A national financial services provider wanted to improve the overall customer experience for its Software as a Service (SaaS) solution by taking a different approach with its existing private connections. The first step was to deploy its services on Platform Equinix® to optimize onboarding new customers. This involved setting up a test environment where its customers would use Network Edge and Equinix Fabric™ to connect to the company’s SaaS solution directly and securely.
Testing its services on Platform Equinix gave the company a better understanding of how it could more effectively support customers and reduce network setup and connectivity costs to its services. Offering its services on Platform Equinix ensured an uninterrupted, end-to-end information flow across the SaaS provider’s supply chain, whenever and wherever it was needed. The Network Edge and Equinix Fabric connections between customers and its services were fast, secure, and, most importantly, easily accessible. Then there was the discovery during testing, that many of the SaaS provider’s existing customers were already established in Equinix International Business Exchange™ (IBX®) data centers, making Equinix its choice for optimizing the user experience and reducing costs.
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These diagrams show the before and after setup of the SaaS provider’s network architecture. Prior to implementing its services on Platform Equinix, the deployment time for installing physical hardware can be on average 7-9 months. The second scenario showcases virtual network functions with Network Edge and Equinix Fabric software-defined interconnection on Platform Equinix, where deployment is on-demand.
Original Deployment of Network Architecture
Deployment on Platform Equinix
Why SaaS providers are moving to Equinix
SaaS providers are recognizing the need to replace current traditional connectivity models with modern agile and lower cost alternatives that are more scalable, sustainable and secure for their customers and partners. They also want to ensure faster and more secure connectivity to their services for their customers and partners.
Equinix offers SaaS providers a choice of dedicated, highly customizable virtual network and interconnection services that are faster and easier to deploy, enabling them to provide users with an optimized way to consume their SaaS applications. By implementing the Equinix solution, they can automate manual business processes to eliminate bottlenecks and speed up service delivery to improve business agility and create overall seamless and efficient customer experiences.
SaaS providers are leveraging Network Edge virtual network services and Equinix Fabric software-defined interconnection to instantly connect users to their SaaS solution and cloud service provider (CSP) partners on Platform Equinix around the world. In addition, many of the VNF (Virtual Network Function) vendors and CSPs on Platform Equinix are those that SaaS providers partner with for their on-premises data center deployments.
To modernize their service delivery, SaaS providers are moving to Platform Equinix to take advantage of the following benefits:
- Direct and secure interconnection to SaaS solutions that are hosted on a global platform with the largest interconnected ecosystem of public and private clouds.
- Single-digit latency performance when consuming SaaS offerings via Layer 2/3 virtual connections, delivering the fast connectivity and high throughput required for today’s digital infrastructures.
- Fast provisioning of multiple VNF devices and virtual connections across a globally distributed digital infrastructure platform, enabling users to consume SaaS solutions as needed.
- A wide choice of SaaS partners with more than 1,800 network services and 3,000 cloud and IT services.
- Expanded connectivity options to 10,000+ customers and partners.
Optimizing connectivity to SaaS solutions
In short, using Network Edge virtual network services and Equinix Fabric software-defined interconnection on Platform Equinix provides users with a more simplified and secure connectivity model. It removes the complexity of managing multiple physical connections and multiple VPN tunnels. Also, virtual connections are easy to deploy and change on-demand to meet new customer and partner requirements.
Benefits of deploying virtual network services on Network Edge include:
- Speed to market – Connectivity is available in minutes versus months through automated network configurations.
- Network performance – Deploy network services in proximity to CSPs, users and partners; unlock new use cases that physical IT deployment models can’t handle (e.g., IoT, Machine Learning, AI, etc.)
- End-to-end management and security – Provide end-to-end network management and security capabilities, along with fast provisioning, deployment and optimized network resources to ensure business continuity and maximum application performance.
Learn how using Network Edge can modernize your network and optimize the consumption of your SaaS applications.
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