Managing Connectivity Across the Cloud: Google Has an AnswerManaging Connectivity Across the Cloud: Google Has an Answer

Managing connectivity for a mix of cloud and on-prem applications can be tricky, often requiring network admins to hop from one dashboard to another to ensure everything is running in tip-top shape. To simplify this, Google yesterday revealed a consolidated management dashboard, Network Connectivity Center, along with an expanded SD-WAN partnership with Cisco.

Google Cloud and Cisco announced the co-branded Cisco SD-WAN Cloud Hub with Google Cloud last April, with a goal of reducing the complexity of deploying a hybrid cloud by enabling applications and networks to share service-level agreements, security policies, and compliance data automatically, as Zeus Kerravala, an analyst with ZK Research, wrote for No Jitter at the time. Now, with the extended partnership, enterprises can leverage the joint solution to connect branch sites and on-prem data centers to the cloud using Google’s global cloud infrastructure and Cisco SD-WAN’s vManage from within Network Connectivity Center, Google said.

Separately, Cisco announced the first phase of Cisco SD-WAN Cloud Hub with Google Cloud is a part of the Cisco SD-WAN 17.5 release, in preview. Additionally, enterprises will be able to leverage Cisco Cloud OnRamp to automate backend processes and intelligently provision site-to-site connectivity, for extension of the SD-WAN fabric into the Google Cloud, Cisco said.

Phase two of the Cisco SD-WAN Cloud Hub with Google Cloud, planned for summer availability, will enable intelligent and real-time telemetry exchanges with all Google Cloud multicloud applications, Cisco said.

Besides SD-WAN, the Network Connectivity Center will bring together other on-prem and cloud networks, interconnects, and VPNs in a single management pane, Google said. Additionally, network admins can use Network Connectivity Center to monitor the performance of these networks and connections in real-time, Google said. Network Connectivity Center is available in preview, Google said.