The Silverlinings editorial team recently announced the finalists for our first-ever Cloud Innovation Awards. But who are the cream of the crop and why have they wound up at the top? Read more about our Automation Solutions finalists below and you'll know why they made the cut.
Before you read on, just a reminder that the Silverlinings editorial team will announce the Cloud Innovation Awards winners on December 7 at the Cloud Executive Summit, set for the Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn & Spa in Sonoma, Ca. Join us for the ceremony and also the full event. Register today and use code LIZ200 for $200 off a conference pass! (Liz is our Managing Editor and Chief Balloonatic, in case you don't know.)
And now, onto the finalists.
Here’s what you need to know about each Automation Solution finalist:
- Console Connect, CloudRouter: CloudRouter enables connectivity between different clouds and different cloud regions. Importantly for this category, it offers automation capabilities addressing Layer 1, Layer 2, Layer 3, IPX and edge connectivity as well as API integrations. The company’s solution includes access to more than 950 data center locations, over 800 mobile operators and Layer 2 and 3 connections in more than 80 cloud regions via 160+ cloud on-ramps worldwide.
According to the company, CloudRouter provides a range of use cases for enterprises who have adopted a multi-cloud strategy, enabling them to automate data backups and recovery between clouds or establish secure and fast connections to multiple SaaS providers.
It seems to be catching on. The Console Connect said in their entry they’ve seen 45% year on year growth in customers over the last 12 months.
- IBM, IBM Hybrid Cloud Mesh (NYSE: IBM): Launched earlier this year, IBM Hybrid Cloud Mesh is a multi-cloud networking solution. But again, the secret sauce is a healthy dose of automation.
Rather than spending weeks developing an app and then waiting even longer for a CloudOps team to manually set up the required connectivity, IBM Hybrid Cloud Mesh automates the process of managing application connectivity across multi-cloud environments. That means a process that used to take weeks or even months can now be completed in hours.
“As modern enterprises continue to accelerate their migration to the cloud, the applications and data they use to facilitate operations are increasingly spread not only between private and public clouds, but also amongst different SaaS and Telecom providers,” the company wrote in its entry.
“IBM Hybrid Cloud Mesh unlocks the potential of hybrid and multicloud application deployment as a networking SaaS product, designed to allow organizations to establish simple and secured application-centric connectivity, and seamless on-ramp for applications and services across heterogeneous environments.”
- Itential, Itential Automation Platform: Itential came to the game with another automation solution which aims to ease IT systems and network integration and build NetOps workflows. And it does it all in a low-to-no code format.
Its automation platform includes more than 300 ready to go integrations covering authentication, cloud, controllers and orchestrators, inventory, ITSM, notifications and messaging, SD-WAN, security, telemetry and analytics. It also offers a drag-and-drop canvas with a modular automation task library for designing orchestration workflows.
- Microsoft, Azure Operator Service Manager (NASDAQ: MSFT): This Microsoft solution is tailored for network operators, automating the process of deploying and managing complex, end-to-end, network services across hybrid cloud infrastructures.
Using the Service Manager, operators can model and orchestrate multi-vendor services; ensure security by using safe deployment practices and blast radius graphs; configure network functions using roles and templates; and tap into Azure AI and Azure Operator Insights intelligent automation and optimization.
From a practical standpoint, this means shortened timeframes for complex processes, like scaling out a 5G standalone network. With Azure Operator Service Manager, the company said this process can be measured in minutes rather than days, thereby dramatically reducing the operational expenses typically associated with installing and maintaining modern mobile networks.
Check out additional content about the Cloud Innovation Awards here:
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Silverlinings Cloud Innovation Awards: Top Changemaker finalists revealed!
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Cloud Innovation Awards Sustainability Solution finalists: Cisco, VMware, Iron Mountain
Register today for the Cloud Innovation Summit and use code LIZ200 for $200 off a conference pass!