One of the newest approaches to IT is Data-as-a-Service (or DaaS), which refers to the delivery of on-demand Virtual Data Centers (VDC) delivered across a private network rather than the public internet. Typically, these are offered on a per-unit basis – be it per CPU or per 1Gb of storage – and can be dynamically provisioned.

There are many reasons for enterprises to adopt  this model but the primary one is that it allows them to ‘own’ infrastructure on an OPEX basis, thus avoiding large upfront costs. This way enterprises have the ability to scale resources elastically up and down and only pay for them when they are needed. This model is perfect for resource-intensive and fast-changing computing environments, such as financial services.

Not IaaS
This should not be confused with Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS). The benefits of DaaS are absent from IaaS facilities, where you basically have no alternative except to use the servers, networking and other hardware supplied by the IaaS provider. In addition, what separates DaaS from other similar approaches is the fact that it is run on a private network, which delivers significant security and performance benefits. The resources in a DaaS scenario should be managed as an extension of internal data center resources. The private network is the key delivery mechanism that enables this.

The network is often one of the most overlooked aspects of any cloud or ‘as-a-Service’ deployment, despite the fact that it remains the critical backbone for delivering services. Trusting non-critical services to the vagaries of the public internet may be acceptable, but for something as critical as core data center services, a more robust connection is necessary.

Two of the major issues and concerns end-user organizations have when moving to the Cloud are security and performance. Where data might previously have been consumed by end-users over a highly secure corporate LAN, remaining within the firewall at all times, cloud and ‘aaS’ models potentially see data traffic go over the public internet, where it is inherently less secure. That said, it is in performance where this model really tends to fall down – ultimately, a service is only as fast as the slowest part of the network, and by bringing ‘best-effort’ internet into the equation, you are potentially introducing a major bottleneck into the network infrastructure.

By removing public internet from the equation, true DaaS delivers not only a more secure environment but one that performs more reliably. True DaaS makes external virtual data centers available on demand, as if they were simply additional internal resources. And for this to happen, services on the WAN must behave as if they were on the local network. Ultimately, you need a LAN that acts like a WAN.

Ethernet is the perfect platform to create this environment because it allows customers to easily introduce connections to new sites and services – including DaaS – without having to reconfigure the existing design. A private Layer-2 or Layer-3 VPLS connection will allow DaaS offerings to be managed across the WAN, as if they were local resources.

End to end SLAs
Furthermore, customers can begin to look at introducing end-to-end SLAs for their DaaS deployments. The lack of SLAs in cloud deployments has often been a sticking point, and while cloud providers will often guarantee uptime of their services, these promises do not extend to the availability or performance of the connection into their infrastructure. With a private VPLS connection, IT departments can have dedicated bandwidth and put in place SLAs with their service provider to ensure optimal performance.

The importance of private connections in DaaS deployments is magnified by use cases such as business continuity/disaster recovery and test and development. Recreating performance of the local data center is crucial, and in order to successfully test application performance, infrastructure delivering those applications must behave and perform as it would on the local network. With DaaS delivered over a high-speed VPLS WAN, this is achievable. Although most organizations are usually reluctant to invest upfront in dedicated infrastructure, if a business is reliant on remotely deployed resources, a dedicated high-performance connection to those resources is of paramount importance. Delivery over a private network is one of the best ways of allaying these fears and ensuring safe and secure resource sharing.

Organizations are beginning to look at whether DaaS is a viable alternative to costly physical data center resources. Throughout the evaluation process, the supporting network should not be overlooked, due to the central role it plays. Not only is the network the critical interface between the externally-hosted infrastructure and the local IT resources, it is the key enabling technology that separates DaaS from a host of other similar models.

Private VPLs
Private VPLS-based networks blur the traditional LAN-WAN cloud perimeter, and create a highly responsive and flexible environment over which the IT department can have complete control. Ultimately, cloud computing will become a permanent and major part of enterprise computing. It should not be forgotten, however, that in this model, connectivity is everything.