Cloud Integration Services

Progent offers quick and economical access to cloud connectivity consultants who can help your business to plan, configure, maintain, and debug hybrid information networks that combine Amazon AWS cloud-based services with on-premises datacenters as well as with additional public clouds such as Microsoft Azure.

Progent can help you assess the strengths and drawbacks of Amazon AWS cloud services compared to competing vendors, migrate applications to Amazon AWS, develop backup/restore solutions that leverage Amazon AWS cloud storage services, and resolve firewall and VPN configuration problems. Progent can provide help from Cisco-certified CCIE network consultants to assist you create a resilient network architecture so your clients have a productive experience whether they are working at your main office, a branch office, from home, or in transit.

Amazon is an innovator in the public cloud computing market and is the industry's leading provider of cloud computing services. Amazon Web Services offers a wide range of cloud-based services such as Elastic Compute Cloud for as-needed compute capacity for VMs, Amazon Simple Storage Service for instantly scalable low-latency cloud storage, and Amazon Glacier for value-priced long-term backup and archiving. These Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) products allow organizations of all sizes to transfer some or all of their IT infrastructure to the cloud, using a pay-for-use approach to rein in hardware expenses while reducing management hassle and slashing the time needed to deploy new apps.

Hybrid Cloud Integration
For most organizations, using public cloud services is assumed. The question is how to achieve the appropriate trade-off between cloud-based and on-premises infrastructure. Many organizations run legacy mission-critical applications which are not easy to adapt to a cloud environment. Performance-sensitive transaction processing database applications may call for on-premises systems to provided maximum throughput. In addition, corporate culture or government regulations could require more direct control over certain types of data than can be achieved with public clouds. In these and other cases, hybrid networks, which integrate on-premises and cloud-based infrastructure, are commonly adopted as the right network model.

To complicate things further, Amazon AWS competes with other vendors of public cloud services including Microsoft, whose Azure products include Infrastructure-as-a-Service options and also a Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) model optimized for Windows applications. Simply put, serious research and planning is needed for any organization to determine the appropriate cloud environment.

Progent's seasoned solution architects can assist you to define and configure a hybrid cloud ecosystem that incorporates Amazon AWS in a way that optimizes business value. Progent can help your IT team with every phase of Amazon AWS integration including requirements analysis, readiness evaluation, architectural design, testing, deployment, administration, performance tuning, software license management, disaster recovery mechanisms, and security. Progent can provide advanced expertise with firewall configuration and VPN access and can show you how to deploy cloud-based or hybrid cloud ecosystems that efficiently integrate Amazon AWS services. Progent offers occasional consulting or provide comprehensive project management outsourcing or co-sourcing to help you migrate efficiently to the Amazon AWS platform.

Key Amazon AWS Services
The Amazon AWS line of cloud-based products includes more than 70 infrastructure options that cover processing, primary and archival storage, databases, networking, mobility, software development, administration, IoT, and security, Amazon AWS services popular with businesses of all sizes and for which Progent offers advanced support include:

Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud, or Amazon EC2, is a virtual server hosting service that allows you to configure, scale, and administer cloud-based virtual servers, known as EC2 instances. You can commission any number of EC2 instances and you pay just for the capacity you actually use. You can control the individual virtual server and cluster-level functions of a selection of operating systems, add your hosted applications, and manage access rights. You also manage your company's own software licenses based on Amazon's Bring-Your-Own-License model. You can use an Amazon Machine Image (AMI) template and deploy a virtual server immediately or you can create your own image that includes your applications, libraries, data, and setup information. Amazon EC2 can expand or release processing capacity on demand to align with up or down spikes in workloads, avoiding the need for sophisticated capacity planning. You have the option of multiple host sites for improved resilience and you can use fixed IP endpoints to accommodate your application requirements.

Amazon Simple Storage Service, or Amazon S3, is a cloud-based storage product that offers low-latency storage for any amount of data. Amazon S3 scales easily and you are billed only for the storage you actually need. Amazon S3 is often deployed as remote storage for data protection but is also well fitted for high-use applications, most prominently Amazon's vast retail web. Amazon S3's web service interface supports a range of storage classes intended for various use cases. Examples include Amazon S3 Standard for storage of frequently accessed data, Amazon S3 Standard-Infrequent Access for persistent but infrequently used data, and Amazon Glacier for long-term archives. You can also specify your own lifecycle policies so your Amazon S3 data automatically and seamlessly moves to a different storage category without forcing you to make modifications to your applications. Amazon S3 cloud storage can be integrated with Amazon EC2 or as an independent cloud service.

Amazon Glacier is a cloud-based storage service intended to offer affordable archiving and long-term backup for data that is infrequently accessed. Amazon Glacier does not deliver the performance of Amazon S3 cloud storage and is not appropriate for real-time apps. But recovery time is slow and can take hours, storage costs are less than a penny per gigabyte each month, which is less expensive than local storage. In addition, you can cut overall storage costs by defining lifecycle rules to move sets of Amazon S3 objects automatically to Glacier. Amazon Glacier can also help businesses to comply with regulatory standards for data retention by offering highly-reliable remote backup with features like regular, systematic integrity audits and automatic self-healing capability.

How Progent Can Help You Integrate Amazon AWS Services
If you intend to integrate Amazon’s AWS services into your business using either a fully cloud-based or a hybrid architecture, Progent can help you assess the advantages of the Amazon AWS cloud platform compared to competing cloud products. Progent can help with every facet of your cloud integration project including preparedness assessment, solution design, validation testing, configuration, management, performance tuning, license management, and disaster recovery planning. Progent also offers access to certified data security experts to ensure. make sure your environment is safe and compliant with applicable standards.

Progent can assist you to determine which of your key apps are appropriate for Amazon AWS and show you how to you update legacy or custom applications so they can be hosted by Amazon AWS. Progent can provide affordable remote and onsite consulting 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 complete your cloud migration initiative on schedule and on budget.

A common issue encountered while extending your network with Amazon AWS, or with any other cloud platform, is configuring secure links for different devices situated either within or outside your corporate firewall. Progent offers the skills of Cisco-certified CCIE network consultant as well as firewall integration consultants certified by Symantec, Barracuda, SonicWall, Check Point and others to show you how to set up and administer firewalls for connecting safely to Amazon AWS services. Progent can also provide the support of iOS technology specialists and Android configuration experts to help you to set up mobile endpoints for your Amazon AWS solution.

Examples of online integration services provided by Progent to assist companies interface with the Amazon AWS cloud include:

• Plan or review the solution design for hybrid networks that use Amazon EC2 and Simple Storage Service
• Set up and troubleshoot VPN connections to Amazon AWS
• Set up Cisco AnyConnect and Symantec AWS Gateway Service
• Configure and debug firewalls from Barracuda, Symantec, WatchGuard, Check Point and others
• Plan, implement, and validate data protection solutions integrated with Amazon Simple Storage Service
• Build and test AMI images for Windows or Linux virtual servers and applications
• Set up Java utilities for Amazon Machine Images
• Define, implement and test security policies
• Resolve dynamic and static IP issues
• Resolve DNS and load balancing problems
• Set up NATs for datacenters and branch offices
• Generate PHP routines for signing Amazon AWS requests
• Build AD LDS instances for Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud
• Provide expertise for Amazon SQS

Other Hybrid Cloud Integration Services Available from Progent
Progent offers expertise in all major public cloud platforms and can provide quick remote access to a public cloud integration specialist. Popular cloud platforms and products supported by Progent include:

Amazon Marketplace Web Service is an integrated collection of APIs that enables Amazon sellers to improve the efficiency of their operations by automating key sales functions including listings, orders, payments, inbound and outbound fulfillment, and finances. By leveraging Amazon's extensive online selling environment and automating their sales, merchants can expand their reach, lower their operating costs, accelerate response time to customers, and add to their bottom line. Progent's Amazon Marketplace Web Service (Amazon MWS) developers can collaborate with your development staff and provide programming, workflow integration, project management support, and training to help you cut development time and costs and get to market quickly.

Progent's Azure cloud planning and integration consultants can assist you with any aspect of Microsoft Azure integration such as requirements analysis, prerequisites evaluation, solution architecture, pre-production testing, deployment, automated management, performance tuning, license management, disaster recovery strategies, security planning, and regulatory compliance validation. Progent can assist you to set up and troubleshoot firewalls and VPN connections so that your users can safely connect to Azure-based services, and Progent's Microsoft-certified consultants can help you set up critical Microsoft technologies to run in Azure including Windows Server, Exchange, SQL Server and SharePoint. Progent can also assist you to create a hybrid environment that transparently combines physical datacenters with Azure-based services.

Microsoft allows you to create transparent hybrid networks that integrate Office 365 and on-premises Exchange. This permits you to have certain Exchange mailboxes hosted at your physical datacenter or private cloud and other mailboxes resident on Office 365. Progent's Microsoft-certified consultants can help you with any facet of designing, integrating and troubleshooting your hybrid Exchange network. Progent's Exchange specialists can deliver as-needed expertise to help you resolve challenging technical issues and also can provide comprehensive project management outsourcing to make sure your hybrid Office 365 solution is carried out on schedule and within budget. To find out more about Progent's online consulting support for integrating Office 365 and on-premises Exchange environments, refer to Office 365 Exchange Online integration solutions with on-premises Exchange.

Progent's certified Microsoft Office and Office 365 consultants can assist companies of any size to incorporate Office desktop and Microsoft Office 365 applications such as Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Access, Project and OneNote into a seamless productivity solution that provides fast ROI and promotes better business results. Progent can help your company to integrate Office or Office 365 applications with each other and with additional key Microsoft technologies including SharePoint Server, Exchange Server and SQL Server deployed on-premises or hosted in the cloud. Progent's consultants can also assist you to resolve compatibility problems between various releases of Microsoft Office and offers customized online Microsoft Office and Office 365 training to individuals or groups.

Progent's Google Cloud Platform integration consultants can provide cost-effective remote and on-premises support to help companies to move all or part of their critical network resources to Google Cloud Platform (GCP). This can save management hassle and equipment costs and enable access to Google's cutting edge machine learning tools. Progent can help your IT team with every phase of Google Cloud Platform integration including needs analysis, readiness assessment, architectural design and review, pilot testing, deployment, centralized administration, performance optimization, licensing management, backup/restore solutions, and security.