The time of digital transformation is upon us, and with it comes many exciting innovations that enterprise organizations are eager to adopt and deploy as rapidly as possible to gain the latest edge in cloud. As organizations look to deploy new technologies across their business, from software-defined edge solutions like SD-WAN to containerized applications at the core and mission-critical resources spread across multiple clouds, the amount of endpoints requiring carefully managed network and security connectivity has exploded exponentially.
Cloud Network Segmentation is a must for increased security and more efficient connectivity
Cloud Network segmentation plays a critical role in securing, scaling, and managing enterprise networks. With cloud network segmentation, IT administrators are able to group resources according to specific criteria, including type of network access needed, security rights and privileges, and routing requirements. This can help protect the core infrastructure of the business while safeguarding critical data.
Additionally, by segmenting the network organizations can better group resources in ways that maximize efficiency and provide tighter security and access controls. For example, a segment of partners may not require the same level of access as internal employees, or specific regional workforces may have unique security requirements. By partitioning and grouping, the utmost in control can be maintained, and Alkira’s highly-visible platform lets you accomplish even complex cloud network segmentation easily and with confidence.
Managing segmentation in a multi-cloud world is complex
The challenge in today’s multi-cloud world is that IT leaders are now dealing with multiple cloud architectures, each with its own cloud network segmentation design in place. Manually managing these disparate and siloed segmentation designs can quickly become complex, time consuming, and risky.
It’s not unlike spinning plates, with each cloud architecture spinning at its own velocity. At the end of the day, it’s a recipe for potentially costly security mistakes or operational inefficiencies leading to unforeseen charges. A new way of managing cloud network segmentation is needed.
Alkira: A unified end-to-end approach to simplify multi-cloud segmentation
At Alkira, we dramatically simplify and streamline cloud network segmentation across multi-cloud architectures. The Alkira Cloud Network as-a-Service platform provides IT with a unified center for managing, scaling, and operating multi-cloud network segmentation in a true end-to-end fashion.
The Alkira platform does this in three key ways. First, by virtue of our revolutionary approach to networking in which we bring together all aspects of cloud networking and security into one singular platform, Alkira is able to instantly simplify the approach to cloud network segmentation at any scale.
Simply put, cloud network segmentation is built-in and ready to be deployed with just a few clicks. No hardware to buy, no software to manage, no complex connection tricks between clouds required. It’s all part and parcel of the Alkira platform, and all delivered as a flexible and responsive service.
Figure: multi-cloud segmentation
With Alkira, cloud network segmentation automatically spans the entire network. This means that resources of any type, hosted on any cloud or even on-prem, can be simply and easily placed in a segment without the need for any time consuming manual processes or additional third party software or hardware to manage.
The easy-to-use Alkira platform gives IT direct visibility and control into the entire multi-cloud architecture of the business, as one converged environment with a centralized networking core. From this radically upgraded posture made possible by Alkira, resources can easily be grouped within segments or further grouped into micro-segments for a fine-grained security policy enforcement.
The sky’s the limit for how IT leaders can use the Alkira platform and its built-in unified cloud network segmentation. What in the past would be a time consuming project spanning multiple clouds and infrastructure stacks becomes a simple process.
The end result: more flexibility and agility for dynamically scaling cloud networking, and dramatically improved security posture for the entire business. By segmenting resources, you can greatly reduce the security attack surface, safeguarding critical elements and isolating vulnerabilities. Segmentation also provides internal barrier and contaminant, so if an intruder does manage to compromise one element of infrastructure, the entire network is not accessible and they do not have free range to pilfer mission-critical data.
Alkira Cloud Networking as a Service can also help simplify the networking segmentation process for Merger and Acquisition (M&A) environments. When companies merge or acquire new resources, IT leaders are now tasked with managing and integrating entirely separate IT architectures. Alkira’s flexible platform gives IT the agility to manage M&A resources easily and with high levels of security, providing firewall controlled access from extranet environments into the core enterprise network.
An additional use case Alkira has helped customers take on successfully is segregating remote user access. Remote work has exploded over the last few years, and Akira provides a zero-trust network access architecture to manage VPN users effectively, with segments based on login identities to make sure only authorized users are allowed access to the resources they need.
Alkira is continuously innovating to expand cloud network segmentation possibilities
The Alkira team is continuously developing new features and functionalities to help organizations better manage cloud network segmentation across multi-cloud architectures. For example, this month we introduced a suite of new Cloud Network Segmentation features in the Akira Cloud Network as a Service (CNaaS) platform.
These new capabilities expand the already robust portfolio of segmentation services available via Alkira, with expanded integration for HPE Aruba EdgeConnect seamlessly incorporated into the Alkira platform, giving IT leaders new levels of segmentation control, visibility, and efficiency.
Figure: HPE Aruba EdgeConnect
In this example, EdgeConnect environments can simply and quickly be incorporated into the Alkira platform and SD-WAN segments can be seamlessly extended to multi-cloud environments, as well as the regionalized SD-WAN fabrics.SD-WAN segments can be seamlessly extended to multi-cloud environments, as well as the regionalized SD-WAN fabrics.
It’s just the latest example of how the Alkira platform continues to evolve and seamlessly connect any resource, and provide fast and easy tools for IT leadership to secure multi-cloud networking and use cloud network segmentation to power digital transformation with confidence.
Learn more about Cloud Network Segmentation with Alkira at https://www.alkira.com/network-segmentation/
Request your own personalized demo at https://www.alkira.com/demo
