting abandoned, unused, or under-utilized cloud resources
Operational best practices with targeted information on how to best configure cloud networking at scale

Leading Alkira to provide groundbreaking cloud networks-as-a-service

Amir Khan is the President, CEO & Founder of Alkira Inc.Amir Khan is a computer networking visionary who founded and led Viptela’s market-leading, cloud-first, Software-Defined Wide Area Networking (SD-WAN) business before its acquisition by Cisco. As president as he was in identifying the $8B opportunities for SD-WAN, Amir recognized that the network hampered the cloud journey and founded Alkira in 2018 with CTO Atif Khan to reinvent networking for the cloud era. Amir’s vision is to deliver the Cloud Network-as-a-Service (CNaaS).

Amir earned an MS in Electrical Engineering from the University of Colorado at Boulder and a BS in Electrical Engineering from the University of Mississippi.