Jan 11, 2024
5 Recommendations on Cloud Migration that Companies should know
Bogotá, January 2024. – In an always changing technological world, cloud migration has become an essential support for businesses, a key process for efficiency and digital transformation. The technological breakthroughs achieved in Colombia so far have enabled tool consolidation, such as the public cloud. However, some challenges still get in the way to allow the country to fully leverage this tool in the next decade.
Based on a study designed by the School of Engineering and Telecommunications of Santo Tomás University, more than 70% of companies have already migrated their loads to public clouds, benefiting from the flexible implementations in these environments, thus reducing deployment times.
According to Juan José Calderón, Data Centers and Cloud Director for the Andean Region at Cirion Technologies, the concept of hybrid cloud has currently gained great relevance. “Companies operating a hybrid cloud need a centralized dashboard to monitor all activity in their environments, allowing them to both identify and respond to threats more quickly,” he added.
Due to this cloud migration journey of companies, Calderón shared five recommendations for a successful adoption of this service:
- Have a strategic plan in place: Understanding how the cloud tackles your business needs is key. Good information management not only offers security and ensures customer trust; it also provides companies with a legal framework to shield themselves and avoid reputational damage. Planning what will be migrated while being aligned with the company’s long-term vision brings transformation and data security perspectives.
- Cloud Service Vendor Selection: Companies should research and compare different options, considering security, support, cost and consumption factors. Bearing in mind the benefits of the different types of cloud according to each organization’s features will be essential to make the most of them.
- Cloud Security: Implementing robust security measures and looking at the response types in the clouds is of the essence, considering the near and far clouds for the specific service to be executed in the company. In addition, deploy appropriate authentication measures, data encryption, and access policies.
- Resource Optimization: Resource monitoring to prevent unnecessary expenses and cost overruns is key. Have financial practices in place to avoid spending more than planned and use data analytics to understand consumption patterns. This will favor more effective processes.
- Cloud Adoption and Training: Make sure the company’s team is well trained in cloud-related tools and processes. This is why you need to foster an adjustment and adoption culture in the different areas involved.
How to choose a suitable system in the cloud transformation journey
The best cloud adoption scheme would be an entangled one, which allows the most efficient use of the cloud based on customer proximity and security. Precisely, these hybrid cloud schemes are the ones that enterprises find most appealing.
Hybrid cloud security is the multifaceted process of protecting infrastructure, data, and applications across multiple IT environments, including private clouds, public clouds, and on-premises hardware. This complex methodology is a defense against cyberattacks and malicious intruders and is often managed through third-party companies and vendors.
According to Calderón, “The first thing to bear in mind when we talk about security in the digital world is that there is no complete security. Therefore, we must focus on reducing risks. For example, in the automotive sector, cars may have thousands of insurances and preventions, but if the user does not wear the seatbelt properly, it represents a risk. This is the case with network security; all necessary precautions must be taken no matter how basic they are to protect the information”.
Using these recommendations can ensure a successful transition to the cloud, improving agility and competitiveness in today’s market. Cloud migration is significant to improve our future and computer security, Calderón pointed out.
About Cirion:
Cirion is a leading digital infrastructure and technology provider, offering a comprehensive suite of fiber network, connectivity, colocation, cloud infrastructure, and communication and collaboration solutions with the purpose of furthering Latin America´s progress through technology. Cirion serves more than 5500 Latin America-based and multinational clients, including enterprises, government agencies, cloud service providers, carriers, ISPs, and other leading companies. Cirion owns and operates a facilities-based network and data center portfolio, with extensive coverage spanning across the Latin America region. Learn more about Cirion at www.ciriontechnologies.com
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Dec 21, 2023
Phishing and ransomware are among the main year-end cyberattacks in Latin America
Cirion Technologies expert warns that companies face security and infrastructure challenges.
E-commerce, banking and finance are the sectors most targeted by cyberattacks at this time of year.
Lima, December 2023. The month of December, marked by Christmas and New Year festivities, becomes a critical period in which cybercriminals take advantage of the significant increase in transactions and the overload of online activity to endanger both companies and users. Several types of attack have been identified this month, but there has been a notable increase in social engineering attacks. In fact, 97% of cyberattacks use these techniques to gain access to credentials and require user interaction, allowing unauthorized access to companies’ servers and platforms.
According to Ricardo Pulgarín, Cirion’s Senior Security Solutions Architect for the LATAM region, the challenges faced by organizations are not just limited to security, but also to infrastructure. Pulgarín points out that “the end of the year acts as a catalyst for various attacks, highlighting the increase in cases of phishing and ransomware. December is a good time to take advantage of social engineering and exploit people’s innocence. Given attackers difficulty in accessing servers of large companies, cybercriminals direct their efforts at users who, believing in the fraudulent schemes, inadvertently facilitate unauthorized access.”
E-commerce companies experience a significant increase in activity during these festive dates, thus becoming especially susceptible to attacks. Christmas and end-of-year shopping generate exceptionally high activity, exposing them to risks such as financial data theft and credit card fraud. On the other hand, the banking and financial sectors faces similar challenges, because although they suffer attacks all year round, they intensify during this season, especially in relation to phishing and fraud attacks.
Pulgarín underscores that “phishing is a widely used method for stealing users’ keys. It’s common to receive fraudulent messages encouraging them to update their credit card details or provide financial access keys”. In addition, he emphasizes that phishing is not limited to email it also occurs through voice messages, SMS, WhatsApp and even fraudulent phone calls.
Additional risks
Pending updates have emerged as one of the most recurring tactics in recent ransomware attacks. There are cases in which attackers take advantage of the lack of system updates and patches to infect them, benefiting from public vulnerabilities to access information systems not only to cause damage, but also to hijack equipment and spread infections to third parties.
Ultimately, online shopping businesses count on an inherent risk. According to Ricardo Pulgarín, from Cirion, this vulnerability is closely related to possible flaws in the applications themselves. Cybercriminals don’t exploit weaknesses in the server, network or protection systems, but rather the way in which the application was developed. In this context, technical and human behavioral factors converge, creating the conditions for even more vulnerability.
As a final recommendation, Cirions expert advises organizations to carry out detailed monitoring and exhaustive analysis to identify the critical technological components that affect their organizations the most. Based on this analysis, he suggests implementing measures to compensate for and mitigate the risks of cyberattacks. These measures range from establishing information security policies to addressing infrastructure aspects, ensuring that the relevant patches and updates are installed. For more information on Cirion’s cybersecurity solutions, visit the company’s website.
About Cirion:
Cirion is a leading digital infrastructure and technology provider, offering a comprehensive suite of fiber network, connectivity, colocation, cloud infrastructure, and communication and collaboration solutions with the purpose of furthering Latin America´s progress through technology. Cirion serves over 5,500 Latin America-based and multinational customers, including enterprises, government agencies, cloud service providers, wireline and wireless carriers, ISPs, and other leading businesses. Cirion owns and operates a facilities-based network and data center portfolio, with extensive coverage spanning across the Latin America region. Learn more about Cirion at www.ciriontechnologies.com
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Media Contact:
Ana Cecilia Deustua
CorPro
Tel: + 51 989 022 938
adeustua@corpro.pe
Kenny Castillo
CorPro
Tel: + 51 949 313 106
kcastillo@corpro.pe
Dec 6, 2023
Agro-industry 4.0: Cirion presents modern technological solutions to support digital transformation
Internet of Things (IoT) applications and low-energy satellite solutions make it possible to capture data in the field to improve productivity and competitiveness at a global level.
Miami, December 2023. The coastal El Niño and Global El Niño phenomena have been affecting the agricultural industry in Latin America. High temperatures, droughts and high humidity have created a series of competitive and economic challenges that affected productivity and agricultural performance.
“The agro-industry in Latin America has experienced exponential growth and consolidation in multiple international markets. According to the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations), in 2021 the net trade of agricultural foods produced in Latin America and the Caribbean represented almost 45% of the world total. This year, however, the drop in production, losses, and competition from large agriculture exporting countries have affected this sector in the region. Therefore, using digital technologies can help optimize, increase production, and improve performance in the agro-industry sphere, enabling producers to become more competitive, globally,” said Luis Ladera, Director of Data Products at Cirion Technologies.
The companies in this sector are still at an early stage when it comes to collecting data on their production and applying digital technologies to their business. This data could be analyzed, processed and transformed into information to generate smarter and more efficient decision-making in the short and long terms. Cirion presented a part of its portfolio called Smart Solutions, which includes IoT elements or specific sensors temperature, light, humidity, pH, among others to generate and monitor data through a digital application on the web that can be accessed from mobile phones, tablets, or computers. This will make it possible to understand the behaviors of elements in the field and control important variables in production, even remotely, from anywhere in the world.
In general, agricultural production sites are extensive and not always accessible, often creating a connectivity issue. In this sense, Cirions sensors are integrated with low-power private satellite connectivity solutions that allow data to be transmitted to digital devices without any issues.
IoT systems, cloud connections, Internet and security, used in the implementation of digital technology in the agro-industry, offer companies the resources to transform and optimize their businesses. Data collection is the basic input to feed machine-learning based artificial intelligence systems, generating predictive models that enable timely and adequate decisions to improve production performance and cost and resource optimization, among others.
Luis Ladera also comments that companies in the region are not yet taking full advantage of technology to be more competitive when compared to countries that are world leaders in agricultural exports. As exports increase, theres also an increase in competition and we must take control of the situation, investing more in technology, understanding how to apply it, and how to improve it to become even more competitive. Ultimately, it all comes down to this: the industrys digital transformation is all about generating competitive advantages in the market, he added.
Heading towards Agro-industry 4.0
Cirion experts say that first, organizations should define what are the important variables in their business and then, start measuring them. Next, they must generate analytics, clean and understand data, and begin creating models using artificial intelligence techniques. To do this, they need the Internet of Things, connectivity, the cloud, and additional technology.
Once all this data has been stored and processed, models will generate insights that will make it possible to predict the best times for harvesting, pest control, applying fertilizers or even rationing pesticides and water. This may bring optimizations and improvements, helping obtain competitive, high-quality products, as well as creating a friendlier production, with less impact on the environment. “There is a huge potential for growth. We’re talking about hundreds of billions of dollars that could be generated over the next few years from the implementation and use of digital technologies in the agricultural industry. What’s more: we know that global food production is critical to the sustainability of humankind. Therefore, everything that involves improving productive performance is critical to the agro-industry, globally, concludes Ladera.
About Cirion:
Cirion is a leading digital infrastructure and technology provider, offering a comprehensive suite of fiber network, connectivity, colocation, cloud infrastructure, and communication and collaboration solutions with the purpose of furthering Latin America´s progress through technology. Cirion serves over 5,500 Latin America-based and multinational customers, including enterprises, government agencies, cloud service providers, carriers, ISPs, and other leading businesses. Cirion owns and operates a facilities-based network and data center portfolio, with extensive coverage spanning across the Latin America region. Learn more about Cirion at www.ciriontechnologies.com
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Nov 24, 2023
Teams and Zoom presented their generative AI assistants
Cirion Technologies provides these cloud-based communication and collaboration tools through its secure network in Latin America.
Lima, November 24, 2023. More and more companies are adopting generative Artificial Intelligence to help users save time on repetitive tasks and improve productivity at work. The market is changing, and the assistants deployed in traditional communications channels, such as WhatsApp, the Web or Facebook, have evolved and made the leap to communication and collaboration tools. As a result, Zoom and Microsoft Teams have taken the next step, implementing AI assistants that will provide users with several new functionalities and allow them to respond, create or interact to obtain greater efficiency during virtual meetings.
By 2026, voice and collaboration platforms are expected to grow by 32.6% in Latin America. Companies have invested a lot in driving these assistants forward with the use of artificial intelligence and, although both have similar functionalities, it is important to understand their benefits in detail. With this, tasks that used to take a long time during meetings will now be much easier to accomplish. These functions are available in Latin America, in Spanish, English and Portuguese,” said Christian Bernal, lead sales engineer for voice and collaboration at Cirion Technologies.
Microsoft Copilot
This assistant has been deployed in all Office 365 tools, but in Microsoft Teams it will enable more productive meetings, allowing users to summarize the main topics in any language. As with Zoom, if you’re late in joining an ongoing meeting, you can select “open Copilot” at the top of the meeting window to obtain an instant summary. You can also ask questions to find out details of the meeting, for example: How did a participant respond to this proposal?; What questions can I ask to carry on the meeting?; create a table with the ideas discussed, and their advantages and disadvantages, among other functions.
These functions will only be available if you activate the “transcript and record” option at the beginning of the meeting. If you’re using Teams on a mobile device, it’s important to download the Copilot app. You should note that the more details you give the assistant, the better the results will be.
Zoom’s AI companion
Zoom platform’s new generative artificial intelligence assistant, AI Companion (formerly Zoom IQ), will be found in the meeting controls toolbar or chat window. Here, this assistant will be able to help compose responses with the correct tone and duration according to users’ requests, including replying to emails. Also, a whiteboard can be used, where the AI can brainstorm ideas for a project or work plan.
For those who join a meeting late, Companion will be able to summarize what has been discussed until that point and they can even ask specific questions about the content, without interrupting the meeting or having to ask colleagues to repeat what has been discussed. In addition, at the end of the meeting, the AI assistant will save the recordings in the cloud by chapter or topic, making it easy to review them to highlight important information.
Unified communications
“Another tool that has already incorporated AI features is Avaya Spaces, which also offers intelligent transcription, noise removal and even overlay of the speaker’s video during the presentation. Cirion, as a partner of the world’s leading suppliers of collaboration tools, seeks to support teams of several different companies in Latin America, driving productivity and interaction with the support of modern collaboration tools. We provide not only the tools, but also the entire communications ecosystem, considering connectivity, equipment, solution management, deployment, configuration and level one support for the organization, concludes Bernal.
The help provided by these assistants will be increasingly powerful and will guarantee a better support during business meetings. Organizations will be able to collaborate with cost effectiveness and almost without geographical boundaries, with cloud-based video, calls and messaging. To find out more about Cirion’s voice and collaboration services, visit https://www.ciriontechnologies.com/es-pe/voz-colaboracion/
About Cirion:
Cirion is a leading digital infrastructure and technology provider, offering a comprehensive suite of fiber network, connectivity, colocation, cloud infrastructure, and communication and collaboration solutions with the purpose of furthering Latin America´s progress through technology. Cirion serves over 5,500 Latin America-based and multinational customers, including enterprises, government agencies, cloud service providers, carriers, ISPs, and other leading businesses. Cirion owns and operates a facilities-based network and data center portfolio, with extensive coverage spanning across the Latin America region. Learn more about Cirion at www.ciriontechnologies.com
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Sep 26, 2023
Cirion Technologies Joins MEF to Enhance Digital Transformation
The beginning of a new chapter in innovation and automation.
While a member of MEF since 2009 as part of other business groups, Cirion is now a member of the organization as an independent company.
MIAMI, FL, 25 September 2023 Cirion Technologies, a leading digital infrastructure and technology provider, today announced it has joined MEF as the standalone company it became in August 2022 following Cirions divestment from Lumen Technologies. MEF is a global industry association of network, cloud, security and technology providers accelerating enterprise digital transformation.
Cirion values its MEF membership as the company that works in building the advanced features that enterprise customers, telecom operators and service providers require, and by joining MEF, will enable members to integrate with the Cirion network to enhance their own network coverage and performance. We will continue to develop and evolve its ecosystem of tools, products and services, forging our level of excellence based on a language and standards shared by our clients and partners.
A membership in MEF offers an opportunity to engage in business-driven collaboration with leading global organizations. Together, we enable dynamic, trusted, and certified services that empower enterprises to embrace their own digital transformation and grow their business. We welcome Cirion as the newest addition to our growing, vibrant community of MEF members who are working to progress our MEF 3.0 Global Services Framework, said Nan Chen, President, MEF.
We are eager to continue engaging with the MEF community as Cirion and collaborate to address the industrys business challenges to empower enterprise digital transformation, said Leonardo Barbero, President & Executive Vice President of Products and Enterprise Sales for Cirion Technologies. With the adoption of the MEF LSO framework, Cirion establishes the foundations for technological development, aimed at the automation of end-to-end services, both for traditional and digital services.
The MEF standards and certification process are already a well-recognized stamp of quality in the telecommunications and tecnology industries. We are delighted to join this prestigious organization to ensure this standard is applied to our digital infraestructure and seamlessly integrated into our customers networking operations.
About MEF
MEF is a global industry association of network, cloud, security and technology providers working together to accelerate enterprise digital transformation through a better-together ecosystem. MEF delivers service standards, LSO frameworks and APIs, and training and certification programs for services, technologies, APIs, and professionals. The MEF 3.0 Framework enables automated delivery of standardized Carrier Ethernet, IP, Optical Transport, SD-WAN, SASE, and other digital services across multiple provider networks. For more information and to hear the latest Executives at the Edge podcast visit MEF.net and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.
About Cirion
Cirion is a leading digital infrastructure and technology provider, offering a comprehensive suite of fiber network, connectivity, colocation, cloud infrastructure, and communication and collaboration solutions with the purpose of furthering Latin Americas progress through technology. Cirion serves over 5,500 Latin America-based and multinational customers, including enterprises, government agencies, cloud service providers, wireline and wireless carriers, ISPs, and other leading businesses. Cirion owns and operates a facilities-based network and data center portfolio, with extensive coverage spanning across the Latin America region. Learn more about Cirion at www.ciriontechnologies.com
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Media Contacts:
Melissa Power
MEF
Melissa@MEF.net
Paula Vivo
Cirion Technologies
P: +55 11 3957-2424
paula.vivo@ciriontechnologies.com
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