Australia's largest operator Telstra will launch a product for businesses needing to connect to multiple cloud environments.
The company has also added Amazon Web Services (AWS) to its list of supported cloud platforms. The service, named Cloud Gateway, will launch in June 2016.
Cloud Gateway aims to provide private and secure connectivity directly into multiple public cloud platforms. This one-to-many “gateway” model connects an IP network service to the cloud with data carriage, cross connect in the hosting data center, configuration and support.
Organizations are expected to be able to access their chosen cloud platform from around the world simply and securely, with increased application performance via Telstra’s IP network.
Initially, Cloud Gateway will offer customers around the world connectivity to AWS and IBM SoftLayer, while Australian customers can also connect to Microsoft Azure, Office365 and VMware vCloud Air. More infrastructure and SaaS platforms are expected to join over time.
Telstra executive director for global products and solutions Philip Jones said Cloud Gateway aims to help customers take full advantage of multiple cloud-based workloads.
“Most organizations don’t realize the full value of cloud out of a single service. Instead, our customers are investing in sophisticated hybrid cloud environments, which come with their own range of fragmented networking challenges,” said Jones.
“These include managing multiple vendors, portals and contracts, while trying to maintain a high level of security, performance and operational efficiency. We believe that just because these solutions are sophisticated, doesn’t mean that they should also be complex. Cloud Gateway is Telstra’s simple way to connect multiple clouds, and create hybrid environments.”