Alkira intros 'Extranet-as-a-Service'

SAN JOSE, Calif. – Alkira, the pioneer in agentless, multi-cloud networking, today introduced its Alkira Extranet as-a-Service offering. Alkira EaaS uses Akira's global hyperscale cloud networking infrastructure to allow customers to instantly connect a variety of enterprise-class B2B applications and resources, establishing any mode of on-prem and cloud connectivity. As a result, enterprises can connect their customers, partners and third parties seamlessly and safely across highly distributed IT environments and multi-cloud networks.

With the ease of Alkira EaaS, it only takes a few mouse clicks to roll out advanced B2B cloud networking capabilities, such as inserting firewall services, Day 2 troubleshooting, sharing resources with unidirectional and bidirectional traffic patterns, and more.

Building Extranets is a Cumbersome, Manual Process

Modern, highly distributed IT environments are unwieldy and difficult for even Fortune 500 companies to manage. The hardest part is connecting these sprawling environments – which include hybrid and multi-cloud deployments – into a cohesive unit. Organizations today connect these disparate IT environments and cloud networks using their own Extranet, which they manually construct and maintain. To do this, they either utilize traditional networking infrastructure (such as MPLS circuits, routers, firewalls and other hardware) or use cloud native networking tools such as those provided by AWS, Azure and Google Cloud.

The process is completely Do-It-Yourself and rife with risks, potential security gaps and a lack of end-to-end visibility. Change is also difficult to accommodate, requiring re-architecting of networks and long provisioning times to react to changing business conditions or access needs. The end result is costly, time consuming, slow and risky. Flexera's 2023 State of the Cloud Report shows that 80% of respondents are concerned about their ability to manage access and security across multi-cloud environments, up from 72% the year before.

Alkira EaaS Makes Extranets Simple

Alkira EaaS eliminates this manual work with a solution offered fully as a service, requiring no hardware, software or agents to be installed. With Alkira EaaS, customers gain immediate end-to-end visibility and control over their entire cloud network, and the ability to scale Extranet operations anywhere in the world via Alkira’s hyperscale cloud backbone.

The offering provides the industry’s most advanced Extranet capabilities, including a diverse ecosystem of security and connectivity services that can be spun up in just a few clicks. This includes leading security solutions from industry giants like Cisco, Fortinet and Palo Alto, as well as observability, resilience and automation capabilities with Infoblox, Splunk and Terraform.

Alkira EaaS is provided via Akira’s global hyperscale cloud networking infrastructure. The solutions relies on Alkira Cloud Exchange Points (CXPs), virtualized points of presence that leverage the hyperscale infrastructure of the public cloud. Alkira CXPs virtualize and automate thousands of manual tasks associated with cloud networking, removing the need to learn or manage cloud native routing or connectivity. This enables customers to deploy, manage and grow Extranet services immediately as needed.

Alkira