Enhance Enterprise Internet Access Agility and Resilience

When I speak to customers, I hear how the pandemic has changed the way we all work. Working from home (WFH) is the new norm. While this new normal poses many challenges, it is imperative that enterprise IT managers ensure that the right infrastructure and connectivity are available to meet an evolving business landscape.

Another prominent feature of the recent past is the increasing adoption of software-as-a-service (SaaS)-styled applications—largely due to inherent benefits of SaaS that help make enterprises more agile and that facilitate the process of digital transformation.

In a recent press release, Gartner analysts suggest that software as a service (SaaS) “is forecast to reach $122.6 billion in 2021[i].” As that number grows, the user experience associated with SaaS interactions similarly grows in importance.  Each employee, customer or partner expects a positive user experience whenever engaging with your company’s online presence. The quality of that user experience can be demonstrated in a variety of real-world ways. As an employee working remotely you want to seamlessly connect to a video conferencing and collaboration service such as Zoom with minimal latency and no degradation of service. That connection should never drop in the middle of a call. Or think of the time it takes to upload a file to SharePoint. It should not be painfully long.

Getting to resilient, high-performing internet access

Achieving a consistently high-quality user experience requires a resilient and high-performing internet access. Why are these considerations so critical? Resiliency ensures that there is redundancy and no interruption of internet access. High performance, low-latency connectivity ensures that the user experience remains positive.

Whether deploying applications to optimize performance or distributing data to connect and exchange traffic with resources deployed at the edge, you need reliable internet access. Coupled with the expectation from your enterprise stakeholders for increased agility and performance—and the constantly expanding need for faster access—the need for a resilient, high-performing and convenient way to access the internet is increasingly paramount.

Within this context, there is growing pressure to rapidly innovate to keep up with the competition. Your global audience, both internal and external, expects everything to be delivered instantly. That demand for speed is coupled with an expectation by every business function for superior agility and performance. Internet access is a critical component of your IT strategy and Equinix® Connect provides a foundation to deliver on those expectations.

How Equinix Internet Access optimizes enterprise IT performance and consistency

Equinix Internet Access is an agile, scalable, and high-performing internet access solution that is available worldwide and that offers the resiliency every organization demands, along with direct and secure connections to major content destinations. It provides the convenience of a one-stop shop and the flexibility required to connect to the internet as a primary or secondary access solution. Available globally in more than 40 markets, Equinix Internet Access allows you to grow as your needs expand via scalable bandwidth options that meet emerging usage requirements.

Equinix Internet Access delivers on the promise of resiliency by providing at least two Tier 1 upstream ISPs in each market. Rather than setting up two separate contracts with two unique providers, Equinix can be your single provider—simplifying the management of your internet connectivity. Customers can choose dual-port access to take advantage of a fully redundant architecture with redundant routers and IP transit providers. Together, these capabilities combine to ensure support for high-availability service-level agreements (SLAs).

Leveraging this high-throughput approach directly benefits your end users and customers. Consider what’s going on in the enterprise-focused, data-consuming universe today. SaaS is one arena that is increasing exponentially. This evolving service framework is causing businesses to value locally optimized public SaaS access to help ensure sufficient levels of performance to meet the insatiable expectations of end users. As the performance of workstations and mobile devices accelerates with every product cycle, the expectations of users for matching network resource performance is similarly expanding.

Equinix Internet Access works to help you exceed user expectations for increased performance by providing potentially shorter-distance, lower-latency paths to local NSPs and direct connections to major content destinations, such as Microsoft 365 and Zoom—resulting in superior performance and consistency for every connection. This is made possible by peering with local exchanges. Reduced latency means that your employees can download image-dense presentations more quickly or can have a more positive and consistent user experience in a Zoom video call. Even everyday activities, such as reading email or accessing remote data storage applications, can be improved with Equinix Internet Access.

Businesses use Equinix Internet Access for three principal elements of an internet-based digital infrastructure:

• Primary internet access—A main source of internet access for IP transit needs, including locally optimized public SaaS reachability.
• Secondary internet access—An alternate/secondary source of internet access for IP transit needs, including locally optimized public SaaS reachability. Typically used as a back up to carrier-direct services.
• Out-of-band monitoring—An alternate channel for managing servers and networks when primary internet access is not available or not preferred. Useful for initial build configurations and ongoing support.

Equinix Internet Access delivers real-world benefits

Equinix Internet Access presents an array of benefits to all your internet-access stakeholders. In short, your employees and customers alike will experience observable performance and reliability improvements in comparison to competing internet connections options.

Learn more about Equinix Internet Access.

You may also like to read:  “Addressing Today’s Internet Connectivity Challenges.”

Or check our video on how to order Equinix Internet Access:

[i] Gartner Press Release “Gartner Forecasts Worldwide Public Cloud End-User Spending to Grow 23% in 2021.” April 21, 2021.