XO Communications Offers Dedicated Links, Security to Azure Cloud

The Microsoft (News - Alert) Azure cloud computing platform allows businesses to deliver cloud-based applications throughout their enterprises by leveraging the power of Microsoft-managed servers. The creation of Azure has allowed companies such as XO Communications (News - Alert) to capitalize on those strengths and offer enterprises dedicated connections to the Azure cloud itself.

XO Communication's latest announcement regards its partnership with the Equinix (News - Alert) Cloud Exchange that can offer enterprises dedicated connections to Azure at speeds of 200 Mbps, 500 Mbps, and 1 Gbps in the areas of Washington, D.C. and Silicon Valley. Through Equinix International Business Exchange data centers, XO Communications is helping further its mission of connecting businesses to multiple cloud providers and making Azure connections more reliable and secure in the process.

Jake Heinz, the senior vice president of marketing and products at XO Communications, spoke in his company's announcement about the need for businesses to save costs. He mentioned that the use of IT organizations as cloud service brokers can provide exactly that.

“Enterprises need to increase the velocity of their business growth while constraining total IT spending,” Heinz said. “XO enables the evolution of the hybrid IT function whereby the IT organization becomes a trusted cloud services broker for the entire organization. With dedicated network connections to Azure, IT managers are now able to cost-effectively drive productivity by deploying true hybrid cloud architectures.”

Heinz, in that short statement, is broadly explaining a lot of finer points about the nature of how businesses and IT providers operate. First, businesses need to lower their expenses. That is not big news, but it does inform interested parties about how they look to save money. In the arena of cloud services, enterprises want the fastest and most reliable connections to the cloud that they can get for the lowest prices. This places the burden of responsibility on cloud service providers.

IT organizations can take that responsibility and make it their own by doing what XO Communications has demonstrated here. They provide reliable connections to the cloud—in this case, to Azure—and become service brokers for entire enterprises. If XO Communications can do this at a lower cost than competitors, it will have something of value to offer business clients.

What XO Communications also brings to the table is a sense of security. While Azure allows businesses to access a public cloud, XO Communications beefs up the security of that situation by allowing clients to use either the Equinix IBX or XO Internet Protocol Virtual Private Network to access the cloud in a secure manner. The virtual private network makes it possible for businesses to access data in a manner similar to a private network.

The benefit of this changing relationship between enterprises and IT companies is clear. Businesses are getting more bang for less buck by using the highly-specialized services that IT companies have to offer. XO Communications is raising the bar by offering dedicated connections at multiple speeds and offering security protocols in addition to that base. Enterprises need look no further to see the future of cloud connections.