Q&A: Insights on moving your network to the cloud

Tom Ricardo is Head of Cloud Strategy and Solutions at Vandis, a security and infrastructure solutions integrator based in New York. With security, cloud, networking, mobility, and infrastructure practices, Vandis focuses on helping organizations build secure and stable systems, both on-premises and in the cloud.

In an upcoming webinar with experts from both Barracuda and Microsoft, Tom will detail how Vandis’ networking services as a Microsoft Gold Partner simplify the deployment of an Azure-based network leveraging Azure Virtual WAN and Barracuda CloudGen WAN.

We recently sat down with Tom to give you a closer look at the benefits of moving your network to the cloud this way.

Q&A with Tom Ricardo, Head of Cloud Strategy and Solutions at Vandis

What are the most important benefits of running networking in Azure?

Microsoft's network backbone is one of the top three in the world. So, when we're talking about running networking through the cloud, what we're talking about is running your network through a backbone that is larger than your ISP’s backbone. Every computer that needs to get a Windows Update has to contact Microsoft to grab that. That's an extensive network with endpoints all around the world, which lowers the transmission distance from A to B.

You're getting the advantage of Microsoft's network that is optimized to move those cloud workloads, whether that’s a Microsoft 365 workload or an Azure workload. So, as you work with your hybrid workload, this will be one of the most efficient ways to get from where you're working to the cloud resource you're talking to. That's the advantage of using networking in the cloud.

Beyond that, there are hidden complexities to cloud networking. But, by using a solution built for the cloud, you can remove a lot of that complexity and build visibility, governance, and a network structure that works for your team.

What challenges does this help customers overcome? What pain points does it address?

One big challenge is workload filtering. I see a lot of clients that have a hard time because they are backhauling their traffic to their corporate networks, taking up substantial bandwidth. If they push that traffic through Microsoft instead, they eliminate that bandwidth pressure and improve security. It can also help lower general latency as you avoid having latency building in connections that would otherwise be backhauled through a corporate datacenter.. Lastly, a corporate internal network is going to be very expensive, but with networking in the cloud, you have a faster, less-expensive network that's not eating internal resources.

Are there certain types of customers that get the most out of this type of solution?

Customers with a lot of sites, especially if those sites aren't static, will get a lot out of it or organizations that are looking for work-from-home solutions, like Windows Virtual Desktop. There are also huge advantages for customers looking to cut costs and move to a more consumption-based model with networking, which has previously been very hard to do. Traditionally, you have to buy a three-year contract with an ISP and, with the way work is changing, that's not appealing to companies right now.

This type of solution is also a good fit for customers that just starting to begin their cloud journey. These are the products that you want to have off the bat because it makes it so easy to connect your sites, and the optimization helps the migration process.

How are you helping customers embrace this new approach?

A lot of times, it just takes showing them the advantages. We start off small with a couple of sites and move up from there. Because of the consumption-based modeling and the fact that it's zero-touch provisioning, we can get a site up very quickly. Whether they’re moving offices or setting up a new site, we’re able to go and address the client's needs as they come up. Typically, when they see the benefits from the first sites, they want to begin conversations on how to further scale their investment into the cloud.

What have you enjoyed about working with Microsoft and Barracuda on this solution?

A lot of what I've done in the past is build my own custom solutions, but that's not as repeatable. Having a supported solution from both Microsoft and Barracuda gives you the support structure needed to scale and the ability to address client needs in a repeatable manner. Barracuda was one of the first in the space to focus on cloud solutions and their solutions fit seamlessly into Azure environments.

Free webinar


Moving Your Network into the Cloud: Insights from Microsoft, Barracuda, and Vandis

Wednesday, March 17, 2021
10 a.m. – 11 a.m. PDT

Save your spot here!