Companies have been connecting directly to cloud providers around the world for some time, through a connection that is separate from the internet connection they subscribe to. But some companies have gone a step further, connecting directly to multiple cloud providers through a single link, essentially cutting off a major part of their internet use. For this, you need what's called a cloud exchange, which is connected to multiple cloud providers at the same time. So essentially they connect to a part of the public internet, through a dedicated private link, arguably making cloud operators a kind of highly reliable LAN resource. We spoke to Manoj Paul, Managing Director of GPX Global Systems, a large data centre company that has started to offer one such cloud exchange in Mumbai. An edited version of the interaction follows. All emphasis ours. MediaNama: What is a cloud exchange? How are they different from internet exchanges? GPX has interconnects with Google, AWS, and other cloud service providers. What happens in a cloud is when an enterprise wants to connect to these platforms, they have to do it through the internet. However, many enterprises do not like that for multiple reasons. Internet access to cloud is not secure sometimes, you don’t know if data is going securely. On top of that, access is not very reliable all the time. Some applications don’t connect unless there’s a secure and reliable connection. What we try to do is connect Paytm, Hotstar and other enterprises through dedicated lines to…
