Cloud Integration Expertise

Progent offers fast and economical access to cloud integration experts to help your business to design, implement, manage, and troubleshoot hybrid networking models that combine Amazon AWS cloud-based services with local datacenters and with other popular clouds like Azure.

Progent's experts can help you evaluate the strengths and drawbacks of Amazon AWS services compared to other vendors, move apps and infrastructure to Amazon AWS, design disaster recovery strategies that leverage Amazon AWS cloud storage services, and resolve firewall and VPN connectivity issues. Progent offers access to Cisco-certified CCIE network experts to show you how to create a resilient network infrastructure so your users have a productive computing environment whether they are working at your corporate headquarters, a branch site, at home, or on the road.

Amazon is an innovator in the public cloud computing market and is the world's leading provider of cloud services. Amazon AWS can provide a broad range of cloud-based services such as Elastic Compute Cloud for as-needed compute power for virtual servers, Amazon Simple Storage Service for dynamically expandable primary cloud storage, and Amazon Glacier for value-priced extended backup. These Infrastructure-as-a-Service products allow organizations of all sizes to move some or all of their IT infrastructure to the Amazon cloud, taking advantage of a pay-for-use approach to minimize capital costs while simplifying administrative overhead and slashing the time needed to deploy new applications.

Hybrid Cloud Integration
For the majority of businesses, utilizing public cloud services is assumed. The issue is how to determine the proper trade-off between cloud and on-premises resources. Many businesses have developed custom mission-critical applications which are tricky to migrate to the cloud. Performance-sensitive OLTP applications may call for on-premises systems to provided maximum throughput. Also, company culture or government and industry regulations may demand more direct control over key types of data than can be achieved with public clouds. Consequently, hybrid networks, which integrate on-premises and cloud infrastructure, are commonly selected as the right solution.

To make things even more complicated, Amazon AWS competes with other providers of public cloud services including Microsoft, whose Azure offerings include Infrastructure-as-a-Service options as well as a Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) model optimized for Windows environments. Basically, careful research and planning is needed for any business to determine the appropriate cloud environment.

Progent's veteran system architects can help you to define and configure a hybrid cloud environment that includes Amazon AWS so that it maximizes business value. Progent can help your IT team with every aspect of Amazon AWS migration and troubleshooting including needs analysis, readiness evaluation, architectural design, testing, deployment, administration, performance tuning, licensing management, disaster recovery mechanisms, and security and compliance. Progent can provide advanced expertise with firewall configuration and VPN access and can help you deploy all-cloud or hybrid cloud environments that seamlessly integrate Amazon AWS services. Progent offers occasional support or deliver end-to-end project management outsourcing or co-sourcing to help you move efficiently to the Amazon AWS platform.

Popular Amazon AWS Services
The Amazon AWS line of cloud-based products includes more than 70 infrastructure options that cover processing, storage, databases, analytics, mobility, application development, administration, IoT, and cybersecurity, Amazon AWS services used by organizations of all sizes and for which Progent provides advanced support include:

Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud, called Amazon EC2, is a virtual machine hosting service that lets you configure, expand, and administer cloud-based virtual machines, referred to as EC2 instances. Subscribers can commission any number of instances and you are charged only for the capacity you actually use. You can control the individual server and the cluster-level features of a selection of operating systems, add your cloud-hosted applications, and manage network access rights. You also administer your own software licenses under a Bring Your Own License (BYOL) policy. You can utilize an Amazon Machine Image (AMI) template and go online immediately or you can create a custom image that includes your applications, libraries, data, and configurations. Amazon EC2 can expand or release processing capacity immediately to align with up or down spikes in usage, avoiding the hassle of complex capacity management. You also can request separate geographic sites for high availability and you can request static IP endpoints to accommodate your application environment.

Amazon Simple Storage Service, or Amazon S3, is a cloud-hosted storage product that provides high-performance storage for any amount of data. Amazon S3 scales easily and you are billed only for the capacity you use. Amazon S3 is often deployed as offsite storage for disaster recovery but is also appropriate for high-demand applications, most notably Amazon's vast retail web. Amazon S3's interface supports a range of storage classes intended for different use cases. Examples include Amazon S3 Standard for general-purpose storage of frequently accessed data, Amazon S3 Standard-Infrequent Access for long-lived but seldomly used data, and Amazon Glacier for archival data. You can also define custom lifecycle policies so your Amazon S3 data automatically and transparently migrates to another storage category without forcing you to make modifications to your apps. Amazon S3 can be used with Amazon EC2 VM hosting or as a standalone cloud service.

Amazon Glacier is a cloud-based storage service designed to provide low-cost archiving and long-term storage for data that is rarely retrieved. Glacier does not offer the performance of Amazon S3 storage and is not suitable for online apps. Although recovery time is glacially slow and can take hours, storage costs are less than a penny per GB per month, which is less expensive than local storage. In addition, you can cut overall storage expense by defining lifecycle rules to migrate groups of Amazon S3 objects automatically to Amazon Glacier. Amazon Glacier can also help companies to meet regulatory standards for archival data by offering ultra-reliable offsite archiving with features that include periodic, systematic data integrity audits and self-healing capability.

How Progent's Experts Can Help You Integrate Amazon AWS Services
If you are planning to incorporate Amazon's AWS cloud services into your business using either a fully cloud-based or a hybrid cloud/on-premises model, Progent can help you assess the business benefits of Amazon AWS compared to alternative public cloud solutions. Progent can assist you with every aspect of your cloud integration migration including preparedness assessment, system design, validation testing, deployment, administration, performance tuning, software license management, and disaster recovery planning. Progent can also provide the help of certified data security consultants to ensure. make sure your environment is safe and in compliance with applicable standards.

Progent can assist your business to determine which of your key apps are suitable for Amazon AWS and show you how to you update legacy or custom applications so they can be hosted by the Amazon AWS cloud. Progent offers affordable remote and on-premises expertise to help you deal with occasional technical bottlenecks, or Progent can provide end-to-end project management outsourcing or co-sourcing to ensure that you execute your cloud integration initiative on schedule and within budget.

A common issue encountered while integrating your network with Amazon AWS, or with any other cloud platform, is setting up secure access for various devices located either inside or outside your corporate firewall. Progent offers the expertise of Cisco-certified CCIE network engineers or firewall configuration consultants certified by Symantec, Barracuda, WatchGuard, Check Point and others to show you how to set up and administer firewalls for accessing the Amazon AWS cloud. Progent also offers the services of iPhone and iPad technology specialists and Android configuration experts to help you to connect smartphones and tablets for your Amazon AWS environment.

Some examples of remote integration support offered by Progent to help companies interface with the Amazon AWS cloud include:

• Create or analyze the solution design for hybrid networks that use Amazon EC2 and Simple Storage Service
• Set up and troubleshoot VPN connections to AWS
• Set up Cisco AnyConnect and Symantec AWS Gateway Service
• Install and debug firewalls from Barracuda, Cisco, SonicWall, Check Point and others
• Design, implement, and validate backup and recovery solutions integrated with Amazon Simple Storage Service
• Build and test Amazon Machine Images for Windows or Linux VMs and apps
• Install Java utilities for Amazon Machine Images
• Define, configure and verify security rules
• Troubleshoot dynamic and static IP issues
• Debug DNS and load balancing problems
• Set up NATs for headquarters and remote offices
• Create PHP routines for signing Amazon AWS requests
• Create Active Directory service instances for Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud
• Help with Amazon SQS

Other Cloud Integration Services Available from Progent
Progent offers support for all leading public clouds and can provide quick remote access to a hybrid cloud integration specialist. Key cloud platforms and services supported by Progent include:

Amazon Marketplace Web Service is an integrated collection of APIs that allows Amazon sellers to streamline their business processes by automating crucial sales activities including listings, orders, shipments, inbound and outbound fulfillment, and reports. By leveraging Amazon's vast online ecosystem and automating their sales, vendors can expand their market, reduce their cost of sales, accelerate reaction time to customers, and add to their bottom line. Progent's Amazon Marketplace Web Service (Amazon MWS) consultants can collaborate with your development staff and provide programming, workflow integration, project management support, and mentoring to help you cut development time and costs and expedite your ROI.

Progent's Azure integration experts can assist you with any phase of Microsoft Azure migration including requirements analysis, readiness evaluation, system design, pre-production testing, implementation, centralized administration, performance tuning, software license management, disaster recovery preparedness, security policy enforcement, and regulatory compliance validation. Progent can assist you to set up and troubleshoot firewalls and VPN tunnels so your clients can securely access to Azure-based services, and Progent's Microsoft-certified consultants can help you set up critical Microsoft technologies to work in the cloud including Windows Server, Exchange Server, SQL Server and SharePoint. Progent can also assist you to set up a hybrid ecosystem that seamlessly integrates physical datacenters with Azure-based services.

Microsoft has made a strong effort to enable seamless hybrid ecosystems that combine Microsoft 365 Exchange Online and local Exchange. This permits you to have specific Exchange mailboxes hosted on your on-premises datacenter or private cloud and other mailboxes hosted by Microsoft 365. Progent's Microsoft-certified consulting team can assist you with any facet of planning, implementing and troubleshooting your hybrid Microsoft 365/Exchange network. Progent's Exchange specialists can provide occasional support to help you through stubborn technical problems and also offer comprehensive project management outsourcing to make sure your hybrid Microsoft 365/Exchange solution is carried out on time and on budget. To learn more about Progent's online consulting expertise for hybrid Microsoft 365 Exchange and on-premises Exchange environments, refer to Microsoft 365 Exchange Online integration with on-prem Exchange.

Progent's certified Office and Microsoft 365 consultants can help companies of any size to integrate Microsoft Office desktop and Microsoft 365 apps such as Excel, Office Word, PowerPoint, Outlook, Microsoft Access, Project and OneNote into a cohesive productivity solution that offers quick ROI and enables better business results. Progent can help your company to integrate Office or Microsoft 365 applications with one another and with additional core Microsoft platforms including SharePoint Server, Microsoft Exchange Server and SQL Server running locally or in the cloud. Progent's consultants can also help you to resolve compatibility issues with various releases of Office desktop and can provide customized online Microsoft Office and Microsoft 365 training to individuals and groups.

Progent's Google Cloud Platform planning and integration experts can provide cost-effective remote and on-premises support to help companies of any size to migrate any portion of their core network infrastructure to Google Cloud Platform (GCP). This can save time and equipment expense and allow the use of Google's state-of-the-art AI and machine learning tools. Progent can help you with every aspect of Google Cloud Platform migration and troubleshooting including needs analysis, preparedness assessment, system design and review, pilot testing, deployment, administration, performance tuning, software license management, disaster recovery solutions, and security.