BT has launched a next-generation cloud connectivity solution designed to accelerate customers’ digital transformation.
Connected Cloud Edge extends the company’s global network into strategic carrier-neutral facilities (CNFs). This gives customers access to a wide range of third-party cloud-based applications and services without having to provision individual connections to each of them.
It builds on BT’s partnership with digital infrastructure company Equinix, which hosts major cloud and software-as-a-service providers within diverse digital business ecosystems at its facilities around the world.
The solution will initially be available at 13 CNFs and will be customisable with multi-cloud routing services and additional capabilities, such as SD-WAN and firewalls, further augmenting services already available from BT.
BT and Equinix are marking the launch with the publication of a report by IDC, What Digital Leaders Know About Cloud Interconnectivity and Ecosystems Development. It analyses how cloud networking is evolving to reflect a shift to cloud-native and multi-cloud digital ecosystems and the approach companies have made in adopting the technology.
“Connected Cloud Edge will remove the complexity of sourcing and managing individual connections to the services underpinning customers’ digital transformation,” says Hriday Ravindranath, chief product and digital officer: global at BT. “To do this, we’re pre-integrating BT’s network with Equinix Fabric to provide a fully managed multi-cloud solution.”
Jules Johnston, senior vice-president: global channel at Equinix, comments: “We’re delighted to be innovating with our long-standing partner BT, and excited for the launch of Connected Cloud Edge.
“To ensure businesses are ready for whatever the future might bring, they need their enterprise networks to be tightly integrated into platforms that connect the world’s densest ecosystems of cloud and technology providers. BT’s new solution offers companies the ability to build and evolve their multi-cloud strategies as they transition to cloud-centric architectures with the agility and resiliency they demand.”