IPC cites Hybrid Cloud as key step towards business success

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Local cloud and data center services pioneer IPC (IP Converge Data Services, Inc.) believes that Hybrid Cloud setups, a combination of public cloud infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) and physical hardware-driven systems, are key business growth strategies, especially for medium to large enterprises that already have operational IT systems in place.

Businesses of today face challenges that not only dampen growth but moreso threaten their very survival. As the digital age forces companies to rely heavily on ICT (information and communications technology), business processes are changing and IT systems have become mission-critical, thus compelling CTOs to seek IT infrastructure options that bring high systems availability without breaking the bank or getting into a fight with the CFO.

A Hybrid Cloud configuration involves the use of public cloud resources combined with hosted physical machines to run and maintain specific systems for an organization. There are companies that would like to take advantage of the cloud but would also like to maintain data or applications using their own physical resources. This setup is a viable solution to a slew of business concerns, i.e. maintain control over a particular component or set of data within a system, backup and disaster recovery, security or compliance issues, and data sovereignty. In addition, the public cloud components allow companies to scale up or down as needed and pay only for what is used.

According to IPC’s director for product management & marketing Niño Valmonte, a hybrid approach enables companies to maintain control of an internally managed private cloud while relying on the public cloud as needed. Though they operate independently, they can be setup to communicate over an encrypted internet connection in order to fulfill specific tasks.

For instance, during peak periods in the retail industry such as the holidays, applications, or even portions of applications of an order entry system can be migrated to the public cloud, thus providing more stability. This will also allow for more flexibility and scalability.

“IPC is in the best position to help companies achieve a hybrid cloud setup that is efficient, secure and effective, being both a highly experienced Internet data center operator and pioneer cloud IaaS provider in the country,” Valmonte said. “We leverage our state-of-the-art data center facilities and robust network infrastructure to provide the entire spectrum of IT infrastructure solutions ranging from data center co-location, hosted private cloud infrastructure, hybrid cloud, virtual private cloud, and public IaaS.”

On the rise

Ease of use and customization possibilities are key drivers for businesses shifting to hybrid cloud setups. A study by the International Data Corporation (IDC), revealed that over 70% of enterprises in Southeast Asia are integrating hybrid cloud in their IT strategy. According to IDC, enterprises realize that adopting hybrid cloud is important to reduce cost and achieve business transformation, agility and scalability.

“2016 will be a big year for solutions built on hybrid cloud architectures with 65% of Asia Pacific enterprises to commit for its implementation,” said Chris Morris, Vice President, Cloud and Services, IDC Asia/Pacific.

IDC believes that the big drivers for increased implementation of hybrid clouds are IT’s continuing quest for optimized infrastructure, and the ability of solution builders to source application and infrastructure components from multiple providers to construct a hybrid cloud-based solution.

“With increasing cloud spending, many enterprises will have begun use of hybrid solutions without direct involvement. With the business unit managers increasingly buying their own cloud solutions, hybrid cloud architectures can proliferate, and sometimes not be aligned with the enterprise architecture,” added Morris.

Another study, made by Frost & Sullivan, shows that Hybrid IT is the “new normal” for companies in the Asia-Pacific. “At their core, successful hybrid cloud strategies support the delivery of high-value applications and services to the business, while at the same time driving cost and inefficiency out of the IT infrastructure,” the report said.

Hybrid cloud environments are becoming more popular in the marketplace, as they enable IT to remain flexible and respond quickly to market demands, as well as providing lines of business with the resources they need to succeed. Additionally, cloud users recognize that different workloads or applications perform optimally in differently configured environments: configurations that work well for one application or workload may not work for another. And many workloads share data that is drawn from different sources outside of where the application itself resides. As such, businesses are integrating a variety of infrastructures to create a complete, hybrid cloud environment.

Boosting digital shift

“Adopting a hybrid cloud strategy is definitely key to boosting digital transformation. It allows companies to utilize the cloud for scalability while keeping critical data and processes in check whether in their offices, or colocated in IPC Data Center. This way, companies enjoy a highly flexible and customizable IT environment,” added Valmonte. “Digital is the New Normal, and the time to make the digital pivot is now.”

According to Gartner, digital transformation has become a key factor in future business growth and success, and the latter will be defined by how well companies, organizations, and governments leverage the technology to enable partner and customer engagement across a wide range of digitized processes. 

IPC, through its carrier-grade, telco-neutral data centers, provides highly secure colocation services as well as its IaaS product, IPC CloudServers, or a hybrid setup that involves both. With expertise in the full range of IT infrastructure implementations, IPC is able to efficiently assist businesses in setting up their own hybrid systems. 

Learn how IPC’s infrastructure-as-a-service can solve real life business problems at cloud.ipc.ph.

About IPC

IPC (IP Converge Data Services, Inc.) is an Internet data center, telecommunications and cloud services company, providing local and regional enterprises with managed data services and business solutions at international standards. Certified with ISO 9001:2008 Quality Management Systems and ISO 27001:2013 Information Security Management Systems, the foundation of IPC's business is customer satisfaction, ensured through high-quality on-time service delivery, best practices, and a personalized, "boutique" approach to clients. IPC is an ePLDT company.

To know more about us, visit www.ipc.ph, Like us on Facebook, and Follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, Instagram, and YouTube.

IPC upholds enterprise digitization at 2016 Philippine Cloud Summit

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​​​Local cloud computing pioneer IPC (IP Converge Data Services, Inc.) called on enterprises to pivot to digitization at the 2016 Philippine Cloud Summit held Wednesday (June 29) at the SMX Convention Center at SM Aura Premier, BGC, Taguig. The event, dubbed “IoT: The Pinnacle of Digital,” showcased the global shift towards a digital mindset, fueled by the growing use of the Internet of Things (IoT).

PH Cloud Summit. Local cloud computing pioneer IPC (IP Converge Data Services, Inc.), an ePLDT company, hosts this year’s 2016 Philippine Cloud Summit. IPC President Reynaldo R. Huergas (in photo) opens the discussion dubbed as “IoT: The Pinnacle of Digital” that showcased the global shift towards a digital mindset, fueled by the growing use of the Internet of Things (IoT).

“Digitization itself has changed. By definition, it used to refer to business tools that drive operational efficiencies. Today, it is more than that. Digital is a frame of mind that allows organizations to create and engage markets in a disruptive manner and redefine the economy,” said Reynaldo R. Huergas, IPC President.

This is supported by recent data about IoT spending. In the Philippines, latest estimate (of Frost and Sullivan put the spending) at $55.1M in 2014, growing to $766.8M in 2020, an annual spending growth of around 55 percent for six straight years. Huergas noted, “This could still be larger; it is possible that local enterprises are not yet sold to the value of IoT or find the service risky in light of high-profile hacking incidents. But all of that, we believe, will be dispelled.”

King-Yew Foong, Research VP and Chief of Research for Communications Service Providers at Gartner, an information technology research and advisory company, made a bold prediction that in the next 30 years, changes will be more dramatic that they will surpass the changes of the past 300 years. He stressed that enterprises have to continuously innovate to sustain their growth, citing industries such as insurance and automotive as early adopters of IoT globally.

According to Foong, among the benefits that enterprises will get from embracing IoT are the reduction of operating costs, capability to provide a differentiated customer experience, and finding new business models and income streams. But while these are attractive enough, adopting an IoT ecosystem has its fair share of challenges, including but are not limited to cybersecurity, integration, and unclear business benefits. For Foong, it is imperative to educate all stakeholders and to choose the right IoT partner for it to take off in a big way.

Speakers in the afternoon breakout sessions were from CloudSigma, Nexusguard, Imperva Incapsula, CR8V Web Services, Salesforce, Time Doctor, PLDT Enterprise, PayMaya, and FireEye.

Apart from bringing together an elite lineup of speakers to tackle various aspects of enterprise IT, IPC also formally launched at the event the Cloud Community of the Philippines (CloudComPH), a vendor-agnostic community for cloud users and enthusiasts. According to IPC, it will serve as a venue for the sharing of ideas and best practices, whether technical or operational, among individuals who build, develop, maintain, and use cloud computing infrastructure, platforms, and applications in the country.

While IoT is still continuously developing, experts claim that it is here to stay. As digital is the new norm for enterprises and beyond, the cost of doing it is still a lot less than the cost of not doing it. Pivot or perish, as they say.

IPC expands global footprint, joins NTT Communication's Nexcenter™ network of data centers

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Local data center operator and pioneer cloud services provider IPC (IP Converge Data Services, Inc.) recently announced that its flagship Internet data center facility located in Parañaque City has been accredited as one of Nexcenter™ network of data centers provided by NTT Communications (NTT Com). The accreditation, achieved through a partnership between NTT Com and IPC’s holding company ePLDT, Inc. (the digital enterprise enabler of the PLDT Group), strengthens IPC’s position as a world-class Internet data center operator, providing data center services to customers in international territories.

“Our new status as a Nexcenter-accredited facility brings IPC to the next level. It is a testament to the world-class quality of our facilities and services. Like over 140 data centers around the world, IPC Data Center - Parañaque features fully redundant services, designed to withstand calamities such as earthquakes and typhoons, and employs several layers of security similar to that of NTT Com’s own data centers,” stated IPC President Rene Huergas.

NTT Com is the leading global provider of information and communications technology (ICT) solutions within the NTT Group (NYSE: NTT), a Fortune Global 100 company. Nexcenter™ is NTT Com’s global data center service brand lauded for its unmatched reliability, as well as scalability and cost-efficiency. For two consecutive years, NTT Com has been awarded the Asia Pacific Data Center Service Provider of the Year by Frost & Sullivan, and has a number of other accolades under its belt.

To be recognized as part of Nexcenter™, IPC had to ensure compliance with the strict standards of NTT Communications, the global leading provider of state-of-the-art data centers that combine cloud, network security, and managed services providing streamlined and seamless ICT environment to its users. IPC data centers employ consistently reliable operational procedures, making them a logical choice to be part of Nexcenter™.

“Since we launched the Nexcenter™ brand in 2013, we have been providing companies worldwide with state-of-the-art, full-featured, and highly scalable data centers. In order to maintain this quality of service, we seek to partner only with the best data center operators. We’re pleased to say that IPC, with its highly-secure, purpose built data center in Parañaque, proved to be an excellent addition to our global network,” said Yuichiro Iwahashi, senior manager for cloud services at NTT Com.

As IPC Data Center - Parañaque becomes part of Nexcenter™, it is able to leverage on NTT Com’s network and resources, boosting its lineup of offerings to companies and potential customers. This once again sets IPC apart from the rest of its peers in the industry, as it makes its mark globally via another global leader in data center service.

“The Nexcenter™ accreditation of IPC Data Centers will support our objective of providing our customers with safe and secure managed services as they seek to expand their respective businesses around the globe. We fully intend to help them grow via our services for colocation, data and network security, and disaster recovery and business continuity. These, coupled with our other cloud products, DDoS mitigation service, and robust Internet connectivity, we believe we have the essentials covered,” concluded Huergas. 

Last year, IPC was accredited by Alderney Gambling Control Commission, the world-renowned eGambling regulator based in the British Channel Islands, as one of the jurisdiction’s Internet data center and managed services providers. This made IPC the only Asian data services company to have earned said accreditation.

To know more about IPC’s data center facilities, visit www.ipc.ph.

DDoS attacks growing in scale, span, and reach – IPC

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DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attacks continue to increase dramatically, threatening websites and businesses globally, according to a study cited by IPC, the country’s pioneer DDoS Mitigation service provider.

The study conducted by IPC’s DDoS Mitigation partner Imperva Incapsula, entitled Global DDoS Threat Landscape Q4 2015, used data from 3,997 network layer and 5,443 application layer DDoS attacks mitigated by Incapsula from October 1 to November 29, 2015.

A DDoS attack is a costly form of cyber crime where a large volume of malicious traffic is flooded into a website, causing it to crash. This is a planned and coordinated attack to disrupt the normal function of a website.

According to the study, the United States, United Kingdom, and Japan are the top 3 targeted countries. Furthermore, UK-based and Japan-based sites saw a 20.7 percent and 7.4 increase in attacks, respectively.

“DDoS is a serious online crime that cannot be ignored. It warrants a definitive course of action from highly-skilled professionals trained in this type of cyber war,” stated IPC President Rene Huergas. He added that the Incapsula report is a clear indication of how DDoS poses a formidable threat to businesses in any industry worldwide, including the Philippines. 

In the study, it was revealed that there were changes in the DDoS attack patterns during the last quarter of 2015 and a surge in the use of DDoS-for-hire services. A 25.3 percent increase from the previous quarter in terms of frequency of network layer attacks was also recorded.

The longest application layer attack—to date—lasted for over 101 days. The target was a U.S.-hosted website registered to a small catering business. Moreover, a 325Gbps network layer attack, one of the largest to ever be documented, occurred in mid-December 2015.

“Business leaders and entrepreneurs must be vigilant against these attacks, which can cause damage to their companies’ coffers. As what the report stated, the perpetrators are finding new ways to infiltrate websites and crash these on purpose,” Huergas pointed out. 

Cyber crimes on a larger scale can take its toll on a country where there is a growing need for companies to go online to reach a bigger target market. A recent example is when the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) website was defaced by hackers claiming to be from Anonymous Philippines. As the group turned the NTC page black, they posted their grievances over the state of Philippine Internet. The attack went viral immediately, not only bringing to the public’s attention the group’s cause but exposing the vulnerability of the website of a government agency.

Aside from the government, most businesses in the retail and financial industries in the Philippines have online presence. E-commerce, for one, continues to thrive, attracting customers who spend a lot of time online. Some of these e-commerce sites have advertised aggressively, spending millions for production and tri-media (TV, print, and radio) placements, proof that e-commerce is an emerging industry.

Aside from this, most decision makers recognize the importance of going digital to grow their business. Indeed, there is a need for effective online safeguards and security measures to prevent DDoS attacks.

The solution to counter these attacks is a sound DDoS mitigation strategy. IPC is the first and only DDoS Mitigation provider in the Philippines to feature in-country data scrubbing for local enterprises and institutions. The facility uses state-of-the-art equipment, manned by mitigation specialists so customers are assured of protection from looming attacks.

“The latest Incapsula study is very useful in disseminating information on the dangers of DDoS attacks. We at IPC have consistently been creating awareness about the existence of this cyber crime in the interest of the public and specifically, the business community,” said Huergas. 

IPC is the exclusive partner of Imperva Incapsula in the Philippines since November 2015. Imperva Incapsula is a leading data and security solutions company that protects business entities in the cloud and on-premises. It was ranked number one by Top Ten Reviews in DDoS Protection Services.

Additional information on IPC’s DDoS Mitigation services is available at www.ipc.ph/network/ddos-mitigation/.