Applications and workloads have been moving to the cloud for some time. This transition has been putting a lot of pressure on IT organizations to support the trend by extending their networks to support cloud connectivity.

Cisco SD-WAN enables your hybrid connectivity to the cloud

We at Cisco have innovated on multiple fronts to help our customers with this transition by providing a deep level of integration with many of the leading cloud service providers (CSPs), including Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud. Here, we highlight one key aspect of this innovation that allows private cloud links to be available as part of the SD-WAN network, enabling hybrid connectivity to the cloud and multicloud. Now our customers can benefit from all the rich features that our Cisco SD-WAN solution offers including application-aware routing, intent-based path selection, and security policy enforcement.

Private direct cloud connectivity to CSPs such as AWS Direct Cloud Connect, Google Cloud Interconnect, and Azure ExpressRoute are becoming popular lately, as they provide customers with optimal connectivity similar to what MPLS did in the past, but in a more agile and on-demand fashion. The only problem is those services are normally acquired separately and customers must determine how to manage them as part of a larger WAN solution including configuration, monitoring, and so on. The on-demand nature of these circuits provides customers with major savings, but also turns automation into a key requirement for management.

Enter Cisco SD-WAN release 20.6

Beginning with Cisco SD-WAN release 20.6, a Cisco SD-WAN customer may use Cloud OnRamp for Mutlicloud to automate and simplify cloud connectivity across private and public transports. What is great is this task, that used to require hours and days to setup, now only takes minutes as outlined by the following integration documents for AWS, Azure and Google Cloud respectively:

• Configure AWS Direct Connect as a Transport with SD-WAN in a Click
• Configure Azure Express Route as Transport with SD-WAN in a Click
• Configure Google Cloud Interconnect as a Transport with Cisco SD-WAN in a Click

Once a customer implements such connectivity, they will have the ability to steer any type of traffic through it with a customizable and flexible SD-WAN policy. This solution also allows customers to eliminate some limitations imposed on them by the CSPs, such as restricting the number of prefixes advertised via BGP over private links, thus providing better scalability and control.

For customers who already use Cisco SD-WAN Cloud Interconnect at middle-mile POPs, such as with Equinix or Megaport, rolling out this solution as a test can be extremely simple given the automation discussed above.  The best way to find out how easy this solution is, is to try it.

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