Hybrid multicloud architectures give enterprises the flexibility and choice to put workloads where it makes the most sense—where they have the security, control and performance they need. That’s why hybrid multicloud has become the dominant architectural model, with 89% of organizations embracing multicloud and 73% using a hybrid approach that includes both public and private clouds.[1]
To thrive in this hybrid multicloud world, organizations need technology solutions that enable greater agility, fast global reach into new markets, and high-performance connectivity to essential partners and service providers. Virtual networking solutions have become indispensable, helping companies quickly connect to the right partners in the right places to propel their digital transformation initiatives. Further, as-a-Service delivery models are helping them move faster and improve their flexibility by delivering more predictable costs, saving the time to acquire physical devices and making it easy to scale up and down when business needs change.
Equinix has been working hard to create a platform where you can enable your hybrid multicloud architecture. In a context where enterprises rely on many partners and service providers to deliver their products and services, networking and connectivity solutions are critical. That’s why physical and virtual connectivity solutions from Equinix play a central role for the 10,000+ customers that use our platform. To that end, as part of our continually evolving platform, we provide seamless integrations between our digital infrastructure services. This blog post will focus on integrations between Equinix Network Edge, Fabric Cloud Router and Equinix Internet Access.
Simplifying your experience with integrated digital infrastructure solutions
To address networking requirements for hybrid multicloud organizations, Equinix Network Edge delivers virtual network functions (VNFs) such as virtual routers, SD-WAN gateways and firewalls. Organizations are using Equinix Network Edge to simplify hybrid multicloud networking and go to market faster. Two other Equinix digital services—Fabric Cloud Router and Equinix Internet Access—have been integrated with Equinix Network Edge to help customers seamlessly connect their virtual services.
Fabric Cloud Router and Equinix Network Edge
Fabric Cloud Router is an on-demand virtual routing service that establishes flexible, private connectivity between public clouds, colocation, and other Equinix services across our software-defined global network. It can be used for basic routing between multicloud applications and has higher bandwidth connectivity options. We integrated these solutions to enable users to provision virtual connections between the two to address more of their multicloud networking needs.
Let’s look at a few examples where this integration is useful:
1. Connect users from the public internet to applications in the cloud.
While organizations once deployed physical firewalls and routers in their data center, you can now do so on demand with Equinix Network Edge virtual firewalls and Fabric Cloud Router for multicloud routing. With virtual services, you can route traffic effectively and inspect traffic coming from the internet.
Thanks to this integration, you can “service chain” these capabilities to automate provisioning and management—enabling more secure access of applications over the internet and in the cloud.
2. Create a georedundant multicloud architecture connecting to cloud providers in different geographies.
Many multicloud companies need to connect to cloud providers in different geographies. They want a resilient architecture with geographic redundancy to protect against any data center failures. In the past, you’d need to deploy network devices physically or on Equinix Network Edge and then connect via cross-connects or Equinix Fabric®. This integration allows customers to use the virtual routing capabilities of Fabric Cloud Router and Equinix Network Edge VNFs in a geographically resilient deployment with redundant connections.
For more info on redundant connectivity for Fabric Cloud Router devices through Network Edge, visit our website.
Equinix Internet Access and Equinix Network Edge
Equinix Internet Access provides resilient, high-performance internet access from Equinix IBX® data centers. It can be used for primary and backup internet access as well as out-of-band management of servers and network devices. And now, you can connect with Equinix Internet Access easily through a virtual connection from an Equinix Network Edge device.
This integration makes it easier to connect your enterprise infrastructure to the internet. You no longer need to bring your own connection to an internet provider. You have an “easy button” to get top-tier internet access. You can consume both your virtual device and internet access through Equinix.
Here are a few examples of how the integration can help:
1. Securely connect colocation infrastructure to the internet at Equinix.
If you want to bring traffic from your customers, partners or employees to colocated infrastructure in Equinix, you can have a router or firewall deployed in Equinix Network Edge with one side connected to the internet via Equinix Internet Access and the other side connected to your colocation facility over Equinix Fabric.
Previously, it could take weeks to connect to an ISP due to the requirement of running physical fiber connections in the data center. But now you can work with a single provider and accelerate consumption of these digital services.
2. Connect internet traffic to multiple public clouds.
This use case integrates all three of the digital services discussed in this blog post. If you’re using Fabric Cloud Router for multicloud routing and need to connect to the internet securely, public cloud traffic could go to Fabric Cloud Router and then to an Equinix Network Edge device like a firewall, and then connect to the internet through Equinix Internet Access. Thus, the integration of Equinix solutions brings secure internet access to Fabric Cloud Router customers as well. Because it’s not currently possible to connect Fabric Cloud Router directly to Equinix Internet Access, a Network Edge device is required.
When you use Fabric Cloud Router, Equinix Network Edge VNFs like firewalls or load balancers and Equinix Internet Access, there’s no need for hardware and you can go to market at speed. These integrations give you a more seamless experience using Equinix digital services while helping enable highly available, hybrid multicloud architectures.
Explore networking solutions with Equinix
More and more organizations are taking advantage of digital infrastructure to accelerate innovation and simplify infrastructure management. Equinix digital services enable companies to consume network infrastructure on-demand, globally and instantly—which can be a huge advantage to companies operating at lightning speed in today’s hybrid multicloud world.
The latest integrations with Equinix Network Edge simplify your experience with multiple Equinix digital services, helping you solve for more of your multicloud networking needs.
To learn more about provisioning virtual connections to Fabric Cloud Router, visit Equinix docs.
And if you want to get the details about ordering internet access for Equinix Network Edge devices, check out our product documentation.
Subscribe to the Equinix Blog