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In general, analogies are dangerous things. Comparing a particular past event to something that’s happening right now could stretch credulity to the breaking point.
Discos and raves weren’t the same things, even though they both involved music. So you have to be careful, especially when comparing consumer activities to business activities. The two may not be similar at all.
The New Age of Instantaneous Transactions
Let’s take the example of internet-based sales for a moment. We’ve all pretty much accepted that certain internet-based retailers are going to charge our personal credit cards or accounts when we make a purchase of an item.
In return for that transfer of money from our lending institution to the retailer, we get a fancy new widget or hat or pajamas or our Uncle Fred gets a new leash for his Basset hound. We pay the lender later for the privilege of this fairly-instantaneous transaction.
Just a few years ago, this idea was much slower. Mail order or catalog orders took weeks or even months to fulfill, mainly because the methodology of transferring funds was clunky.
It worked, but sending a personal check or a money order via mail, where the physical item had to be moved from one place to another by actual people carrying it in their hands seems, well, old-fashioned now.
Virtual money transfer—using secure, encrypted links between retailers, lenders and people, can happen in fractions of seconds.
What are the Challenges of Managing B2B Cloud Data?
Today, we see businesses re-creating this phenomenon in B2B cloud data transfer. And, as before, the methodology of moving data can be challenging.
Often the protocols are low-level tools, constructed from scratch—scripting or programming is involved, and one-offs are common.
Automated or common processes for recovery, dev/test refresh, cold/hot data transfer are rare. It’s like the mail order world again.
Speed Up Your B2B Cloud Data Transfer with NetApp
Luckily, speedup is happening. Businesses are using common replication and restoration tools like NetApp’s SnapMirror to move data intelligently between hyperscalers (AWS, Azure, etc.), their various data centers, and other service providers.
NetApp Cloud solutions such as Cloud Volumes ONTAP and Cloud Sync are enabling efficient cloud data management and data synchronization.
Backup software vendors incorporate Snapshots into their products, allowing hardware-based copies to be made and restored in a fraction of the time. Clones of production environments can be made quickly, moved to secondary or tertiary locations, and the whole process automated.
NetApp is enabling this virtualized cloud data transfer all over the world. If your enterprise is considering moving to Amazon cloud, then time is of the essence.
Want to get started? Try out Cloud Volumes ONTAP today with a 30-day free trial.