Cloud Integration Consulting

Progent offers fast and affordable access to cloud connectivity consultants who can help your business to plan, implement, maintain, and troubleshoot hybrid information networks that incorporate Amazon AWS cloud-based services with on-premises resources as well as with additional popular clouds like Azure.

Progent's experts can help you assess the advantages and drawbacks of Amazon AWS services compared to other cloud platforms, move applications to Amazon AWS, design disaster recovery strategies that utilize Amazon AWS cloud storage technology, and resolve firewall and VPN configuration problems. Progent can provide help from Cisco-certified CCIE network experts to assist you create a resilient network architecture so your users have a consistent computing environment whether they are working from your corporate headquarters, a branch site, from home, or on the road.

Amazon is a pioneer in the public cloud computing market and is the industry's top vendor of cloud computing services. Amazon Web Services can provide a wide range of cloud-based services such as Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) for on-demand compute capacity for virtual servers, Amazon Simple Storage Service for instantly expandable high-performance storage, and Amazon Glacier for value-priced long-term backup. These Infrastructure-as-a-Service products allow organizations of any size to transfer some or all of their network infrastructure to the cloud, taking advantage of a pay-for-use model to rein in hardware costs while reducing administrative overhead and cutting the time needed to deploy new applications.

Hybrid Cloud Integration
For most organizations, utilizing public cloud products and services is assumed. The only question is how to find the appropriate trade-off between cloud-based and on-premises infrastructure. Many organizations have legacy mission-critical apps which are not easy to migrate to the cloud. Performance-driven OLTP database applications may require on-premises control to deliver maximum throughput. In addition, company culture or government and industry standards could require more direct control over certain IT resources than can be achieved with public cloud environments. In these and other cases, hybrid architectures, which combine on-premises and cloud-based infrastructure, are frequently adopted as the right network model.

To complicate things further, Amazon AWS competes with other vendors of public cloud services such as Microsoft, whose Azure products include Infrastructure-as-a-Service options as well as a Platform-as-a-Service model specially tuned for Windows-based applications. Simply put, careful evaluation is required for any business to select the appropriate cloud environment.

Progent's veteran system architects can help your company to plan and deploy a hybrid cloud environment that includes Amazon AWS so that it optimizes business value. Progent can help you with every phase of Amazon AWS migration and troubleshooting including needs analysis, preparedness evaluation, architectural design and review, pilot testing, deployment, centralized administration, performance tuning, software license management, backup/restore mechanisms, and security. Progent can provide advanced expertise with firewall configuration and VPN connections and can help you create cloud-centric or hybrid cloud environments that seamlessly integrate Amazon AWS services. Progent offers occasional expertise or deliver comprehensive project management outsourcing or co-sourcing services to help you migrate efficiently to the Amazon AWS cloud.

Key Amazon AWS Services
The Amazon AWS family of cloud-based products offers dozens of infrastructure options that address processing, primary and archival storage, databases, networking, mobility, enterprise applications, management, Internet of Things, and cybersecurity, Amazon AWS cloud services used by organizations of all sizes and for which Progent provides advanced support include:

Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud, or Amazon EC2, is a virtual server hosting product that lets you configure, expand, and administer cloud-hosted virtual servers, referred to as EC2 instances. Subscribers can commission any number of instances and you are charged just for the capacity you use. You can manage the server as well as the cluster-level features of a selection of operating systems, deploy your hosted apps, and control network access permissions. You also administer your company's own software licenses according to a Bring Your Own License (BYOL) policy. You can utilize a standard Amazon Machine Image (AMI) template and deploy a virtual server instantly or you can build a custom image that includes your apps, software libraries, data, and setup information. Amazon EC2 can scale compute resources immediately to accommodate variations in usage, avoiding the hassle of sophisticated capacity management. You can request separate geographic sites for improved resilience and you can use fixed IP addresses to work with your application environment.

Amazon Simple Storage Service, or Amazon S3, is a cloud-hosted storage service that provides low-latency storage for any volume of data. Amazon S3 expands or contracts easily and you pay only for the capacity you actually use. Amazon S3 is commonly deployed as offsite storage for disaster recovery but is also suited for high-use applications, most notably Amazon's vast commercial web site. Amazon S3's interface supports a range of storage classes intended for different use scenarios. These include Amazon S3 Standard for storage of primary data, Amazon S3 Standard-Infrequent Access for long-lived but rarely used data, and Amazon Glacier for long-term archives. You can also specify custom lifecycle parameters so your Amazon S3 data automatically and seamlessly migrates to a different storage category without requiring modifications to your apps. Amazon S3 cloud storage can be used with Amazon EC2 VM hosting or as an independent cloud service.

Amazon Glacier is a cloud storage service designed to offer low-cost archiving and long-term backup for data that is infrequently retrieved. Amazon Glacier does not offer the performance of Amazon S3 storage and is not appropriate for real-time applications. But recovery time is glacially slow and can take hours, storage costs are lower than one cent per GB each month, which is less expensive than on-premises storage. Also, you can reduce overall storage expense by defining lifecycle rules to migrate groups of Amazon S3 objects automatically to Amazon Glacier. Amazon Glacier can also assist businesses to comply with regulatory requirements for data retention by offering ultra-dependable remote archiving with features that include regular, systematic data integrity checks and self-healing functions.

How Progent's Experts Can Assist You with Amazon AWS Solutions
If you are planning to integrate Amazon’s AWS services into your business using either a cloud-centric or a hybrid cloud/on-premises model, Progent can help you evaluate the advantages of the Amazon AWS cloud platform compared to alternative public cloud products. Progent can provide expertise for every aspect of your cloud integration project including needs analysis, system design, pilot testing, deployment, administration, performance tuning, license management, and disaster recovery strategies. Progent can also provide access to certified data security experts to ensure. make sure your environment is safe and in compliance with applicable standards.

Progent can help you to identify which of your key applications are suitable for Amazon AWS and show you how to you update legacy or custom software so they can be hosted by the Amazon AWS cloud. Progent offers economical remote and onsite consulting to help you resolve occasional technical issues, or Progent can provide comprehensive project management outsourcing or co-sourcing to make sure you complete your cloud migration initiative on time and within budget.

A common technical issue encountered while extending your information system with Amazon AWS, or with any public cloud platform, is setting up secure access for different end points situated either within or outside your security perimeter. Progent offers the expertise of Cisco-certified CCIE infrastructure consultant as well as firewall configuration consultants certified by Symantec, Barracuda, WatchGuard, Check Point and others to help you set up and manage security appliances for connecting safely to the Amazon AWS cloud. Progent also offers the support of iOS technology consultants and Android configuration consultants to help you to connect smartphones and tablets for your Amazon AWS environment.

Examples of online integration services offered by Progent to help businesses integrate with the Amazon AWS cloud include:

• Propose or analyze the solution design for hybrid environments that use Amazon EC2 and S3 storage
• Configure and debug VPN connections to AWS
• Configure Cisco AnyConnect and Symantec AWS Gateway Service
• Integrate and troubleshoot firewalls from Barracuda, Symantec, SonicWall, Check Point and others
• Design, deploy, and validate backup/restore solutions integrated with Amazon S3 storage
• Build and verify AMI images for Windows or Linux VMs and applications
• Install Java utilities for AMI images
• Define, implement and test security rules
• Resolve elastic and static IP address problems
• Debug DNS and load balancing problems
• Configure NATs for datacenters and remote offices
• Create PHP routines for signing Amazon AWS requests
• Build AD LDS instances for Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud
• Provide expertise for Amazon Simple Queue Service

Additional Hybrid Cloud Integration Support Available from Progent
Progent offers support for all leading public cloud platforms and can provide fast remote access to a hybrid cloud integration consultant. Popular cloud platforms and services supported by Proegnt's experts include:

Amazon Marketplace Web Service (Amazon MWS) is an integrated collection of APIs that allows Amazon sellers to improve the efficiency of their operations by automating key sales functions including listings, orders, shipments, inbound and outbound fulfillment, and reports. By leveraging Amazon's extensive online ecosystem and automating their sales, merchants can broaden their reach, lower their cost of sales, improve reaction time to customers, and increase their bottom line. Progent's Amazon Marketplace Web Service (Amazon MWS) consultants can collaborate with your development team and provide programming, workflow integration, project management support, and mentoring to help you cut development time and speed up your return on investment.

Progent's Azure cloud integration experts can assist you with any aspect of Azure cloud integration including requirements definition, prerequisites assessment, solution architecture, pre-production testing, implementation, automated management, performance tuning, software license management, disaster recovery strategies, security policy enforcement, and regulatory compliance validation. Progent can assist you to configure and troubleshoot firewall appliances and VPN connections so your clients can securely connect to Azure-based resources, and Progent's Microsoft-certified consultants can help you set up critical Microsoft platforms to work in the cloud including Microsoft Windows Server, Exchange Server, SQL Server and Skype for Business. Progent can also assist your organization to create a hybrid ecosystem that transparently integrates on-premises datacenters with Azure-based services.

Microsoft has made a strong effort to enable transparent hybrid environments that integrate Office 365 and on-premises Exchange deployments. This permits you to have certain Exchange mailboxes located at your on-premises datacenter or private cloud and other mailboxes hosted by Office 365. Progent's Microsoft-certified Exchange consultants can assist your organization with any facet of designing, implementing and debugging your hybrid Office 365 network. Progent's Exchange specialists can deliver occasional support to help you resolve challenging technical bottlenecks and also offer comprehensive project management outsourcing or co-sourcing to ensure your hybrid Office 365 solution is successfully completed on schedule and on budget. For more information about Progent's consulting services for hybrid Office 365 and on-premises Exchange environments, visit Exchange Online integration with on-premises Exchange.

Progent's certified Office and Office 365 consultants can assist businesses of any size to incorporate Office desktop and Microsoft Office 365 applications including Office Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Outlook, Access, Project and Publisher into a seamless solution that offers fast ROI and enables improved business results. Progent can assist your company to interface Microsoft Office or Office 365 applications with each other and with additional core Microsoft technologies including SharePoint Server, Microsoft Exchange Server and Microsoft SQL Server running locally or in the cloud. Progent can also help you to resolve compatibility problems between various versions of Office and offers live online Office and Office 365 training to individuals and teams.

Progent's Google Cloud Platform integration consultants can provide affordable remote and onsite support to assist companies to move any portion of their core IT resources to Google Cloud Platform services. This can save management hassle and hardware expense and allow access to Google's state-of-the-art AI and machine learning tools. Progent can assist you with every phase of Google Cloud Platform integration including needs analysis, preparedness assessment, system design, pilot testing, deployment, administration, performance optimization, software license management, disaster recovery solutions, and security and compliance.