CONCEPT OF LAN NETWORKING

A LAN that we usually know is a network of interconnected devices within a LIMITED geographic area, such as an office building, school, or home.

These devices are Computers, Printers, Servers (Switch, Router), and other networked device (Network Interface Cards)

LAN – At Its Best in 2024

Local Area Network (LAN) create room for local file sharing, printer sharing, networked gaming, video streaming, and collaboration tools within organizations and households amongst others.

This is huge Limitations to the demands of the digital age economy.

MEANING OF CLOUD NETWORKING 

Cloud networking refers to the use of cloud-based infrastructure and services to facilitate communication, sharing and exchanging of DATA between devices and applications over the internet.

Cloud Networking – At Its Best

It extends network infrastructure and services over the internet, offering a wide range of benefits for modern organizations at different locations with its MODELS; IaaS, PaaS and SaaS

Major Differences of LAN Networking and CLOUD Networking

• Scope Coverage:  LAN – Operates within a limited geographical area, such as a single building, campus, or office space

WHILE Cloud Networking – Seamless interaction over the internet, connecting resources and users on a global scale dispersed locations

• Ownership and Control: Traditional LAN – Operated and controlled by a single organization or entity, allowing for direct management and customization of network infrastructure

WHILE Cloud Networking – control is shared between the organization and the cloud provider, with varying levels of customization depending on the service model

• Infrastructure: Local Area Network – Relies on physical hardware components as mentioned above deployed on-premises within the organization’s premises

WHILE Cloud Networking – Utilizes virtualized infrastructure hosted in data centers, operated by cloud providers with resources provisioned and managed remotely over the internet. Its hardware resources are abstracted from users.

• Security and Compliance: LAN – Security controls and compliance measures are primarily managed by the organization’s IT team with direct control over access policies, encryption, and data protection mechanisms

WHILE Cloud Networking – Security and compliance responsibilities are shared between the organization and the cloud provider, with providers offering robust security features, compliance certifications, and data protection measures.

Challenges of the Traditional LAN Networking

1. Traditional LAN setups often face limitations in scalability, that is accommodating growing numbers of devices and users may not be feasible. To add new device(s) or expanding the network infrastructure may require unplanned investments in hardware upgrades or reconfiguration.
2. Managing and maintaining a traditional LAN infrastructure can be resource-intensive and time-consuming. The maintenance overhead can increase as the network grows in size and complexity.
3. Limited Accessibility: Traditional LANs are typically confined to a single physical location or premises, restricting access to network resources for remote users or distributed. This limitation can hinder collaboration, productivity, and flexibility, especially in modern work environments where remote work and mobile devices are increasingly common.
4. It setups often rely on centralized hardware components such as switches or routers, which can act as single points of failure. If either of them fails, it can disrupt communication and access to network resources for all connected devices, leading to downtime and productivity losses.
5. Implementing redundant hardware, backup links, and failover mechanisms to mitigate the risk of network outages requires additional investment and maintenance efforts. Also, to achieve seamless failover and recovery processes in case of hardware or network failures can be complex and time-consuming.

Benefits of Moving From LAN to Cloud Networking Solutions

The overall transitioning from LAN to cloud-based solutions will empowers organizations for innovations, competitions and achieving greater success in today’s digital economy. If you so desire to take over the global stage, here are Five (5) key benefits of moving from LAN to the CLOUD

1. Cloud networking solutions offer virtually limitless scalability, allowing organizations to rapidly scale resources up or down based on demand can dynamically adjust resources to match requirements, ensuring optimal performance and cost efficiency to client(s).
2. Flexibility: It helps organization to deploy new applications, adjusted services, and infrastructure resources in minutes rather than weeks or months which enables businesses to respond rapidly to changing market conditions, customer demands, and competitive pressures, thereby gaining a competitive edge in the market.
3. Cost Efficiency: Cloud services operate on a pay-per-use or subscription-based pricing model, allowing businesses to avoid upfront capital expenditures on hardware and infrastructure. Additionally, cloud providers benefit from economies of scale, enabling them to offer services at lower costs compared to on-premises (LAN) alternatives.
4. It permits users globally to access applications, data, and services from anywhere with an internet connection. This is enjoyable when organization(s) have distributed teams, remote workers, or international operations.
5. Reliability: Its guarantee continuous availability of services and data, even in the event of hardware failures, natural disasters, or other disruptions because it offers robust backup and disaster recovery solutions in the event of data loss or downtime.

Requirements: From  Traditional LAN to CLOUD Networking

It may seems complex and tasking to moving from LAN to CLOUD but when successful, it can be all 100% satisfying and fulfilling.

Now, let’s consider the TWO categories you need as an organization to move your Limited LAN Networking to Unlimited Cloud-based Networking

1. Cloud Service Models: These are different categories of cloud computing services provided by cloud providers.

These models define the level of control and responsibility that the provider and the customer have over various aspects of IT infrastructure and services.

Examples include;

a. Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS): It allow renting of infrastructure components such as virtual machines (VMs), storage, and networking on a pay-as-you-go basis

Usage Areas: Development and testing environments, website hosting, data backup and recovery, disaster recovery, and scalable web applications.

b. Platform as a Service (PaaS): Provides a platform and environment for developers to build, deploy, and manage applications without the complexity of managing underlying infrastructure.

Usage Area: Web application development, mobile app development, API development, IoT applications, and data analytics platforms.

c. Software as a Service (SaaS): Allowing users to access and use applications via web browsers or APIs without the need for installation or maintenance.

Usage Areas: Email and collaboration tools (e.g., Office 365, G Suite), Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems (e.g., Salesforce), Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems, Human Resource Management (HRM) software, and content management systems (e.g., WordPress).

2. Cloud Deployment Models: They provide organizations with different options for hosting, managing, and accessing cloud resources based on their specific requirements, preferences, and constraints.

By choosing the right deployment model, organizations can optimize cost, performance, security, and scalability to meet their business objectives effectively.

Examples are;

1. Public Cloud: Infrastructure and services are owned and operated by third-party cloud providers and made available to the general public.
2. Private Cloud: Infrastructure and services are dedicated to a single organization and hosted either on-premises or by a third-party provider.
3. Hybrid Cloud: Combines public and private cloud environments, allowing data and applications to be shared between them.
4. Multi-Cloud: Involves using services from multiple cloud providers to avoid vendor lock-in, enhance redundancy, and leverage best-of-breed solutions.
5. Community clouds: Offer shared infrastructure, cost-sharing opportunities, and tailored services to meet the specific needs of the community members.

It involve sharing cloud infrastructure and resources among organizations with common interests or requirements, such as government agencies etc.

Best/Trusted Migration Strategies from LAN to CLOUD Networking

Let’s discuss here the three simplest approaches in moving your organization’s LAN Network to CLOUD Network.

1. Lift-and-Shift:

   Also known as “Re-hosting,” involves migrating existing on-premises (LAN) applications and infrastructure to the Cloud with minimal modifications.

   This approach aims to replicate the existing environment in the cloud simply by deploying virtual machines (VMs) or containers that mirror the on-premises (LAN) setup.

Benefits: Lift-and-shift offers a fast and straightforward migration path, minimizing disruption to existing workflows and reducing upfront investment in re-architecting applications.

It can also provide immediate access to cloud scalability and manageability.

2. Re-Platforming:

Involves making minor modifications to existing applications or infrastructure during migration to optimize them for cloud environments.

This approach aims to take advantage of cloud-native features and services without completely redesigning the application architecture.

Benefits: cost savings, improved scalability, and reduced maintenance overhead compared to (LAN) deployments while minimizing the complexity and risk associated with full application refactoring.

3. Refactoring:

Also called re-architecting which involves redesigning and rebuilding applications from scratch to fully leverage cloud-native architectures, services, and best practices.

Benefits: Refactoring embraces cloud-native architectures and services and organizations can modernize legacy applications, accelerate innovation, and stay competitive.

It is ok if you wish to explore AWS Cloud migration which is FREE.

More so, you do not have to worry on how to carry out the migration successfully as we have also put in place the relevant steps to follow in achieving your aims.

General Steps Involved in Migrating from Traditional LAN to CLOUD-Based Networking

Steps to follow on Lift-and-Shift

1. Look at for current on-premises infrastructure, applications, and dependencies.
2. Select a cloud provider and determine the appropriate cloud services (e.g., Infrastructure as a Service – IaaS) for hosting the workload.
3. Lift existing virtual machines or server images to the cloud using tools like AWS VM Import/Export, Azure Site Recovery, or Google Cloud Migrate for Compute Engine.
4. Configure networking settings, security groups, and access controls to align with cloud best practices.
5. Validate the migrated environment to ensure functionality and performance meet expectations.

Steps to follow on Re-Platforming 

1. Identify components of the application stack can be optimized for its deployment, it could be databases, middleware, or messaging queues.
2. Evaluate cloud-native alternatives for these components (e.g., managed database services, serverless computing) and assess compatibility with existing applications.
3. Modify the application code or configurations to integrate with cloud-native services and leverage platform-specific features, such as auto-scaling or managed backups.
4. Migrate the re-platformed components to the cloud, ensuring compatibility and functionality is maintained throughout the process.
5. Test and validate the re-platformed application to ensure performance, reliability, and security meet requirements.

Steps to follow on Refactoring 

1. Assess the existing application architecture, dependencies, and business requirements to identify areas for improvement and modernization.
2. Define a target architecture that leverages cloud-native services, such as micro-services, serverless computing, container orchestration, and managed databases.
3. Rewrite or redevelop application components using cloud-native development frameworks, tools, and services, such as AWS Lambda, Azure Functions, or Google Kubernetes Engine.
4. Containerize application components using Docker containers and orchestrate them with container management platforms like Kubernetes or Docker Swarm.
5. Deploy the refactored application to the cloud, leveraging cloud provider services for deployment automation, monitoring, and scaling.
6. Continuously monitor and optimize the refactored application to ensure performance, reliability, and cost-effectiveness.

Network Performance Optimization

This is a key part that should not be joked with when transiting from Traditional LAN to CLOUD.

When considering the essentials for ensuring that applications and services for any Cloud-Based Networking Solutions deliver a responsive and reliable user experience to both organizational users, day-to-day clients and maybe visitors, there are strategies for optimization.

Kindly Contact us on tested strategies for optimizing network performance in any cloud-based network.

Future Trends on Cloud Networking

The expected trends in cloud networking represent significant advancements that will shape the way organizations design, deploy, and manage their networks in the coming years.

With these trends, organizations can unlock new capabilities, improve agility, and deliver innovative services to meet evolving business demands.

What are these future TRENDS and do we need them?

1. 5G Networks

High-Speed Connectivity: 5G networks offer significantly faster speeds and lower latency compared to previous generations of mobile networks.

This enhanced connectivity enables a wide range of applications and services that demand real-time data transmission and ultra-low latency.

It also reduces latency and bandwidth usage, enabling new use cases such as

• Autonomous vehicles
• Augmented reality (AR)
• Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) applications.

2. Serverless Architectures:

Serverless architectures allow developers to focus on writing code without managing underlying infrastructure.

Serverless computing models offer cost efficiency by charging only for the resources consumed during function execution, eliminating the need to provision and manage servers.

it enable rapid scaling to handle fluctuating workloads, ensuring optimal performance and responsiveness without overprovisioning resources.

3. AI-Driven Network Automation:

It leverages on machine learning algorithms to analyze network traffic, predict patterns, and automate routine network management tasks.

AI algorithms help to optimize resource allocation and traffic routing to improve network efficiency, reduce congestion, and enhance application performance.

You can also visit Linda Rosencrance is a freelance writer/editor/author in the Boston area.

Rosencrance has over 30 years’ experience as an investigative reporter on what to  expect on Cloud Networking trend