InterCloud, a leading provider of private connectivity to public clouds based in Paris with a presence on all five continents, has established itself as an essential partner for large corporations and multinationals requiring multiregional and multicloud solutions. Its platform addresses the growing demand for secure and efficient connectivity in an increasingly complex technological environment, marked by the adoption of multicloud architectures, cloud-to-cloud connections, and high availability demands.
The company has designed two specific solutions to cater to different organizational approaches:
- Autonomi: Designed for organizations wanting to build and manage their own infrastructure, Autonomi provides full control and tools for a do-it-yourself approach to connectivity management.
- Parthway: A fully managed solution with end-to-end Service Level Agreements (SLAService Level Agreement (SLA), known in English as …) ideal for organizations seeking a hassle-free, high-performance connectivity experience.
Thanks to this diversified offering, InterCloud provides its customers access to robust connectivity infrastructure tailored to the most demanding business environments, positioning itself as a benchmark in the adoption of advanced cloud strategies. Below, you can learn more from Alejandro Gutiérrez Millán, Sales Director at InterCloud.
Cloud Computing Adoption
What percentage of your clients have migrated to the cloud, and how has this percentage evolved in recent years?
This question is intrinsically linked to our business: as connectivity providers, our service becomes essential only when clients embark on their journey to the cloud, as our interaction with them signifies their adoption of cloud services.
What are the main benefits your clients have observed from adopting cloud solutions?
Our clients have reported two main benefits after adopting cloud solutions: on one hand, increased speed to market, and on the other, improved innovation capacity. The cloud has opened up access to technologies that were previously challenging to manage or even impossible to implement.
Do you think the adoption of cloud in Spain is at the same level as in other European countries? Why?
Traditionally, with few exceptions, southern Europe and Spain in particular have shown some reluctance to adopt new technologies, experiencing a delay of 1 to 2 years compared to other countries.
However, it is also true that with the investment of major cloud providers in the Spanish region, such as the “big five” (AWS, Azure, Google, Oracle, and IBM), the market is set to make an exceptional leap that will quickly bring it up to speed. While adoption in Spain may be slower, it is also characterized by being a market with more cautious and ultimately more robust approaches.
Multi-Cloud Environment
In your opinion, why are more and more companies choosing a multi-cloud environment instead of relying on a single provider?
This trend may primarily stem from the increasing complexity of modern organizations and the desire for greater flexibility and resilience. While it is true that multinational corporations are more likely to adopt a multi-cloud strategy than national or smaller companies, we could say that multinationals operate 80% in a multi-cloud environment, while national companies operate 80% in a single-cloud environment.
We must also consider the technological reasons involved, but especially the complexity within the organizations themselves. In the case of a multinational, it is much more likely that different countries or business units have preferences for different types of clouds and services, while cloud providers will have more opportunities to land new projects and challenges.
On the other hand, national or smaller companies often prioritize simplicity and ease of management. With far fewer resources and less complex IT environments, a single-cloud environment may initially seem simpler to implement and maintain. However, as these companies grow and their needs evolve, they may increasingly find themselves constrained by the limitations of a single provider. The long-term benefits of multi-cloud, such as greater agility and resilience, are becoming more recognized even by smaller organizations.
What are the main benefits of a multi-cloud strategy? And the main challenges?
Regarding benefits, we can highlight four:
- Freedom and bargaining power, avoiding vendor lock-in to strengthen the company’s negotiating position and allowing greater flexibility to migrate services and take advantage of offers.
- High availability and resilience, by building high-availability architectures and not relying on a single provider for critical applications;
- Resource optimization and access to better technology, leveraging the strengths of each provider. The best solutions and technologies can be selected for each workload, optimizing performance and cost. Some clouds excel in areas like computing, while others offer more economical solutions for storage.
- Attraction and retention of talent: a multi-cloud environment is more appealing to IT professionals because it offers continuous learning opportunities and the chance to work with diverse technologies, increasing job satisfaction and retention.
And while the advantages are appealing, implementing a multi-cloud strategy presents challenges that must be addressed carefully:
- Management complexity due to the complications and costs from each provider using their tools, interfaces, and procedures. Additionally, integrating different platforms and managing connectivity between them can incur extra costs.
- Security and compliance, maintaining security and regulatory compliance in a multi-cloud environment where consistent security policies must be implemented across platforms and proper management of identities and access is ensured.
- Connectivity and latency: interconnection between different clouds can be challenging, so it is crucial to ensure efficient, low-latency connectivity to guarantee optimal application performance.
How do they help companies manage the complexity that arises from implementing a multi-cloud environment?
InterCloud addresses the challenges of connectivity in multicloud environments, complexity, management, and costs. Connectivity should never be a barrier but an opportunity for business. Our company understands that innovation and flexibility are key to successful multicloud adoption.
Barriers to Cloud Adoption in SMEs
What main barriers are preventing SMEs from massively adopting cloud solutions?
SMEs interact with the cloud quite differently than large corporations. Instead of directly using Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) or Platform as a Service (PaaS) environments, they primarily consume cloud-based applications. In this regard, they quickly become cloud users because most of their applications are already developed in the cloud, accessible via web browsers or simple client software. For many SMEs, the underlying infrastructure is almost transparent unless their specific needs require the use of dedicated IaaS or Software as a Service (SaaS) solutions.
However, when SMEs do require custom cloud solutions, the lack of internal expertise in various technologies represents a significant barrier. In these cases, system integrators specialized in the SME market play a crucial role in bridging the gap and facilitating successful cloud adoption.
What are the most common concerns of SMEs regarding security and cost when migrating to the cloud?
Mainly, the lack of resources to address it on their own. The issue is that IT, unless it is the core of the business, usually does not have a large department, which presents the main challenge to be solved.
What solutions does your company offer to help SMEs overcome these obstacles?
InterCloud does not offer direct solutions for the public cloud access needs of SMEs. Our focus is on secure, high-performance interconnection between private clouds and cloud service providers for companies with more complex infrastructure needs. Thus, while SMEs can generally access public clouds through standard VPNA VPN, short for Virtual Private Network, allows… internet connections, InterCloud does not provide services specifically designed for this type of access. Our value lies in scenarios that require more robust and dedicated connectivity.
Migration and Complexity
What aspects of migration to the cloud are usually more complex for companies? How do they help reduce this complexity?
Moving to the cloud presents several complexities for companies, even beyond the initial cultural shift of accepting off-premise applications. The main obstacle lies in determining cost-effectiveness and how to manage operations in the cloud, specifically in terms of cost control. If this is not addressed from the outset, unforeseen expenses or operational challenges may arise, potentially pushing a return to on-premise infrastructure, although this is uncommon.
The key is to find the right balance. It is important to ask, “Which workloads should migrate to the cloud and which should remain in existing data centers?” This leads to the prevalence of hybrid environments. It is estimated that 90% of large enterprises (excluding small and medium enterprises) use a hybrid approach, distributing workloads between the cloud and on-premise resources.
The specific distribution within a hybrid model largely depends on business needs and the projected return on investment.
What measures do you consider necessary for SMEs to have more confidence in migrating to the cloud?
Primarily, a good channel that allows them to simplify management and the cloud adoption pathway.
Have you observed a difference in cloud adoption between industrial sectors (e.g., financial services vs. retail)?
At InterCloud, we work with clients that are completely different from one another: from retail to financial, including industrial clients and those in energy. In each case, we have not observed any difference between the various industries. I believe this mainly depends on other factors beyond specific sectors.
Cloud Security
In terms of security, what challenges do companies face when migrating to the cloud?
We can say that security itself is already a challenge, even in more controlled environments managed by the company’s IT leaders. And while they exercise considerable control over local data centers, security remains a constant concern. Cloud environments, essentially third-party data centers, require extending and adapting these security measures to a new landscape with less direct control.
Paradoxically, the great advantage is that cloud providers often have more robust and up-to-date physical and logical security than their clients, creating a critical challenge in balancing security with flexibility and cost.
The concept of a “landing zone” addresses this challenge because it acts as a secure entry point to the cloud, equipped with necessary service layers to extend a company’s existing security mechanisms to the cloud environment. This allows for maintaining control and oversight while leveraging the physical security of the provider, including aspects like surveillance, access control, and power redundancy, which are standard features in cloud data centers. The key lies in carefully configuring this landing zone to meet the specific security requirements of the migrating company while optimizing flexibility and cost-effectiveness.
What are the most effective security measures you recommend implementing when working in the cloud?
When discussing best practices for cloud security, especially in Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and Platform as a Service (PaaS) environments, securing landing zones is paramount since they must employ traditional security measures such as firewalls, intrusion detection and prevention systems (IDPS), antivirus software, and robust authentication mechanisms.
Additionally, security can be enhanced through technologies such as SD-WANSD-WAN, short for Software-defined Wide Area Network… to secure access. Utilizing specialized providers for private connectivity, like InterCloud, can significantly simplify and streamline the implementation of these security measures.
How do they address security in multi-cloud environments, especially considering the increase in cyberattacks on cloud platforms?
Strategies like “Zero Trust,” in addition to those mentioned earlier, are a clear trend in companies. This security model, based on the principle of “never trust, always verify,” focuses on continuous authentication and authorization of each user and device trying to access resources, regardless of their location.
The Role of Partners
What role do partners play in the success of a cloud migration?
The role of partners in cloud migration is crucial. Even in companies with extensive human, technological, and budget resources to manage their migrations, a partner specialized in areas where they lack necessary experience can fill those critical gaps.
For companies with a culture oriented towards outsourcing or managed services, the role of the partner becomes even more fundamental. In these cases, choosing the right partner is often the most important factor in determining the project’s success, even more so than selecting the technology or cloud provider.
How do partners ensure that migration projects are well supported from planning to execution and maintenance?
This is where partners bear the responsibility and challenge of demonstrating true commitment to the company, as they must make careful choices about the technologies and infrastructures to implement, as well as the basic services needed for their solution to succeed.
For example, imagine a partner choosing a communication provider that is inflexible, without solid Service Level Agreements (SLAs) or external support, or without experts… The implementation will have many gaps.
Therefore, many partners, especially those undertaking complex projects, choose InterCloud. By trusting InterCloud’s reliable connectivity, partners can eliminate connectivity concerns and focus their attention where it matters most: the customer.
What additional services do you offer to help companies manage their cloud infrastructure after migration?
Mainly, we enable monitoring and expert support services tailored for each company and business need. Agility in response to changes and constant evolution is crucial, along with SLAs to guarantee availability.
In other words, migration is the first step on the path, but operation is the longest journey.
Sustainability and Future of Cloud
Do you think sustainability is becoming a key factor when choosing cloud solutions?
I believe the market has not arrived at that point yet. Today, the key factors for companies are primarily business-related: agility, innovation, costs.
Currently, companies are focused on efficiency, taking a rational approach to business and technology, applying common sense above all. This leads to less expensive solutions, bringing with them reduced energy usage.
How are they helping companies reduce their carbon footprint and energy consumption through cloud solutions?
We can start with the inherent efficiency of the cloud, which optimizes resource use like personnel, time, and, crucially, energy.
For data centers supporting the cloud, energy represents a significant expense. By optimizing their energy consumption, these data centers not only become more efficient and competitive but also significantly reduce their environmental impact, achieving greater sustainability, which translates into a smaller carbon footprint for the companies using these services.
How do you see the future of cloud, and what new trends do you anticipate will shape the evolution of multi-cloud environments in the coming years?
The future of cloud looks bright, as it drives the capability to foster business growth, innovation, and cost reduction. The trend is clear: a continuous migration of workloads to the cloud, where each organization will find its optimal balance.
The truly disruptive factor, whose impact is still early to gauge, is the inclusion of Artificial Intelligence and its adoption based on the cloud.
Learn more about InterCloud.