Abruptly moving from legacy systems to the cloud is akin to building a brand-new house without a foundation. Sure, it might have the greatest and most efficient new appliances and cool fixtures, but it’s not really going to work unless the fundamentals that support the entire structure are in place.
Too often, agencies begin their cloud migration efforts only to find out — too late — that their networks were unprepared for the transition. There have been tales of agency IT administrators running into bandwidth, security and network visibility challenges.
Administrators can avoid this pitfall by building modern networks designed for both the cloud of today and the needs of tomorrow. These networks must be software-defined, intelligent, open and able to accommodate both legacy technologies and more-advanced solutions during the cloud migration period. They must also be able to automatically scale for increased usage, potential security risks and future demands. Simultaneously, their administrators must have complete visibility into network operations and applications, wherever they may be hosted.
(Read the entire article from GCM: Technology, Tools and Tactics for Public Sector IT.)
ATC can help you migrate to the cloud and put the proper network services in place.
Here are 3 building practices that administrators can use to effectively create a solid, modern and cloud-ready network foundation:
- Create a blueprint to monitor bandwidth
“The result is that both traditional and non-traditional devices (and the data hogging, cloud-based applications they allow users to access) are enabling network traffic that will inevitably impact bandwidth.” - Construct automated security protocols
“Automation will become vitally important to securing the cloud infrastructure. There are simply too many moving parts to a modern, cloud-ready network for managers to easily and manually control.” - Create an open-concept environment
Agencies will be able to enjoy better security and greater flexibility through networks that can grow along with demand, and they’ll have a much easier time managing the move to the cloud with an appropriate network infrastructure.
