If you are reading this post it means you are in the right place for content about Alibaba Cloud. In this blog post, I will go through the reasons to use Alibaba Cloud CEN (Cloud Enterprise Network).
Introduction
It’s worth to mention, that one of the main advantages of a public cloud, is the distributed network infrastructure. Alibaba Cloud operates 67 zones spread across 22 regions globally which are interconnected by Alibaba Cloud’s network backbone. This worldwide backbone allows services like CEN to exist and provide global reach for customers using it.
Before jumping into it, let’s first look at the basics of this Alibaba Cloud product.
What is the Cloud Enterprise Network (CEN)?
Cloud Enterprise Network provides a hybrid and distributed global network ideal for enterprise users with high demand on network coverage. With its stable transmission and next-generation network environment, the network provides high transmission speed and low latency for end-users.
Cloud Enterprise Network can be used to facilitate communication between VPC to VPC and VPC to IDC. The routing information in CEN can be learned and distributed automatically, which allows CEN to achieve fast routing convergence and improved network quality and security.
Let’s start with the top 5 reasons to use Alibaba Cloud CEN (Cloud Enterprise Network):
Reason #1 – Create an Hybrid Global Private Network
CEN was built with the intention of offering customers a privately created network that they can construct themselves by adding regional VPC (Virtual Private Cloud) instances and IDCs (Data Centers). In Alibaba Cloud, you can also use VPC peering to connect regional or cross-region VPCs.
With these capabilities in mind, when creating a new CEN instance, you are creating an enterprise-class network that can interconnect the network resources of Alibaba Cloud around the world. Given the versatility of the CEN, you can create this network in many ways, either pure cloud networks only (VPCs) or building a Hybrid Cloud on top of it, interconnecting IDCs.
Another element of versatility is the speed of the CEN which can also be configured (limited) to total or specific bandwidth amounts, according to the needs. This private network enables the Hybrid by providing high-speed access from the cloud to the datacenter.
Reason #2 – Low Latency and High Speed
One of the main network issues today is the need for speed and latency. Most applications today require fast access to resources and services.
CEN alleviates the cross-region, cross-continent connectivity issues over the public network (Internet). In terms of options for the speed, the maximum access rate between local networks can reach the port forwarding rate of the gateway device.
From the perspective of global network communication, the overall latency of CEN is significantly lower compared with the public network. Latency has always been a business turnoff for running cross-continent applications due to technical and performance constraints. This is not the case with CEN as Alibaba Cloud has low latencies.
Reason #3 – Redundancy and Disaster Recovery
Because CEN is available between any two access points due to multiple redundant links, CEN features high availability and network redundancy.
CEN can ensure the service continuity without network jitter or interruptions.
Reason #4 – Nearby Access and shortest-path Connection
One of the main advantages of CEN is that its multiple access points are deployed in more than 60 regions around the world to facilitate global access to Alibaba Cloud, enabling traffic to travel through a responsive and latency-free network.
The shortest-path algorithm of CEN recognizes efficient connections between local data centers and the Alibaba Cloud network resources. This gives CEN the ability to link cross-continent VPCs with low latencies, making it ideal for usage in business scenarios where:
- Privacy is needed
- Low latency is needed
- Flexible bandwidth is needed
Reason #5 – Systematic Management
CEN basically provides network monitoring in a systematic way. If any route conflicts caused by system changes, it will be automatically detected. This ensures stability and a highly-available network.
Wrapping Up
We took a look at the top 5 reasons to use Alibaba Cloud CEN (Cloud Enterprise Network). Those are in my particular opinion the most important reasons to use CEN. However, there are more reasons to consider such as pricing, flexible bandwidth packages, easy and fast configuration, monitoring and logging, etc.
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