Mr. Nick Tanzi, President and CEO of GPX Global Systems
GPX has recently announced the launch of GPX Open Cloud Exchange in India. The ‘Open Cloud Exchange’ system enables large enterprises to connect to multiple cloud providers with an easy simple one port. The enterprises have 24×7 access to their infrastructure deployed in GPX data centers, in this case an Edge Data Center, where their Enterprise Edge Node is colocated. Mr. Nick Tanzi, President and CEO of GPX Global Systems, speaks more about latest trends of Data Centers and Cloud Exchange with our Tech Analyst, Jayanta Ghosh.
What are the global trends for a data center in 2020+?
A recent RBC Capital report published in April 2020, according to their first annual Foundations Global Interconnection Survey, >70% of their respondents said that they are connecting or have plans to connect to cloud service providers and more than 60% are using or have plans to use network-as-as-service platforms within the next 12 months. On-premise infrastructure usage continues to be on the decline with the shift towards Private Cloud, Public Cloud, and SaaS. This represents an opportunity for third-party Edge Data Centers that deliver cloud computing resources and cached content with low latency to its customers along with a colocation environment and a multitude of connectivity options. Enterprises hosted inside an Edge Data Center, can not only gain access to multiple Cloud Service Providers (CSPs) via a Cloud Exchange hosted inside the same data center, but also have access to various other multiple network connectivity providers including—Internet Service Providers (ISPs), Carriers, Content Distribution Network (CDNs),
Software-Defined Networking (SDNs), Internet Exchange Providers (IXPs), and Content Providers.
You have introduced a concept called Enterprise Edge Node, Please elaborate.
Historically Edge Data Centers were a critical element of a service provider (Cloud, Content, CDN, Telco, and ISP’s) IT and network architectures allowing them to interconnect their services and networks with other providers achieving higher resiliency, efficiency, security, and lower latencies. As Enterprises move toward outsourcing their IT to cloud, the edge data center now plays an equally critical role for them. Enterprises can now deploy in Edge Data Center allowing them to choose from the multiple network and cloud connectivity options available and connect to them via a direct cross-connect owned and run by the company operating the data center. Such network nodes are known as “Enterprise Edge Nodes”. An Enterprise Edge Node that is hosted in a connectivity-rich and carrier-neutral Edge Data Center typically comprises networking equipment owned and operated by the Enterprise customer in a colocation environment. The customer has 24×7 access to their infrastructure deployed in that data center, in this case, an Edge Data Center; where their Enterprise Edge Node is co-located.
How can enterprises in India benefit from Enterprise Edge Nodes?
The value proposition of an Edge Data Center is directly proportionate to the density of networks and cloud service providers present in the data center and can offer a multitude of connectivity and service options to the Enterprise customers. GPX is a highly reliable Edge Data Center that is not only carrier-neutral but also hosts eight of the largest global Cloud Service Providers (CSPs) and offers private, secure, low latency connectivity to the CSPs allowing Enterprises to bypass the public internet which is less secure and has higher latency. This allows Enterprises the unique opportunity to easily build secure and scalable hybrid cloud architectures enabling their migration to the cloud.
An Enterprise Edge Node can connect to one or more carriers and implement a highly reliable, scalable, and a secure network interconnecting their on-prem infrastructure to their infrastructure co-located in GPX. In the same GPX campus, there are nodes of multiple Cloud Service Providers (CSPs), 12 Telco’s, and 130+ ISP’s. Enterprise Edge Node can establish dedicated private connectivity to cloud providers who offer direct connectivity services (i.e. AWS Direct Connect, Oracle FastConnect, and Google Dedicated Interconnection, Oracle Fast Connect, etc.). The Enterprise Edge Node forms the basis of a vital connectivity platform for the enterprise to develop secure, reliable, and scalable private, public, and hybrid cloud architectures.
You launched Cloud Exchange recently, How will cloud Exchange transform the digital infrastructure of the nation?
if we see the global trends, the number of customers using direct connection to the cloud instead of the internet has been growing. While we are seeing growth in the workload migration to cloud, the recent trend among cloud users in India is to adopt multiple cloud strategies instead of utilizing just one cloud provider. This allows an enterprise to leverage the varied strengths of each Cloud Service Provider (CSP). This has encouraged us to launch the GPX Open Cloud Exchange.
GPX Open Cloud Exchange solution is a multi-homing solution which is a fully GPX managed solution, offering connectivity to multiple Cloud Service Providers (CSPs) hosted inside the data center campus. Enterprise customers’ network edge nodes (‘Enterprise Edge Node’) co-located at the same data center campus can connect to multiple CSPs through a common and neutral switching architecture. The CSPs’ edge nodes are deployed inside the data center enabling GPX to offer highly reliable, flexible, and scalable ways to connect to CSPs.
How is the market now for the adoption of hybrid cloud and data center virtualization?
Cloud adoption has been seeing steady growth worldwide and also in India. According to Gartner, with the total public Cloud services spent in India at $2.4 bn in 2019, India has recorded the third-highest growth rate of 24.5% in 2019 after China (33%) and Indonesia (29%). The growing penetration of the internet, smartphones, social media, AI, IoT, Big data and digital payment services is expected to increase the demand for cloud services in India. With burgeoning Digital Transformation, underway in India, the nation’s Cloud market is expected to grow threefold to $7.1 billion by 2022, according to a recent Nasscom report.
During this adoption of the public cloud, organizations are most concerned about safety and reliability. Hence, a Direct Connect Service wherein an enterprise can have a leased line/MPLS connection to cloud service providers instead of the unreliable and unsecured internet, is helping cloud adoption. Data Centers hosts cloud providers and provide dedicated direct connect services or multi-homing connectivity to multiple cloud providers.
All of the applications we are using to function effectively during COVID-19 are ultimately powered by Data Centers. The regulatory support is augmenting the Data Centre demand in India. Policy impetus such as the National E-commerce Policy, Personal Data Protection Bill, proposed policy on Data Centre parks and digital initiatives by the government will accelerate demand for Data Centers in the country.
