Cloud Integration Consulting Services

Progent offers fast and affordable support from cloud integration experts to assist your business to plan, implement, manage, and debug hybrid information networks that combine Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud-based services with local datacenters and with additional public clouds like Microsoft Azure.

Progent can help you assess the advantages and drawbacks of Amazon AWS cloud services relative to competing vendors, move apps and infrastructure to Amazon AWS, develop backup/restore solutions that leverage Amazon AWS cloud storage services, and troubleshoot firewall and VPN connectivity issues. Progent can provide access to Cisco-certified CCIE networking experts to show you how to create a resilient network architecture so your clients have a consistent experience regardless of whether they are working at your corporate headquarters, a branch office, from home, or on the road.

Amazon is a pioneer in the cloud arena and is the industry's top provider of cloud computing services. Amazon AWS can provide a wide range of cloud services such as Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) for as-needed compute power for VMs, Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) for instantly scalable primary storage, and Amazon Glacier for economical long-term backup and archiving. These Infrastructure-as-a-Service solutions allow businesses of all sizes to transfer some or all of their IT infrastructure to the Amazon cloud, taking advantage of a pay-for-use approach to rein in hardware costs while reducing administrative overhead and shortening the time required to roll out new applications.

Hybrid Cloud Integration
For the majority of businesses, utilizing public cloud services is a given. The issue is how to find the right balance between cloud-based and local infrastructure. Many organizations run legacy line-of-business apps which are tricky to adapt to the cloud. Performance-sensitive transaction processing applications may call for local hardware configurations to deliver the highest possible throughput. In addition, corporate culture or government standards may require more direct control over key types of data than can be achieved with public clouds. Consequently, hybrid networks, which combine on-premises and cloud-based resources, are often selected as the right solution.

To complicate things further, Amazon AWS competes with other vendors of public cloud services including Microsoft, whose Azure products include Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) options as well as a Platform-as-a-Service model optimized for Windows-based applications. Basically, serious evaluation is required for any organization to select the right cloud environment.

Progent's seasoned system designers can assist you to define and deploy a hybrid cloud ecosystem that includes Amazon AWS in a way that optimizes business value. Progent can help you with every aspect of Amazon AWS migration and troubleshooting including requirements analysis, preparedness assessment, system design, testing, configuration, centralized administration, performance tuning, software license management, backup/restore mechanisms, and security and compliance. Progent offers advanced expertise with firewalls and VPN connections and can show you how to deploy cloud-centric or hybrid cloud networking models that seamlessly integrate Amazon AWS resources. Progent can provide as-needed consulting or deliver end-to-end project management outsourcing or co-sourcing to help you move smoothly to the Amazon AWS platform.

Key Amazon AWS Cloud Services
The Amazon AWS line of cloud services includes dozens of infrastructure options that address processing, primary and archival storage, databases, analytics, mobility, application development, management, Internet of Things, and cybersecurity, Amazon AWS services used by businesses of any size and for which Progent provides comprehensive support include:

Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud, called Amazon EC2, is a virtual server hosting product that allows you to provision, scale, and manage cloud-based virtual machines, referred to as EC2 instances. Subscribers can deploy any quantity of instances and you are charged just for the resources you use. You can control the individual VM and the cluster-level functions of a selection of operating systems, deploy your cloud-hosted applications, and manage network access rights. You also administer your company's own software licenses under a Bring-Your-Own-License policy. You can use a standard Amazon Machine Image (AMI) template and deploy a virtual server instantly or you can create your own image that incorporates your apps, software libraries, data, and configurations. Amazon EC2 can scale processing resources on demand to accommodate up or down spikes in usage, avoiding the hassle of complex capacity management. You also can specify separate geographic locations for high availability and you can request fixed IP addresses to work with your application environment.

Amazon Simple Storage Service, called Amazon S3, is a cloud storage service that offers low-latency storage for any volume of data. Amazon S3 scales dynamically and you pay only for the capacity you actually utilize. Amazon S3 is commonly implemented as remote storage for disaster recovery but is also suited for high-use applications, most prominently Amazon's vast retail web. Amazon S3's interface can handle a range of storage types meant for various use cases. Examples include S3 Standard for general-purpose storage of primary data, Amazon S3 Standard-Infrequent Access for long-lived but seldomly accessed data, and Amazon Glacier for archival data. You can also define your own lifecycle policies so your Amazon S3 data automatically and transparently migrates to another storage class without requiring modifications to your apps. Amazon S3 cloud storage can be used with Amazon EC2 or as a standalone cloud service.

Amazon Glacier is a cloud-based storage service intended to offer low-cost archiving and long-term backup for data that is infrequently retrieved. Amazon Glacier does not deliver the low-latency of Amazon S3 cloud storage and is not suitable for online applications. But restore time is glacially slow and can take hours, storage costs are lower than a penny per gigabyte per month, which is less expensive than local storage. Also, you can reduce overall storage expense by specifying lifecycle rules to migrate groups of Amazon S3 objects automatically to Amazon Glacier. Amazon Glacier can also assist companies to comply with regulatory standards for data retention by offering highly-reliable offsite backup with features like periodic, automatic integrity checks and self-healing functions.

How Progent's Experts Can Help You Integrate Amazon AWS Services
If you intend to incorporate Amazon's AWS services into your information network using either a cloud-centric or a hybrid cloud/on-premises architecture, Progent can help you assess the advantages of the Amazon AWS cloud platform vs. alternative cloud solutions. Progent can help with every phase of your cloud integration migration including needs analysis, system design, feasibility testing, deployment, management, performance optimization, software license management, and disaster recovery planning. Progent also offers access to certified data security consultants to ensure. make sure your environment is safe and compliant with government and industry regulations.

Progent can assist you to determine which of your critical apps are suitable for Amazon AWS and show you how to you upgrade legacy or custom applications so they can be migrated to the Amazon AWS cloud. Progent offers economical online and onsite expertise to help you deal with occasional technical issues, or Progent can provide end-to-end project management outsourcing or co-sourcing to make sure you execute your cloud migration initiative on time and within budget.

A typical technical issue encountered while extending your information system with Amazon AWS, or with any other cloud, is setting up secure access for various end points located either within or outside your security perimeter. Progent can provide the skills of Cisco-certified CCIE network consultant as well as firewall configuration consultants certified by Symantec, Barracuda, SonicWall, Check Point and others to show you how to set up and manage security appliances for accessing Amazon AWS services. Progent also offers the support of iPhone and iPad technology specialists and Android integration consultants to assist you to connect mobile endpoints for your Amazon AWS environment.

Some examples of remote integration services available from Progent to help businesses interface with the Amazon AWS cloud include:

• Plan or review the system architecture for hybrid environments that use Amazon EC2 and S3 storage
• Integrate and troubleshoot VPN connections to AWS
• Deploy Cisco AnyConnect and Symantec AWS Gateway Service
• Integrate and debug firewalls from Barracuda, Cisco, SonicWall, Check Point and others
• Design, implement, and test backup/restore systems integrated with Amazon Simple Storage Service
• Create and test Amazon Machine Images for Windows or Linux VMs and apps
• Install Java tools for Amazon Machine Images
• Specify, configure and verify security rules
• Troubleshoot dynamic and static IP address problems
• Troubleshoot DNS and load balancing issues
• Configure NATs for datacenters and remote sites
• Write PHP routines for signing AWS requests
• Build Active Directory instances for Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud
• Provide expertise for Amazon Simple Queue Service

Additional Cloud Integration Support Services Offered by Progent
Progent offers expertise in all major public cloud platforms and can provide fast online access to a public cloud integration specialist. Popular public cloud platforms and services supported by Progent include:

Amazon Marketplace Web Service (Amazon MWS) is a library of APIs that allows Amazon sellers to streamline their operations by automating crucial sales functions including listings, orders, payments, inbound and outbound fulfillment, and reports. By tapping into Amazon's vast online selling environment and automating their sales, merchants can expand their reach, lower their cost of sales, accelerate response time to customers, and add to their bottom line. Progent's Amazon Marketplace Web Service consultants can work with your development team and provide programming, workflow integration, project management support, and training so you can cut development time and speed up your return on investment.

Progent's Azure cloud integration experts can assist you with every stage of Microsoft Azure migration such as needs definition, prerequisites evaluation, solution architecture, pre-production testing, deployment, automated management, performance tuning, software license controls, disaster recovery preparedness, security planning, and regulatory compliance assessment. Progent can assist you to set up and debug firewalls and VPN connections so that your clients can safely access to Azure services, and Progent's Microsoft-certified consulting experts can help you integrate key Microsoft technologies to run in the cloud including Windows Server, Exchange Server, SQL Server and SharePoint. Progent can also assist you to create a hybrid ecosystem that seamlessly combines physical datacenters with Azure-based services.

Microsoft has made a strong effort to enable seamless hybrid ecosystems that combine Microsoft 365 and local Exchange. This permits you to have certain mailboxes located on your on-premises datacenter or private cloud and other mailboxes resident on Microsoft 365. Progent's Microsoft-certified consultants can assist your organization with any phase of planning, implementing and debugging your hybrid Microsoft 365/Exchange solution. Progent's Exchange consultants can provide as-needed expertise to help you through challenging technical issues and also offer extensive project management outsourcing or co-sourcing to make sure your hybrid Microsoft 365/Exchange solution is completed on time and on budget. To find out more about Progent's online consulting services for hybrid Microsoft 365 Exchange and on-prem Exchange environments, go to Exchange Online integration solutions with on-premises Exchange.

Progent's Microsoft Office and Microsoft 365 experts can assist businesses of any size to integrate Microsoft Office desktop and Microsoft 365 applications including Excel, Office Word, PowerPoint, Microsoft Outlook, Access, Project and OneNote into a seamless productivity solution that offers fast ROI and promotes improved business outcomes. Progent can assist your company to integrate Microsoft Office or Microsoft 365 apps with one another and with other core Microsoft technologies including SharePoint Server, Exchange Server and Microsoft SQL Server deployed locally or in the cloud. Progent can also help you to fix compatibility issues between different versions of Office desktop and can provide customized online Office and Microsoft 365 instruction to individuals or groups.

Progent's Google Cloud Platform planning and integration consultants offer cost-effective online and onsite support to assist businesses to move any portion of their core network resources to Google Cloud Platform services. This can save management hassle and hardware costs and allow the use of Google's state-of-the-art machine learning technology. Progent can help your IT team with every aspect of Google Cloud Platform migration and troubleshooting including requirements analysis, preparedness assessment, system design, pilot testing, configuration, administration, performance tuning, software license management, backup/restore mechanisms, and security strategies.