The vendor evaluations in Virtual Private Cloud Software are based on 2 broad categories: strength of product portfolio and business strategy excellence. Each category carries various criteria based on which the vendors have been evaluated. The evaluation criteria considered under the strength of product portfolio include the breadth and depth of product offering (on the basis of the industries that the vendors cater to, and solution and service offerings), product feature and functionality, product branding, product differentiation and technology support, and product quality, reliability, and support. The evaluation criteria considered under business strategy excellence include effectiveness of growth strategy (on the basis of customers and revenue generation), channel strategy and fit (on the basis of the channel partners that the vendors cater to), geographic footprint (on the basis of geographic presence), breadth of application served and coverage, merger and acquisition strategy, and effectiveness of organic growth strategy. The vendors in virtual private cloud software have been placed into 4 categories based on their performance in each criterion: visionary leaders, innovators, emerging, and dynamic.

The visionary leaders in encryption software category receive high scores for most of the evaluation criteria. They have an established product portfolio and a very strong market presence.

Innovators have innovative portfolio of services and a strong potential to build robust business strategies for their business growth, to be at par with the Visionary Leaders. Moreover, a strong and dedicated direct and indirect sales channel is one of the key factors influencing the brand position of the firm.

The dynamic differentiators are established vendors with very strong business strategies. However, they have a low product portfolio. They focus on a specific type of technology related to the product.

The emerging companies have niche product offerings and are starting to gain their position in the market. They do not have much strong business strategies as compared to other established vendors. They might be new entrants in the market and require some more time before getting significant traction in the market.

VPC can be implemented by deploying software components from various cloud service providers, or end users can avail VPC form managed services providers. This eliminates vendor dependency and provides enhanced flexibility to end-users.

SOFTWARE

VPC offers the scalability and cost-effectiveness of public cloud as well as the privacy and security of private cloud

VPC uses virtual data isolation within a public cloud. It is a special implementation of a public cloud that provisions a section of public cloud infrastructure for a single user through the corporate firewall. The data within the VPC is isolated from other public cloud vendors. VPC offers the scalability and cost-effectiveness features of the public cloud along with the privacy and security features of a private cloud. The advantage is expected to increase the adoption of VPC on the public cloud over the dedicated private cloud deployments. Moreover, VPC addresses various security objections by the end-users to adopt the cloud model. It is expected to further fuel the adoption of VPC.

VPC is available as a self-provisioning model through the browser portal or can be available through a managed services provider. In the case of managed services offerings, the managed service provider manages the cloud configurations for the end-users. VPC is available both on a contract basis or a pay-as-you-go model, with inbuilt load balancing and firewall.

VPC enables compliant and isolated environment, which proves to be an ideal alternative for enterprises to extend their on-premises infrastructure to a secure cloud. It provides a secure environment for mission-critical enterprise applications as VPC can easily cater to the needs of the most demanding applications without any additional cost. VPC can be deployed for applications, such as backup and disaster recovery, and a dev-test environment. VPC is ideal for companies seeking high levels of security, privacy, and control, such as healthcare and financial organizations dealing with regulatory compliance.

SERVICES

The market of VPC solutions and services is growing, thereby driving the growth of the services associated with them. This chapter discusses the VPC market by service and its types. VPC services are crucial for an organization. Broad expertise and deep knowledge of the service providers cater to specific challenges of the end-users and help in reducing risk and complexity. The VPC services help end-users in scenarios, such as selecting the right platform, architecting a multi-cloud solution, and modernizing global operations. The cloud is complex; thus, various services aid business to accelerate their growth and innovation. Additionally, these services help managers meet their ultimate objective of improved operability, and energy and resource optimization. VPC services are divided into 4 categories, namely, training and consulting, integration and deployment, support and maintenance, and managed services.

TRAINING AND CONSULTING

Training and consulting services help in assessment, design, deployment, and optimization of cloud environment

VPC training and consulting are provided by well-qualified domain experts, industry experts, and cloud professionals. These services help in the assessment, design, deployment, and optimization of the cloud environment. They also help organizations in increasing revenues, minimizing risks, and providing optimized resource allocation. Consulting service providers guide companies in setting up new VPC infrastructure to address their specific requirements for cloud. VPC consulting services are very crucial for organizations, especially to non-IT companies, as they do not have the expertise to understand cloud technologies and improve operational efficiency.

INTEGRATION AND DEPLOYMENT

Integration and deployment services aid in streamlining adoption, improving operational efficiency, and managing disruption

Integration and deployment facilitate one-stop solutions for management, planning, designing, assembling, and integration of VPC solutions and services. These services aid in streamlining adoption, improving operational efficiency, and managing disruption. The hands-on technical consultants provide the necessary insights, expertise, and guidance to implement VPC solutions and services. These services can be tailored based on the user needs or be offered as a package with various options as per the user requirements. These services are useful for SMEs and large enterprises as well, owing to their ability to provide a one-stop solution for all needs. They provide a cost-effective and convenient way of service integration and a flexible approach toward services. They eliminate deployment-related challenges that cause disruptions in business operations by providing a hassle-free one-stop service and solution. The integration and deployment segment is growing rapidly and expected to penetrate major regions worldwide.

SUPPORT AND MAINTENANCE

Support services empower organizations to efficiently tackle end-user and technical issues

Support and maintenance include the support related to the implementation and use of solutions and are provided by VPC vendors. Support services empower organizations to efficiently tackle service requests, such as end-user issues and technical issues. Support and maintenance form an integral part of VPC implementation. These services ensure uninterrupted operations of the VPC solutions and services deployed in organizations.

MANAGED SERVICES

Managed services  help organizations increase efficiency, reduce deployment time, and save costs

Managed services providers deliver third-party infrastructure services that help organizations manage billing processes for their products and services. Managed services are focused on service quality and end-user experience while delivering speed and cost optimization. As the end-users adopt the VPC environment, managed services ensure and manage the additional operational challenges. Managed services providers take care of all related functions while organizations are only responsible for updating operating systems, installing business applications, providing business data, and configuration company policies. Managed services help organizations increase efficiency, reduce the deployment time, and save costs.

Frequently Asked Questions