According to a study by SolarWinds, Singapore’s IT professionals have migrated 71 per cent of applications onto the cloud. Clearly, businesses have embraced the cloud. This comes as no surprise as organizations are looking to leverage the inherent agility and scalability of the cloud.
However, traditional application delivery models, fall short in their ability to deliver the auto-scale, visibility and analytics, centralized management, security and multi-cloud capabilities that modern application teams demand. Even cloud-ready options often fail to elegantly integrate not only with microservice- and container-based architectures, but with increasingly popular DevOps tools and processes.
In an email interview with Networks Asia, Jonathan Tan, Regional Vice President, ASEAN and Pakistan, A10 Networks, answers questions about cloud computing, technologies relevant for a modern network, and unresolved problems with network virtualization.
What technologies are increasingly relevant for a modern network? What technologies can we invest in now, that are still in their infancy?
Enterprises today require a workforce that is mobile, agile, and flexible. This means being able to access business applications and resources, at any time, place, and on any device. Cloud technology enables this. As such, organizations are gradually moving applications onto Cloud. The drive for business efficiency, collaborative workspaces, and operational agility, has made Cloud technology increasingly relevant.
However, as businesses transit into Cloud, the dynamic nature of the infrastructure makes it challenging for organizations to see what is happening in the Cloud. The lack of visibility makes it difficult to detect vulnerabilities, and take real-time actions. Therefore, businesses need to invest in a solution that offers visibility into data.
Furthermore, the increasing volume of applications in the Cloud raises users’ exposure to cyber threats. These threats are also evolving to become more sophisticated and tenacious in nature. Hence, there is a need for businesses to invest in security solutions too.
Are there unsolved problems with network virtualization? If yes, why has it never really hit mainstream?
When network technologies – ethernet and token rings – were first introduced over two decades ago, each network technology provider offered solutions that had varying competitive advantages such as scalability, speed, and price points. This was critical for enterprises then to understand the nature of their business and needs before making the informed decision on the network solution they require.
This is a similar conversation that enterprises are having today, except that it touches network virtualization instead.
Businesses are aware that when it comes to technology solutions, there is no “silver bullet”. Hence, there is no issue with network virtualization. It is the business’ knowledge and capability to evaluate that is imperative.
With this assessment competence that enterprises possess, as software providers, we need to consider the interoperability factor. This ensures that our solutions can be easily integrated, with the latest updates from alliance or hardware partners.
What about Cloud automation? How necessary is it for Cloud management and how are enterprises doing in its deployment?
Today’s workforce demands greater mobility. They want to be able to work from anywhere and at any time. They require flexibility as it allows them to access applications on multiple device. Given that the workforce is made up of millennials, these digital natives want services to be delivered in a swift and seamless manner.
The benefits of this enhanced workforce are clear – increased efficiency, productivity, responsiveness, and business agility. As such, the key focus today is not about Cloud automation but Cloud provision instead.
Are we seeing the deployments of more software-defined data centers (SDDCs)? Can these SDDCs be a Cloud or Cloud automation replacement? Are there any downsides in deployment?
With more enterprises moving business applications onto the cloud, we do see an increasing uptake in software-defined data centers within the ASEAN region. This can be attributed to the fact that SDDCs allow for faster service delivery, greater support for workloads, automation, and flexibility.
That said, not all business sectors and applications can run on SDDCs. Financial institutions, for instance, may choose to shift some of their less sensitive applications into the SDDC, while keeping their mission-critical and transactional applications running on an on-premise data center.
When it comes to deployment to an SDDC, businesses must bear in mind that there is no one-size-fit-all solution. It is always important to weigh the benefits and trade-offs of each infrastructure, and select one that can support the organization’s business goals.
Are containers gaining traction in the data center? If so, what workloads are running on them? Which frameworks do you see gaining traction?
We do not see container data centers gaining traction in the ASEAN region. The type of workloads that run on container data centers are rarely the mission critical ones. However, it goes back to understanding the business nature, and evaluating the pros and cons.
How are we doing at collecting data from the network and Cloud? Even more important, are we making effective use of the data collection, and what more can be done?
With the increasing number of applications running across several infrastructures, there is a greater demand for insights and visibility into how applications are running across various environments.
At A10 Networks, we introduced the A10 Harmony Controller in April this year. The controller offers analytic capabilities that fundamentally changes the way application services are delivered, protected, and managed. For instance, the controller may notice a sudden slower response time in running an application. The enterprise’ IT executive will then receive an alert, and be prompted to make a proactive change before end users notice it.
This is the industry’s only controller-based platform that can deliver analytics, configuration and orchestration across such hybrid application environments.
Are companies increasingly ditching their private cloud in moves to go all public?
Enterprises are more receptive towards public cloud today due to the costs savings it offers. However, rather than ditching private cloud entirely, or committing solely to a public cloud solution, we see a trend towards hybrid cloud.
A study by IDC revealed that 70 per cent of enterprises in Southeast Asia are committed to a Hybrid Cloud strategy as well. This is not surprising given that businesses have different requirements for each application. Therefore, it is about matching the right solution to the right job, and hybrid cloud offers the solution which combines the cost savings from the public cloud and security of the private cloud.