Maybe there's something to Microsoft's "cloud first, mobile first" message, as AT&T aims to establish itself in the cloud in a "mobile-first" world.
As mobile devices rise in power and increase the mobility of productivity, businesses are relying more on tablets and smartphones to power workforces. Businesses have been timid in moving data off campus and into cloud platforms, but the affordability of private hosting services and secure connections to data stores is starting to win over the masses.
AT&T has been eyeing this evolution of business to a "mobile first" environment, says Ralph de la Vega, the head of AT&T's mobile and business solutions business. De la Vega says servers and networking capabilities are the company's future.
"All of the corporate connectivity is going from desktop computers to smartphones and tablets," said de la Vega. "We're looking at an environment where the business mode of operation is changing to 'mobile first.' "
The Bell Telephone Company descendant has partnered up with Amazon to route virtual private network (VPN) connections through the online retailer's cloud services. Amazon Web Services (AWS) will serve as another endpoint for AT&T's NetBond, adding to a swelling list of cloud platforms to which enterprise users can securely connect. NetBond is what AT&T calls its network-enabled cloud service.
"The addition of AWS broadens AT&T's already expansive NetBond ecosystem and will give customers highly secure, reliable, and on-demand connections to another key public cloud service provider," said Melanie Posey, research vice president at IDC. "This pairing of AT&T's VPN with AWS's leading cloud platform will likely serve as a game changer for enterprises, prompting accelerated adoption of cloud services."
Like any VPN worth its salt, NetBond forces customer traffic along a secure, encrypted route to and from trusted servers, helping customers avoid distributed denial-of-service and man-in-the-middle attacks.
AT&T estimates businesses can save up to 60 percent by switching to NetBond and enjoy a 50 percent boost in performance. And because the deal with Amazon brings support to the back end of the NetBond service, customers don't have to make any changes to enjoy the benefits of more servers.
"Our customers want the computing power and cost-efficiency that cloud services deliver with the best security and performance," said Jon Summers, senior vice president of AT&T Mobile & Business Solutions. "AWS's extensive portfolio combined with AT&T'"s NetBond offers them the best of both worlds. Our customers will have VPN performance, full cloud networking automation, and flexible and secure bandwidth when accessing AWS cloud services."
