Why Every Cloud Strategy Starts with Data Center Connectivity
March 06, 2025 at 5:00 PM EST
Every business, no matter how large or small, depends on data and the ability to capture it, store it and manage it. As digital transformation continues to reshape business in real-time, the amount of data businesses collect and handle is exploding, and the ability to manage, connect, and protect it grows more challenging. Enterprise leaders have two choices: keep their data in-house or move some or all of it off-site. Due to the cost, complexity and resources required to store and manage larger and larger volumes of data in-house, most businesses choose the latter. Their preferred solution? The cloud.
Currently, over 98% of organizations, from the smallest to the largest, use cloud computing in some way, whether they use cloud-based applications like Google Drive or Open AI or have seats in public, private or hybrid cloud hosting solutions. Reports indicate that approximately 60% of all business data is now stored in the cloud.
Across the business IT landscape, the diversity of cloud environments—along with the various use cases, pros and cons—has increased dramatically over the last decade. But they all have (at least) one thing in common. Data centers. Data centers provide the necessary infrastructure, security and support to host and manage every cloud resource and application.
In the case of the largest cloud providers like Microsoft, the cloud infrastructure consists of more than 4 million interconnected servers distributed across 300+ data centers in 60 regions around the world. Smaller cloud instances may involve just a few rows of server cabinets in one data center.
It is not a stretch to say that, without data centers, there would be no clouds. Therefore, businesses that want to optimize the value of their cloud-based services must consider their data center connectivity strategy.
Cloud, Data Center, Enterprise: A Win-Win-Win Relationship
Data centers house the physical hardware, servers, and networking equipment necessary to support cloud services. But it’s not a one-way relationship. By distributing workloads across multiple data centers, cloud computing architectures have significantly enhanced data center flexibility, scalability, efficiency and redundancy. Together, the cloud/data center synergy allows organizations to access computing resources on demand, remotely, and with remarkable agility and security. Moreover, it has shifted the cost and burden of IT infrastructure management from the customer to the cloud and data centers.
The symbiotic relationship between cloud, data center and enterprise is perhaps best illustrated by the hybrid cloud model. In the hybrid model, the business distributes its data workloads between decentralized cloud resources and centralized (non-cloud) data center resources. This approach combines the reliability and security inherent in data centers with the agility and scalability offered by the cloud. The customer can safeguard sensitive data and mission-critical applications inside the data center while using the cloud for non-critical workloads or to manage surges in demand.
As the demands for more cloud capacity increase, the variety of data center models grows as well. Today, businesses can choose from a range of capability and pricing options. Here are just a few:
Edge data centers
These are smaller facilities located closer to the customers an organization serves, enabling businesses to interact with customers at greater speeds and with minimal latency.
Cloud data centers
Cloud data centers are operated and managed by cloud service providers to support their private and public cloud offerings. These high-security facilities typically provide advanced encryption, security protocols, two-factor authentication, and single sign-on control.
Multi-tenant data centers
A multi-tenant data center (MTDC), also known as a colocation data center, operates much like a hotel. Secure and dedicated customer areas, known as cages, connect to the various compute, storage and switching resources based on the customer’s requirements. Depending on the specific MTDC, tenants can lease as much or as little space as needed, making it a good fit for most enterprise organizations.
The Critical Link: Data Center Connectivity
The vital link that enables businesses to leverage the efficiency, power and productivity of data center and cloud services is the connection between the customer’s facility(s) and the data center resources needed. This link can be established in various ways, such as a private connection like dedicated internet access service, a site-to-site virtual private network (VPN) or a dedicated multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) link.
Ultimately, the type of connection you need will depend on several variables, such as:
- Bandwidth: How much data will the business be transmitting back and forth on a regular basis?
- Latency performance: What are the response times required to run the applications?
- Security requirements: How sensitive and important is the data being transmitted?
In order to deploy and maintain a connection to the data center, the business will need to address a variety of issues. For starters, what type of network equipment and software are needed to connect to the data center and secure the data? This will involve routers, switches, firewalls, uninterruptible power supplies and systems to help monitor network bandwidth, performance, etc.
Next, the business will need to come to terms with the data center provider regarding a service level agreement (SLA). An SLA confirms in writing the level of service the data center will guarantee. These agreements typically cover key infrastructure elements and service metrics like power, temperature and network availability and often offer a 100% uptime guarantee for power, temperature and bandwidth. If a provider fails to meet uptime commitments outlined in the data center SLA, customers should be able to request a credit.
Perhaps most importantly, the business must ensure it has enough bandwidth from its network provider to maintain a consistent connection to the data center now and in the future as its cloud use grows. The more data-intensive the application is, the larger the company’s data pipe should be. The smallest companies can run basic cloud applications and services with as little as 100 or 200 megabits per second (Mbps) of bandwidth. Large enterprises may need multiple 100 gigabit per second (Gbps) connections.
Glo Fiber Business: Your Data Center Connectivity Partner
High-speed, high-reliability and low-latency connectivity to your data center providers are essential for maximizing the value of cloud services. Moreover, every business has different data center and connectivity requirements. Some need the security of a Tier 4-classified data center; others find that a Tier 1 facility will meet their needs. Still, others may require connections to data centers that are compliant with HIPAA, US-EU Safe Harbor, SSAE 16 or PCI certifications.
Glo Fiber Business’s Data Center Connectivity solutions enable every business to tailor a plan that meets their specific needs. We offer direct connections to dozens of data centers that meet a variety of certifications and tier levels while providing a range of options for services and security. With data speeds up to 100 Gbps, Glo Fiber Business can provide a best-fit solution for any size business.
Businesses in Oho can also take advantage of our Cloud Express service. Through our partnership with Megaport and its cloud provider ecosystem, you can connect directly to more than 300 cloud service providers: Amazon AWS, Microsoft Azure, Salesforce, Oracle, Google, IBM and more. Cloud Express enables you to bypass the public internet while cutting costs associated with self-provisioning. Cloud Express is also highly configurable. Select from E-Line, E-Lan and E-Tree options. With scalable bandwidth, we provision your service in seconds, not weeks, giving your business the agility it needs to compete.
All Glo Fiber Business Data Center Connectivity and Cloud Express solutions run on one of the most advanced fiber networks in our service area. Our robust network incorporates a redundant, ring-protected network architecture, plus network points of presence with diverse connectivity and power, ensuring disaster-resistant service that is built to survive worst-case scenarios. We also offer deployment protection options for partially diverse, fully diverse and redundant POPs.
The Glo Fiber Business network (16,300 fiber miles) is actively monitored 24/7/365 from our local Network Operations Center, enabling us to support superior SLAs for latency, availability and packet delivery.
No matter where your business is located, we all live, work and compete in a global economy. The cloud has become the essential conduit that enables you to work efficiently and compete effectively. Accessing that conduit requires a fast, flexible and reliable connection to the gatekeepers of the cloud. Data Centers. Connect with Glo Fiber Business and let us help you get started.
To learn more about your Data Center Connectivity options, get a personalized quote from one of our Glo Fiber Business Account Managers today.