In a wide-ranging conversation, Jerzy Szlosarek, CEO of Epsilon talks about how automation, networking, and cloud computing are the key factors which can drive growth in an organization by providing a fast, dynamic and seamless experience to customers all around the world, as there is “zero tolerance†for slowness. Read on for actionable tips on how to get your IT infrastructure to the next level, with existing and emerging technologies.
What are the typical connectivity challenges organizations with a global presence face? What can CTOs do to surmount these challenges? Enterprise applications and services have changed. They are pushing global networks to change, and there’s a realization that networking cannot be a barrier to innovation in enterprise ICT.
Organizations with a global presence need connectivity that is elastic, scalable and on-demand. Cloud-based applications and services need agile networking that can adapt to changing needs and remove the limits on what an enterprise can do with its ICT solutions.
CTOs need to think about who their networking provider is and who those providers are partnered with. They need to ensure that their network can move at the speed of the cloud and can support increasingly complex applications and services. The right service provider would need to deliver cost-effective, cloud-centric networking on-demand.
If a company is in the process of designing its connectivity infrastructure, what advice would you give the CTO to build a seamless network?
Automation is the foundation for a new networking model. Without automated processes, the network can become a barrier to innovation and business success. Automation has become the critical next step in the networking model. It changes what is possible in the cloud. I think this is most obvious in local access networks where automation simplifies and accelerates how service providers and enterprises manage complex connectivity challenges.
Automation removes multiple steps in the process and enables Ethernet to be provisioned globally, not in days or hours, but instantly. Cloud connectivity platforms with network orchestration simplify the process of connecting cloud services. Then there is no friction between the user and the services they want to access.
Cloud latency is a significant issue that hampers the productivity of an organization. What steps can a CIO take to ensure that cloud computing works at optimal speeds at all times?
CIOs need a networking model that is ready to deliver new levels of performance reliability, visibility, and adaptability. As more and more businesses and enterprises run their IT load in the Cloud, CIOs cannot afford to have mission-critical business applications running slow due to network performance issues. They should be able to see and understand their network performance in real-time.
Leveraging direct connections to cloud service providers like AWS, Alibaba Cloud, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud and others, enterprises can bypass the internet with guaranteed end-to-end performance. By using a cloud platform which delivers on-demand connectivity, such networking can be as scalable and dynamic as the cloud applications they serve. Companies may choose to continue operating a legacy networking model with lengthy and complex contracts, but that doesn’t benefit either the business or its customers. In today’s cloud-centric market, networking needs to be faster, more flexible and become an innovation enabler.
The role of CIOs today continues to expand with a stronger focus on improving their organization’s value proposition. They can greatly benefit from having an on-demand connectivity platform that is designed to support click-to-connect provisioning and offer users an experience as seamless as an e-commerce platform.
What are your thoughts on internet peering? Which companies are better suited to enter into peering agreements? What elements should the CTO of a company entering into a peering agreement keep in mind?
The adoption of cloud applications including entertainment has driven not just a need, but a new level of experience expectation. Demand for application streaming is rising, and consumers are hypersensitive to a slow digital experience. We are already at a point where there is zero tolerance for any lag or downtime.
One of the simplest ways to achieve the desired speeds is through Internet Exchange (IX) peering. It’s a cost-effective solution for interconnecting with global networks from a single hub and adds resilience to the network for optimized performance.
The challenge for any CTO is that they want the simplicity of using an IX, but with the ability to reach multiple exchange points in various metro markets around the world quickly and without any barriers. This is why our goal is to make it simple for our partners to benefit from peering at IXs globally.
Through our Infiny by Epsilon on-demand connectivity platform, we provide a direct interconnect solution for on-demand connectivity to IXs. Our partners do not have to be physically present at IXs and can rely on on-demand connectivity to make remote peering work for them. It removes the barriers to using IXs around the world and enables service providers to peer without presence.
Over 160,000 cyber attacks were reported in 2017. Business organizations have become targets for ransomware attacks, data theft and data breaches (even from within the organization). What measures should be taken by CTOs to safeguard their IT assets from such attacks?
Cyber threats are continually changing, and the sophistication level of these attacks is only rising. These types of attacks often cause significant financial losses with critical business information at risk of being compromised. Businesses of all kinds must prepare themselves to ensure they are protected from any attacks.
Security is critical in every business but managing it can be extremely complex. From a network perspective, we can leverage intelligent technologies and analytics to pinpoint anomalies in the network. Moving critical business applications to private WAN architectures can help to mitigate such threats. We certainly believe in any factors that will deliver a more secure environment.
Processes and culture are also important factors in ensuring security is top of mind across the organization.
AI, machine learning, chatbots, RPA and immersive technologies are some of the buzzwords in the IT industry. What is your take on these rapidly evolving technologies? What developments are you keeping an eye out for?
Adopting new technologies shouldn’t be a race to the top. It should be about how new technologies can benefit a business and help them meet their own goals. There’s a real opportunity for new tech to improve the productivity of a business day-to-day as well as help drive new sales and deliver better customer experience.
The explosion of these immersive technologies demands the underpinning of flexible, fluid and intelligent networking as its foundation, with programmable networking, automation, APIs, and DevOps. These technologies are unlocking the next wave of innovation in telecoms and reimagining what a connectivity provider can be. That’s what is exciting to me.
Automation, DevOps and APIs enable fluid networking that drives innovations and business models and productivity. We need to be investing in networking that supports these initiatives locally and globally. I think that every investment focused on the network needs to be supporting and enabling the applications and services of the future.
What are some new and exciting projects at Epsilon that you would like to talk about? Give us a little sneak peek into the future.
Over the last 12 months, we’ve been focused on creating an entire approach to support the future of Software-Defined Networking that is hyperconnected, hyper-scalable and driven by APIs. We’ve been launching initiatives around inter-carrier automation and delivering 100G on-demand to prepare our partners for the future of networking.
We’ve been evolving our infrastructure gradually over the last decade. By upgrading our network to offer 100G on-demand around the world, we are helping not only our existing partners but future prospects to benefit from hyper-scalable connectivity that’s designed to support the services of the future on a global scale. We’re matching cross-carrier interconnectivity with the development of our network to serve new demand.
Thanks for such an immersive and informative conversation, Jerzy. We hope to talk to you soon!
About Epsilon
EpsilonOpens a new window is a global Cloud-centric Network Service Provider, extending carrier-grade connectivity services to the world’s communications and cloud ecosystems. The company offers smart networking capabilities through its simple and powerful SDN platform, Infiny, which combines on-demand infrastructure, automation, web-based portals, and APIs to give partners friction-free access to global connectivity.
All Epsilon services are powered by a next-generation hyper-scalable global backbone which connects all the leading telecoms hubs globally. Across this fabric encompasses a dense ecosystem of carriers, service operators and Cloud providers offering the leading interconnect point for a diverse set of network and connectivity requirements. Epsilon is headquartered in Singapore with offices in London, New York, and Dubai