Multi-cloud

Oracle and Microsoft Enhance Interoperability of their Cloud Platforms (facilitating multi-cloud)

Posted on July 21, 2022 by Alan Weissberger

At Microsoft Inspire, an online event for Microsoft partners, Oracle and Microsoft announced a deeper interoperability of their cloud platforms which will permit customers to more easily run projects across their two cloud platforms. The new service connects Oracle’s database service directly to the Azure cloud, eliminating custom work that previously would have been required.

With the general availability of Oracle Database Service for Microsoft Azure, Microsoft Azure customers can easily provision, access, and monitor enterprise-grade Oracle Database services in Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) with a familiar experience. Users can migrate or build new applications on Azure and then connect to high-performance and high-availability managed Oracle Database services such as Autonomous Database running on OCI.

Years ago, many cloud providers tried to lock customers into a single platform, but that is no longer feasible as the cloud has become more central to operations. Customers typically use multiple clouds, and cloud platform providers such as Microsoft and Oracle are adapting to that multi-cloud environment. About two-thirds of enterprise-level companies use multiple clouds (AKA multi-cloud), according to a May 2021 report by Boston Consulting Group.

Since 2019, when Oracle and Microsoft partnered to deliver the Oracle Interconnect for Microsoft Azure, hundreds of organizations have used the secure and private interconnections in 11 global regions.

Microsoft and Oracle are extending this collaboration to further simplify the multicloud experience with Oracle Database Service for Microsoft Azure. Many joint customers, including some of the world’s largest corporations such as AT&T, Marriott International, Veritas and SGS, want to choose the best services across cloud providers to optimize performance, scalability, and the ability to accelerate their business modernization efforts. The Oracle Database Service for Microsoft Azure builds upon the core capabilities of the Oracle Interconnect for Azure and enables customers to more easily integrate workloads on Microsoft Azure with Oracle Database services on OCI. Customers are not charged for using the Oracle Database Service for Microsoft Azure or for the underlying network interconnection, data egress, or data ingress between Azure and OCI. Customers will pay only for the other Azure or Oracle services they consume, such as Azure Synapse or Oracle Autonomous Database.

“Over the last couple years we have had a lot of success with Oracle Interconnect for Microsoft Azure. And we also got a lot of customer feedback. And one of the things that customers (said) was, ‘Hey, it’s great you are working together, but we really would like a more integrated experience,’” said Clay Magouyrk, executive vice president, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure.

“Microsoft and Oracle have a long history of working together to support the needs of our joint customers, and this partnership is an example of how we offer customer choice and flexibility as they digitally transform with cloud technology. Oracle’s decision to select Microsoft as its preferred partner deepens the relationship between our two companies and provides customers with the assurance of working with two industry leaders,” said Corey Sanders, corporate vice president, Microsoft Cloud for Industry and Global Expansion. “The ability to benefit from both clouds, and the flexibility, is a real win for customers,” Sanders added.

“There’s a well-known myth that you can’t run real applications across two clouds. We can now dispel that myth as we give Oracle and Microsoft customers the ability to easily test and demonstrate the value of combining Oracle databases with Azure applications. There is no need for deep skills on either of our platforms or complex configurations—anyone can use the Azure Portal to harness the power of our two clouds together,” said Clay Magouyrk, executive vice president, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure.

“Multi-cloud takes on a whole new meaning with the launch of the Oracle Database Service for Microsoft Azure. This service, designed to provide intuitive, simple access to the Exadata Database Service and Autonomous Database to Azure users in a transparent manner, responds to the critical need of Azure and Oracle customers to apply the benefits of the latest in Oracle Database technology to their Azure workloads. This combined and interactive connection of services across public clouds sets the stage for what a multi-cloud experience should be, and is a bold statement about where the future of cloud is heading. It should deliver huge benefits for customers, developers, and the cloud services landscape overall,” said Carl Olofson, research vice president, Data Management Software, IDC.

With the new Oracle Database Service for Microsoft Azure, in just a few clicks users can connect their Azure subscriptions to their OCI tenancy. The service automatically configures everything required to link the two cloud environments and federates Azure Active Directory identities, making it easy for Azure customers to use the service. It also provides a familiar dashboard for Oracle Database Services on OCI using Azure terminology and monitoring with Azure Application Insights.

“Many of our mission-critical workloads are running Oracle databases on-premises at massive scale. As we move these workloads to the cloud, Oracle Database Service for Azure enables us to modernize these Oracle databases to services such as Autonomous Database in OCI while leveraging Microsoft Azure for the application tier,” said Jeremy Legg, chief technology officer, AT&T. Watch the video.

“Multi-cloud architectures enable us to choose the best cloud provider for each workload based on capabilities, performance, and price. The OCI and Azure partnership integrates the capabilities of two major cloud providers, including the Oracle Database services in OCI and Azure’s application development capabilities,” said Naveen Manga, chief technology officer, Marriott International. Watch the video.

“Oracle Database Service for Microsoft Azure has simplified the use of a multicloud environment for data analytics. We were able to easily ingest large volumes of data hosted by Oracle Exadata Database Service on OCI to Azure Data Factory where we are using Azure Synapse for analysis,” said Jane Zhu, senior vice president and chief information officer, Corporate Operations, Veritas.

“Oracle Database Service for Microsoft Azure simplifies our multi-cloud approach. We’re going to be able to leverage the best of Oracle databases in Azure, and we are going to be able to keep our infrastructure in Azure. This is a great opportunity to have the best of the two worlds that eases our migration to the cloud and improves the skills of our people in IT,” said David Plaza, chief information officer, SGS. Watch the video.

References:

https://www.oracle.com/bd/news/announcement/oracle-database-service-for-microsoft-azure-2022-07-20/

https://www.wsj.com/articles/oracle-and-microsoft-agree-to-deepen-interoperability-of-cloud-platforms-11658318400

https://www.spiceworks.com/tech/cloud/articles/multi-cloud-vs-hybrid-cloud/

Arrcus MCN solution now part of CoreSite’s Open Cloud Exchange®

Posted on June 16, 2022 by Alan Weissberger

Arrcus, a hyperscale networking software company, today announced that CoreSite deployed its MCN solution to help enable CoreSite’s Open Cloud Exchange® (OCX) [1.]

Note 1. Open Cloud Exchange® is an enterprise network services solution that enables customers to deploy high-performance hybrid architectures in a quick, secure, and economical way. CoreSite is leveraging the Arrcus Multi-Cloud Networking (MCN) solution to extend its software-defined networking platform through automating additional provisioning functionality within AWS and Microsoft® Azure Cloud and direct cloud-to-cloud communication capabilities on CoreSite’s fully managed virtual routers.

CoreSite together with Arrcus’ ACE MCN enables enterprises to do the following:

Rapidly scale and deploy new applications across multiple U.S. markets using inter-market connectivity
Improve network performance and security with guaranteed private network isolation, throughput and lower latency compared to public internet connections
Increase speed to market and gain greater control and optionality
Recoup expensive cloud egress fees and redirect funds and internal resources to other business priorities

“Arrcus is delighted to have been selected by CoreSite for their OCX platform. Enterprises are looking for a seamless and secure hybrid cloud connectivity solution with the flexibility to rapidly scale up or down,” said Shekar Ayyar, CEO and chairman at Arrcus. “The ACE MCN solution differentiated by our unique strength in routing is providing the OCX with secure hyper-scale performance, quicker time to market, and improved economics, giving their customers a competitive edge.”

The Arrcus ACE MCN solution enables highly available connectivity for workloads and data with hyperscale performance and security across any cloud, any region, and any site. Solution consists of ArcEdge – secure data plane software that leverages unique virtual routing capabilities with ArcOS and ArcOrchestrator for cloud-native orchestration that dramatically automates and shortens multi-cloud networking setup time from days to hours.

The programmability and flexibility of the Arrcus solution enable CoreSite to provision virtual routing services for customers in a matter of minutes, dramatically increasing agility and efficiency. Rapid and secure cloud connectivity is critical for businesses to succeed in today’s digital economy. The Arrcus solution enables CoreSite to provide integrated security and orchestration to gain greater control and increased speed to market. This results in their customers’ ability to recoup expensive cloud egress fees and redirect funds and internal resources to other business priorities.

“We leverage Arrcus’ virtual routers in the CoreSite OCX to help enable our customers to quickly expand market reach and gain a competitive edge while lowering TCO,” said Brian Warren, Senior Vice President, Development and Product Engineering at CoreSite. “With just a few clicks in MyCoreSite, our service delivery platform, customers can quickly establish direct and secure virtual connections to multiple service providers and to the public cloud for rapid, automated provisioning.”

The recent Gartner® report that recognizes Arrcus MCN recommends, “Infrastructure and operations leaders responsible for cloud and edge infrastructure should improve networking inside the public cloud by deploying MCNS when advanced networking features and/or a consistent network operations model across multiple public cloud environments is required. Optimize investments in MCNS by choosing lightweight, “cloud-fluent” products that are offered with robust and well-documented APIs, and allow trials before purchase.

Arrcus ACE software is also available on the CoreSite Marketplace.

Additional Resources

TMR: Data Center Networking Market sees shift to user-centric & data-oriented business + CoreSite DC Tour

Telecom Italia (TIM) launches satellite Internet service; partners with Oracle for multi-cloud

Posted on October 11, 2021 by Alan Weissberger

Telecom Italia (TIM) is launching the new TIM SUPER SAT Internet service for new customers who live in areas of Italy not yet covered by fixed broadband and ultra-broadband networks. With this technology and the exclusive agreement signed recently with Eutelsat, customers will be able to browse at speeds up to 100M bit/s in download and 5M bit/s in upload.

The initiative confirms TIM’s commitment to overcome the digital divide, by providing Italian families with super-fast satellite Internet access in geographical areas not yet reached by TIM’s Fiber or Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) networks.

TIM Super Sat costs €49.90 (US$43) per month including a satellite kit complete with a satellite dish, a Wi-Fi modem and installation by a technician. It comes with a fair usage policy of 100GB per month at maximum speeds, after which speeds are reduced to 4Mbit/s (1Mbit/s upload).

The new TIM SUPER SAT offer also includes the sale of a satellite kit complete with a satellite dish, a Wi-Fi modem and installation by a specialized technician.

The service comes at something of a premium compared to terrestrial services: TIM currently offers 40Mbit/s 5G FWA services for €29.90 ($26) a month and FTTH with 1Gbit/s speeds also at €29.90 per month.

Although not mentioned in the October 8th press release, the new TIM Super Sat service is the result of an agreement signed by TIM and France-based satellite company Eutelsat in November 2020. TIM signed the strategic agreement with Eutelsat to provide connectivity to the most isolated and remote areas of the country. The satellite, due to enter into service in 2022, will also be built by Thales Alenia Space and will have Ka-band capacity of 500 Gbit/s.

Under its agreement with Eutelsat, TIM is purchasing the entire transmission capacity for Italy on the two new high-performance satellites that Eutelsat has either activated or will activate in the coming months: the Konnect and Konnect VHTS (very high throughput satellite).

In service since November 2020, Eutelsat Konnect has a total capacity of 75 Gbit/s and is capable of offering speeds of up to 100 Mbit/s in 15 European countries. Konnect VHTS is expected to allow speeds of up to 200 Mbit/s once it comes into operation.

For more information and to request the offer, interested customers can consult the usual channels and the dedicated page TIM SUPER SAT.

Italy Lags in European Broadband Internet:

In 2020, Italy ranked 24 out of 27 European Union member states in its take-up of ultrafast Internet of at least 100 Mbit/s, according to the Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI).

In its 2021 annual report, national statistics agency Istat noted that while Italy’s national recovery program has the “ambitious goal” of providing broadband coverage of at least 1 Gbit/s to the entire population by 2025, Italy is currently lagging far behind in the availability of ultra-broadband connections compared with other EU countries.

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TIM and Oracle team up to offer multi-cloud services in Italy:

Oracle, TIM (Telecom Italia) and Noovle (TIM Group’s cloud company) [1.], today announced that they have signed a collaboration agreement as part of a plan to offer multi-cloud services [2.] for enterprises and public sector organizations in Italy.

Note 1. Launched in January 2021, Noovle SpA is TIM Group’s dedicated center of excellence for cloud and edge computing, with a focus on supplying bespoke multi-cloud services to TIM customers.

Note 2. Multi-cloud refers to using several instances of multiple clouds from different vendors. With multi-cloud, the use of different vendors means access to different features, underlying infrastructure, security, and other elements specific to the vendor’s offerings. Multi-cloud ties this all together, allowing enterprises and organizations to have access across vendors so data can be placed in an environment best suited to its capabilities.

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Under the agreement, TIM Group plans to utilize advanced cloud infrastructure technologies to support its goal of advancing Italy’s digital modernization and establishing its position, through Noovle, as the market reference point for enterprise multi-cloud services in the country.

The three companies plan to bring their respective assets and expertise to develop and manage multi-cloud architecture services for Italian enterprises.

Noovle brings an extensive data center network in Italy, which has been developed to the highest technological, security and environmental standards in line with TIM Group’s environmental, social and governance (ESG) goals.
TIM provides an extensive sales network across the country, enabling the integration of cloud services with the Group’s ICT services portfolio: from IoT and 5G services to cybersecurity and advanced fixed and mobile connectivity services.
Oracle brings its next-generation cloud infrastructure with its built-in security, superior performance, and availability, which is ideally suited for mission-critical and cloud native workloads in large enterprise and public sector environments.

A collaborative model, which includes connecting major cloud providers’ platforms in a multi-cloud environment, will support public and private organizations in addressing the challenges of digital transformation through advanced multi-cloud services, enabling operational efficiency, lower costs, and high security standards.

Oracle’s hybrid and multi-cloud strategy also aligns closely with TIM Group’s objectives in ensuring that all customer data is hosted in-country and customers have a cloud solution that meets their data sovereignty needs. TIM selected Oracle Cloud Infrastructure as part of its multi-cloud strategy to migrate the Group’s mission-critical data management workloads to the public cloud.