Large Scale Cloud Networking with AWS and Aryaka Is Now A Lot Easier!
Cloud networking at scale is a tough problem for enterprises, big and small. While it is relatively simple to connect between the WAN and a single virtual private cloud (VPC), connecting to multiple VPCs in several regions and branch sites over the WAN is a daunting task. Scaling high-performance connectivity to multiple VPCs in the public cloud with direct access to many branches is amazingly complex.
Aryaka already provides to many enterprise customers a Cloud-First WAN service to rapidly spin up direct connections from Aryaka’s Service PoPs to AWS Infrastructure with the goal of providing WAN connectivity between AWS to workers at home and in the office. This provides enterprises an on-demand SD-WAN infrastructure at a global scale, which is highly flexible while delivering a pristine application performance.
With the introduction of AWS Transit Gateway Connect, AWS and Aryaka have collaborated to increase further the scale of enabling cloud connectivity while further simplifying VPC-to-VPC networking. For Aryaka, the tight integration between the AWS Transit Gateway and Aryaka’s Cloud-First WAN is a natural progression of Aryaka’s solutions for connecting to the cloud.
AWS Transit Gateway Connect was recently announced at AWS re:Invent 2020. I always eagerly look forward to attending this huge conference since it is packed with news and innovations. The 2020 conference, although completely virtual due to the pandemic, was likewise an amazing event with endless announcements. AWS just does things on a large scale. This also applies to its networking portfolio and for connecting enterprises with Virtual Private Clouds (VPCs).
Aryaka Selected as a Launch Partner
We at Aryaka are pleased to have been selected as a launch partner for AWS Transit Gateway Connect and that we have been able to move our Cloud-First WAN to the next level with advanced VPC networking scenarios for our customers. Aryaka is the only managed SD-WAN provider to partner with AWS for this launch. If the AWS Transit Gateway Connect announcement is the cake, the Aryaka Cloud-First WAN solution for cloud connectivity is the icing on top of the cake!
Benefits of SD-WAN Services
Analyst firm Forrester Research notes that companies can improve business agility with SD-WAN services. The report points out that “rightly implemented, SD-WAN can help lower IT costs, improve application performance by load balancing links, and adapt your application traffic pattern to the best available network conditions.” And Forrester identified us as one of the 10 most significant SD-WAN services providers. What makes Aryaka a standout among SD-WAN box vendors and service providers is our unique combination of a fully managed SD-WAN service, based on cloud-first principles and an integrated architecture, tied together with an extensive network of global Services PoPs, and providing a global end-to-end network experience with a single point of contact in more than 100 countries. It is built for scale and offers enterprises agility and simplicity.
AWS Transit Gateway Connect
AWS Transit Gateway has been available for several years. AWS announced enhancements to its Transit Gateway with Transit Gateway Connect, having now the capability to simplify integration with SD-WAN solutions like Aryaka. The ‘Connect’ part is a new attachment type that uses transport attachment options like AWS Direct Connect to permit a third-party appliance to connect to AWS Transit Gateway. This is the first time that AWS is opening up AWS Transit Gateway peering directly with 3rd party solutions.
Doing Things at Large Scale is Complex
The AWS Transit Gateway itself is a superior solution compared to traditional VPC peering and greatly simplifies VPC-VPC networking. AWS Transit Gateway has different attachments like VPC, Direct Connect, and VPN to exchange route information and establish connectivity between on-premises networks and AWS VPCs. Transit Gateway Connect is a new type of attachment that directly allows 3rd party solutions to peer with Transit Gateway over GRE/BGP. For a detailed overview, check out the AWS Transit Gateway Connect documentation.
Scaling Direct Connects with Aryaka leveraging AWS Transit Gateway Connect
Aryaka customers are comprised of large and small enterprises distributed around the globe. One common theme is that many are extensive consumers of AWS cloud services. Atypical use case involves consolidating customer branch networks over a Direct Connect connection to AWS from our POP. Aryaka and AWS are typically co-located or are in very close proximity inside an interconnection provider like Equinix. GRE/BGP tunnels between an Aryaka PoP and the AWS Transit Gateway ride on top of AWS Direct Connect. This new capability helps scale our customers’ AWS connectivity by connecting many branch offices and home workers over a single Direct Connect to multiple VPCs. And we help simplify it.
More Aryaka and AWS Innovations in 2021
Together with our association with AWS, we continue to innovate in the multi-cloud connectivity and the multi-cloud networking space. We are continually increasing our geographic coverage by adding more Aryaka Service PoPs, providing our customers with more on-ramps to cloud service providers such as AWS, and tight integration with security solutions (both on-premises and cloud). And, we look forward to closer integration with AWS with the upcoming launch later in 2021 of our virtual edge appliance (vANAP) that will open up even more cloud use cases for our customers.
Above all, Aryaka is always looking to make life easier and less complex for our customers. Stay tuned, and in the meanwhile, please feel free to contact me at the email below.
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