• Extranet-as-a-service (EaaS) enables third parties to securely connect to critical business apps
• Delivered entirely as a service, Alkira EaaS enables organisations to connect customers, partners, and third parties simply and securely across even the most complex ecosystems

SAN JOSE, California – Alkira, the pioneer in agentless, multi-cloud networking, today introduced its Alkira Extranet as-a-Service offering. Alkira EaaS uses Akira’s global hyperscale cloud networking infrastructure to allow customers to instantly connect a variety of enterprise-class B2B applications and resources, establishing any mode of on-prem and cloud connectivity. As a result, enterprises can connect their customers, partners, and third parties seamlessly and safely across highly distributed IT environments and multi-cloud networks.

“Connectivity is the backbone of almost all our customers’ businesses. These organisations need their applications and services to be available 24/7 to their globally dispersed teams in order to operate on a day-to-day basis,” said Neil Dearman, HighPoint Head of Technology, UK. “Alkira’s new Extranet-as-a-Service offering ensures that our customers have access to all their mission critical apps and resources whenever they need them. By leveraging Alkira’s proven hyperscale cloud infrastructure, the solution eliminates all the slow, manual DIY processes and provides easy, on-demand connectivity.”

With the ease of Alkira EaaS, it only takes a few mouse clicks to roll out advanced B2B cloud networking capabilities, such as inserting firewall services, Day 2 troubleshooting, sharing resources with unidirectional and bidirectional traffic patterns, and more.

Building Extranets is a Cumbersome, Manual Process

Modern, highly distributed IT environments are unwieldy and difficult for even Fortune 500 companies to manage. The hardest part is connecting these sprawling environments – which include hybrid and multi-cloud deployments – into a cohesive unit. Organisations today connect these disparate IT environments and cloud networks using their own Extranet, which they manually construct and maintain. To do this, they either utilise traditional networking infrastructure (such as MPLS circuits, routers, firewalls, and other hardware) or use cloud native networking tools such as those provided by AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud.

The process is completely Do-It-Yourself and rife with risks, potential security gaps, and a lack of end-to-end visibility. Change is also difficult to accommodate, requiring re-architecting of networks and long provisioning times to react to changing business conditions or access needs. The end result is costly, time consuming, slow, and risky. Flexera’s 2023 State of the Cloud Report shows that 80% of respondents are concerned about their ability to manage access and security across multi-cloud environments, up from 72% the year before.

Alkira EaaS Makes Extranets Simple

Alkira EaaS eliminates this manual work with a solution offered fully as a service, requiring no hardware, software or agents to be installed. With Alkira EaaS, customers gain immediate end-to-end visibility and control over their entire cloud network, and the ability to scale Extranet operations anywhere in the world via Alkira’s hyperscale cloud backbone.

“To support businesses today, IT has to ensure that resources are readily available to everyone that needs them, including end users, business partners, and third parties. This is difficult to do quickly and safely in sprawling, highly distributed, modern IT environments and multi-cloud networks,” said Atif Khan, CTO and co-Founder, Alkira. “Alkira EaaS delivers all the benefits of a robust Extranet while eliminating the challenges, limitations and risks of building one manually. The technology helps enterprises accelerate M&A integrations, manage complex partner ecosystems, connect B2B applications, and deploy industry-leading security solutions.”

The offering provides the industry’s most advanced Extranet capabilities, including a diverse ecosystem of security and connectivity services that can be spun up in just a few clicks. This includes leading security solutions from industry giants like Cisco, Fortinet, and Palo Alto, as well as observability, resilience, and automation capabilities with Infoblox, Splunk, and Terraform.

Key benefits include:

• Extranet at Hyperscale: Alkira leverages the hyperscale infrastructure of the public cloud – meaning your Extranet can extend to anywhere in the world.
• Powerful Segmentation and Microsegmentation: Alkira EaaS gives customers new levels of insight, visibility, and end-to-end control over their Extranet environments with Alkira’s unmatched suite of segmentation features. Network segmentation and microsegmentation capabilities scale with an organisation’s business needs and require no cloud-native networking knowledge or implementation.
• Simple Connectivity: From network segmentation to complex shared services environments, Alkira EaaS provides the world’s most advanced B2B Extranet connectivity capabilities, all in one holistic solution.
• 100% as a Service: There is no hardware to buy, no software to license, and no virtual agents to manage. Alkira delivers the industry’s leading Extranet as-a-Service, with turnkey business outcomes, on-demand resources, and flexible consumption.

Alkira EaaS is provided via Akira’s global hyperscale cloud networking infrastructure. The solutions relies on Alkira Cloud Exchange Points (CXPs), virtualised points of presence that leverage the hyperscale infrastructure of the public cloud. Alkira CXPs virtualise and automate thousands of manual tasks associated with cloud networking, removing the need to learn or manage cloud native routing or connectivity. This enables customers to deploy, manage, and grow Extranet services immediately as needed.

Alkira Extranet-as-a-Service is available now. Learn more about the solution here.