Best Cloud Networking Services in 2024

What are Cloud Networking Services?

Cloud Networking, also known as Virtual Cloud Networking (VCN) is an IT infrastructure that provides connectivity between applications and workloads over the cloud. The resources are distributed to organizations and employees over the cloud for seamless collaboration and can be hosted in public, private, and hybrid cloud environments. 

A virtual cloud network encompasses virtual routers, firewalls, security services, load balancers, bandwidth, virtual private networks (VPNs), and network management software.

Some common cloud networking services include virtual private clouds (VPCs) and software-defined wide area networks (SD-WANs), which can be used to manage network traffic across multiple locations that enable remote access to network resources.

How Do We Evaluate and Select the Best Cloud Networking Services for You? 

Cloud networking gives companies the capabilities, storage, and infrastructure to connect, collaborate, and share resources virtually. With the rising competition for cloud networking services, finding the right one that fits your needs can be tricky. To make your decision-making process easier, we have compared some of the best cloud networking services by analyzing their features, benefits, pricing, and usability in detail.

To compare different cloud networking services, we have assessed and evaluated features like storage, disaster recovery, technical capabilities, and compliance. We have also provided a comparison of different cloud networking services based on their subscription models and pricing. 

Types of Cloud Networking Services

Cloud networking services can be broadly categorized into public cloud, private cloud, hybrid cloud, multi-cloud, and community cloud based on how the networking services are hosted. The 5 types of cloud networking services have been discussed below: 

• Public Cloud Networking: Public cloud networks are hosted on third-party servers, databases, applications, and storage. Here, the resources are pooled between different users and organizations, reducing the total cost of setup, operational costs, and downtime. Since the networking and connectivity capabilities are distributed between multiple users, public clouds offer low data security levels. 
• Private Cloud Networking: Private cloud networks can be hosted on third-party or in-house servers, and the networking resources are accessed by a single user or organization for a higher level of security. Since the IT infrastructure is hosted for a specific organization, the cost of installation, operation, and maintenance is high in the case of a private networking cloud.  
• Hybrid Networking Cloud: A hybrid networking cloud essentially connects the public and private networking cloud systems, such that the resources can be shared between two cloud environments easily. In a hybrid cloud environment, the workload and resources can be shifted between public and private networks as per the business requirements, adding flexibility to business networking operations.  
• Multi-Cloud Networking: Multi-cloud networking environment refers to the cloud infrastructure where services from multiple public cloud providers, private clouds, or a combination of both, are being used. With the help of features like workload awareness, multi-cloud networking services provide flexibility to use the best cloud networking environments as per the changing workload and application needs.  
• Community Networking Cloud: Community networking cloud is hosted on a third-party managed server and provides networking resources to a fixed number of individuals over the internet. In the community cloud, multiple organizations share the same networking resources as per their common requirements.   

How Does Cloud Networking Services Work?

Cloud networking uses the virtualization of network components, topologies, and configurations within the physical networking infrastructure of the cloud networking service provider.  

With the use of virtualization, users can create, establish, and manage a network of virtual local area networks (LANs) and wide area networks (WANs). It enables the user to define a network of elements including virtual routers, firewalls, load balancers, and complete network architectures through software abstraction.  

By integrating cloud networking resources with the virtual private cloud (VPC), users can establish a virtual networking environment with features like internet-based remote access via a virtual private network (VPN) and a software-defined gateway. 

Best Cloud Networking Services Comparison 

Choosing the best cloud networking service providers for your business depends on the scalability, security, and networking needs of your business. In this segment, we have given a brief comparison of the best cloud networking services based on their key features and pricing:

Best Cloud Networking Services Comparison
Softwares	Features	Cloud Networking Services Price
Microsoft Azure	Computational Services, Virtual Networks, Cloud Services, Business Analytics, Mobile Services	Price On Request
Microsoft Azure VM	Machine Learning, Comprehensive Security, Virtual Machine Monitoring, Data Security, Encrypt Sensitive Data	Price On Request
Oracle Cloud	Collaboration Tools, Access Controls/Permissions, Software Development, Testing Management, Web App Development	Starting at $4
Amazon AWS	Trade capital expense for variable expense, Database Management, Migration & Transfer, Benefit from massive economies of scale, Stop guessing capacity	Price On Request
Google Cloud Platform (GCP)	Infrastructure Modernization, Databases, Application Modernization, Smart Analytics, AI & Machine Learning	Price On Request

What are the Benefits of Cloud Networking Services?

Cloud networking services are crucial for establishing a smooth connectivity between information technology (IT) devices and systems. A virtual cloud network offers various advantages, such as cloud security, flexibility, scalability, and cost efficiency.  

Let us discuss the advantages of cloud networking services in detail: 

• Secure Network Connectivity: Cloud networking services enable organizations to establish a secure software network, built on a highly secure physical network and infrastructure. By allowing organizations to access updates, deployments, and monitoring specs, cloud networking services provide scalable security to the user. Moreover, by following certain best practices in network configuration, an organization can reap maximum security benefits within a cloud networking service.  
• Management of Cloud Infrastructure: Cloud networking services make the management of cloud networks, infrastructure, and environments easier by enabling the administrator to create and define new networks and solutions or change the existing ones. Cloud networks offer advanced features such as flexible IP assignment, configuration, patching, and updating cloud networks to manage the network from any location. 
• Scalability, Mobility, and Flexibility: A cloud networking service provides easy configurations and prompt establishment of secure connections. By enabling access to resources and connections in any location over the internet, cloud networking services add scalability to the business networking process.  Organizations can use cloud networks as per their needs, and pay as they go, eliminating the high setup and installation costs associated with establishing networking infrastructure.

Must-Have Features of Cloud Networking Services

When evaluating the choice of a secure and efficient cloud networking service for your business, the security, latency, scalability, and customization flexibility can be compared and evaluated against the business needs.  

Given below are some of the crucial features that a cloud networking service must have: 

• Flexible IP Allocation: The right cloud networking service provider offers flexibility in the assignment and management of IP addresses dynamically for easy resource allocation as per business IP requirements and specific workloads.  
• Extending On-Premises Network: A must-have feature for a cloud networking service is the ability to connect the existing on-premises network to the cloud seamlessly. This is achieved by using virtual routers and gateways to connect different cloud networks with on-premises networks and tenancies.  
• Isolated Network Virtualization: By isolating the virtual network within a cloud environment, the cloud network can be safeguarded from cyber-attacks. A must-have feature of any cloud networking service is its ability to provide dedicated resources and security barriers to isolate the cloud resources on customer tenancies.   
• Network Security Zones: Safeguarding sensitive information and resources from unauthorized access or cyber threats is crucial for networking integrity. A crucial feature of any cloud networking service is the availability of various network security zones with strict access controls and policies to avoid misconfiguration errors and deploy workloads securely.  
• Disaster Recovery: Another feature to look out for when implementing a cloud network is the availability of a streamlined disaster recovery plan with features like data replication, backup, hybrid connectivity, and disaster recovery.  
• Multi-Cloud Interoperability: Connectivity and integration across multiple cloud platforms are important to enable uninterrupted cloud networking and avoid vendor lock-ins. A must-have feature influencing the choice of cloud networking service is the availability of multi-cloud interoperability options. 

How to Choose the Right Cloud Networking Services?

The choice of the right cloud networking service depends on the capabilities offered by cloud networking service providers. Here are some of the considerations to make when selecting cloud networking services: 

• Reliability and Compliance: The basic parameter for evaluating a cloud networking service is to assess the reliability and governance of the solution. This can be determined by making a checklist of risk management policies, compliance validations, technical expertise, and reputation of the cloud networking service provider.  
• Performance Efficiency: The performance efficiency of a cloud service provider depends on various factors including security, management, performance monitoring, and reporting. The organization can check for the availability of basic-level SLAs, routine performance reports, and sufficient controls for the user to monitor configurations and performance.  
• Technical Capabilities: Another factor to consider when choosing the right cloud networking service is aligning business needs with technical capabilities offered by the VCN provider. This may include ease of deployment, API standardization for the ease of building connections to the cloud, efficient change management, and hybrid cloud computing capabilities.  
• Secure Network Integrations: Security is the most important factor to consider when choosing a cloud networking service provider. Compare the security infrastructure, policies, and controls, as well as data backup and retention procedures and policies of the cloud networking service provider to ensure the integrity of cloud resources, data, and information.  

Who Uses Cloud Networking Services Software?

A streamlined cloud networking system is required in various industries for different reasons, depending on the storage, infrastructure, and networking requirements of the industry. Let us discuss how different industries leverage cloud networking services  to their advantage: 

1. Banks and Financial Institutions: Banks and financial institutions use cloud networking to store, manage, and process high volumes of data related to online transactions easily.  
2. Healthcare: Healthcare industry optimizes cloud networks for the ease of storing and accessing patient data and sharing this information easily with different stakeholders in a secure and compliant manner.  
3. Retail and e-Commerce: The retail and e-commerce industry uses cloud networking services to handle changing inventory, shipping, and customer data. Cloud networking allows retail and e-commerce organizations to consolidate systems, enabling them to easily manage high-volume customer services.  
4. Remote Collaboration: Organizations with remote teams can easily collaborate and communicate over a dynamic cloud environment by accessing various resources, applications, and data virtually.  
5. Education: Education industry also leverages the power of cloud networking to connect students and teachers globally by providing secure access to education resources.  
6. Transportation: Cloud networking services empower transportation organizations to track large datasets related to vehicle tracking, loading, scheduling, and deliveries.  
7. Manufacturing: The manufacturing industry often uses cloud networks to automate repetitive manual tasks of record-keeping data related to inventory, raw material, machinery maintenance, and so on.  
8. Start-ups and Small Businesses: Small businesses and start-ups with limited resources at their disposal use cloud networking services to get robust cloud networks without investing in high installation and maintenance costs.   

Modules of Cloud Networking Services 

Cloud networking majorly includes 5 different modules or service models, defining the service delivered to the user. Mentioned below is a detailed overview of the various cloud networking service modules: 

• Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS): IaaS provides access to cloud computing resources, such as servers, storage, and networking infrastructure to the user over the internet.  
• Platform as a service (PaaS): In the PaaS module of cloud networking, the user gets access to applications and data to the user, while the underlying server and storage are managed by the cloud networking service provider.  
• Software as a Service (SaaS): The SaaS module of cloud networking only provides user access to the software and applications while storage, applications, data, and servers are managed by the third-party cloud network provider.  
• Functions as a Service (FaaS): The FaaS module enables users to manage and execute application functions such as application development and microservice-based deployment without the need to manage complex infrastructure.  

Implementation of Cloud Networking Services 

Setting up and implementing a cloud network follows a series of steps, starting with a concise understanding of the technical capabilities that the organization requires. Enumerated below are the steps that are needed to be followed to implement a cloud networking service: 

• Preparing for cloud network implementation by determining the cloud networking requirements and ensuring the availability of VM components, including virtual switch, virtual bridge, NICs, virtual host adapter, DHCP server, and ethernet adapter.’ 
• Configuration of networks with different VPC components, dividing VPC into smaller subnets, establishing a connection between on-premises infrastructure and cloud, and configuring traffic filters to the specifications of security protocols 
• Designing the cloud network by determining network architecture, plan testing of traffic filter into deployment, and configuring your cloud network components, such as routing tables, network virtual appliances, and subnets. 
• Understand the ports and protocol requirements of applications and services: Regularly review and update your port and protocol configurations to ensure compliance and security. 
• Configure cloud network access by reviewing ports and determining what needs to be based in the cloud. Defining roles and access policies to control who can access cloud resources and what actions they can perform. 
• Establishing cloud access controls: Using network segmentation and micro-segmentation to isolate sensitive workloads and regularly updating access controls. 

How Much Does Cloud Networking Services Cost? 

The price of a cloud networking service relies on various factors including the data requirements, deployment options, integration requirements, scalability needs, and so on. Generally, cloud networking service cost follows a pay-as-you-go model, allowing scalability of resources with changing business needs.  

The starting price of cloud networking access starts at INR 250-300. Moreover, there are also free networking starter packs and demo models available for various cloud networking services with limited access to networking resources and capabilities.