Today we’re talking about CloudHubs, and why deploying them is the perfect network architecture strategy for companies running hybrid IT that depend on some level of cloud infrastructure or applications. In today’s chat we answer some of the following questions:

  • What are CloudHubs?
  • What are AppHubs?
  • What is the difference between CloudHubs and AppHubs?

What are CloudHubs?

A CloudHub is basically a physical presence within a carrier-neutral data center or colocation facility. An enterprise deploying a CloudHub is basically deploying resources like compute and storage, networking, or security within carrier-neutral data centers, like Equinix, or Core Site, or CyrusOne, or Digital Realty.

Once these resources are deployed, enterprises can use low latency connectivity to interconnect these communication hubs or cloud hubs, and make them a core component of their IT infrastructure.

What are AppHubs?

An AppHub is an Apcela owned and managed CloudHub. AppHubs offer a wide range of services like compute and storage, networking, security, and much more. AppHub is shorthand for an application hub, as their main goal is to accelerate application performance by bringing the applications close to the end user, and distributing the security environment.

Apcela AppHubs are deployed in 41 countries and 185 markets

What’s the Difference Between a CloudHub and an AppHub?

Think of an AppHub as a CloudHub on demand. When enterprises decide to deploy CloudHubs, they have a choice between doing it themselves, which entails:

  • Procuring racks and space from a colocation facility
  • Using the provider’s marketplace to deploy services
  • Once deployed, they then have to connect the hubs to their network
  • Once connected they must integrate them
  • And finally they must manage them on an ongoing basis

In Apcela’s AppHub model the process is streamlined and available on demand. As opposed to the requirements above, with an AppHub all enterprises need to do is:

  • Request a hub
  • That’s all. It’s deployed and integrated on demand.

An enterprise can maintain a higher level of agility by deploying these AppHubs wherever they need to deploy them. They can use an Apcela portal to request different services or products, like these compute resources, or routing and switching, security, etc.

Another cool component about the AppHubs is that they’re all interconnected in a high availability and low latency mesh network. The connectivity is already present, and enterprise can take advantage of that in any of the regions in which we operate.

Finally one of the core components of these AppHubs is that they are very strategically deployed within cloud-heavy and internet-heavy data centers. That brings the applications a lot closer to the end user, and allows companies to use these AppHubs in a cloud strategy, and as they’re moving into a distributed infrastructure, so they’re a perfect architecture approach for companies with hybrid IT and resources based in cloud infrastructure.

For more information, download Apcela’s white paper “CloudHubs and the Future of WAN Architecture.”

Contact us to learn more about how Apcela’s AppHubs can support you, or request a demo. We’re excited to show you how we can help!

How can we help? 

We love talking about software-defined networks and the cloud! Let us know if we can help by filling out the form. Cheers!