EBOOKThe connectivity cloud
A way to take back IT and security control

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3Organizations are losing IT and security control

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The connectivity cloud: A new way to connect, protect, and accelerate your business

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The anatomy of a connectivity cloud7

Deep-dive: Connectivity cloud architecture

9Connectivity cloud use cases

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How better control over the IT environment benefits the business11

Cloudflare delivers on the connectivity cloud promise

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Global enterprises use Cloudflare to regain control of their IT environment

Cloudflare | The connectivity cloud: A way to take back IT and security control

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2Organizations are losing IT and security control
Once upon a time, IT and security teams
focused mostly on managing theirorganization’s on-prem environment. But asbusiness requirements changed, customer
bases became global, and remote work tookroot, these technology teams were handed
responsibility across more domains:
cloud deployments, SaaS applications,and the public Internet.

It’s no surprise that technology teams have less and lesscontrol as they try to combine these disparate domains into
something like a single environment to meet business needs.
This greatly complicates crucial tasks like managing
employee access, setting global security policies, andmonitoring and improving network performance. And it’s
hard to find an organization where such loss of control
hasn’t taken root.

Individually, each domain has more than its fair share ofcomplex management and security considerations. But theloss of control is the result of several factors in combination:•Each of these domains has a different core purpose,operating model, and security model. They are in effectsuper-silos which contain their own silos within them.

•Environments outside the firewall are inherently lessvisible to IT and security teams, as the infrastructure,access control points, and users are controlled by outside
vendors, or in the case of the public Internet, not reallycontrolled at all.

•“Any to any, always and everywhere” connectivity
expectations produce combinations of hardware, software,services, protocols, standards, conventions, and regulatory
requirements that are in practice infinite.

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Cloudflare | The connectivity cloud: A way to take back IT and security control

According to a recent Cloudflaresurvey conducted by Forrester
Research, 99% of businesses saythey require secure, performant,“any-to-any” connectivity morethan ever before.

99%3New research shows the broader effects of this “control gap” on thebusiness as a whole, through lost speed and productivity, increased
risk, and greater costs.
Speed and productivity
Loss of control slows organizations down. Technology teams spend
more time testing and securing complex systems. Tech debt andconvoluted infrastructure requirements pile up. Delivery dates for
new applications are delayed — giving nimbler startups a chance towin the innovation game.

Risk
Loss of control amplifies risk in the areas of cybersecurity, legal
and policy compliance, and operational stability. Such risk may
accumulate slowly, but the consequences often strike suddenly
and publicly: devastating ransomware, stolen data offered for salepublicly, or paralyzing logistical slowdowns.

Cost
Loss of control imposes a heavy opportunity cost: the inability oftechnology teams to focus on efforts that add value to the business.
Cost is also driven by the need to hire more people — and buy more
tools — to bring some measure of order to complex technology
environments.

Cloudflare | The connectivity cloud: A way to take back IT and security control

Table of contents“The vast majority of our computer fleet runs
MacOS, and many of our critical developers run
Linux. [Our access management provider’s] limited
Mac compatibility often delayed our releases, andtheir Linux functionality was non-existent.”
Head of Security, Cloud consultancy“We were paying a lot of money, but we had novisibility into our global digital footprint. We didn’t
have any information on how or when we were being
attacked and we had no idea who was targeting us.”Global Director of Governance, Risk, Compliance &Security, Auto parts supplier“We’re growing very quickly, and international
privacy regulations are continuously changing.
We need agility and the ability to scale quickly andefficiently. The solutions we were using weren’t
robust enough to handle our growth.”
Chief Technical Officer, Privacy tech company

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The connectivity cloud:Table of contents

A new way to connect, protect, and accelerate your business

Organizations won’t fix the control gap
in their IT environment with isolated
optimizations and more point products.
A new approach is needed.
They need a different type of cloud—one
that delivers secure, performant, any-toany connectivity. It has to integrate withall networks, give full programmability tosupport any use case, and deliver unified
visibility and control across every domain
IT is responsible for.
This new cloud model is calleda connectivity cloud. Throughprogrammable architecture, integration
with all networks, built-in intelligence andinnovations, and a unified interface,it gives organizations:

Cloudflare | The connectivity cloud: A way to take back IT and security control

Security, networking, and performance resources that scale
effortlessly to meet any business need

Seamless connectivity across every domain: on-premise
networks, cloud deployments, SaaS apps, and public Internet

More resources and people-hours to invest
in strategic IT and security innovation

More predictability when launching new
products, services, and tech upgrades

Better experiences for customers,
fueling competitive advantage

Better experiences for employees, resulting inbetter productivity, efficiency, and business agility

5The anatomy of a connectivity cloud
As mentioned, a connectivity cloud is a new type ofcloud that connects everything and everyone in the ITenvironment, everywhere they are.

The result is yet another tool to integrate, worse visibility, andmore inconsistency in management — all common examples ofloss of control.

But what it isn’t is just as important. Many cloud-based
platforms offer security, networking, or developer services
from the cloud. But without spanning all of those use cases,
or easily connecting to every domain in the IT environment,such platforms merely represent another silo.

By contrast, a connectivity cloud has the following architecturalqualities, and serves the following users and domains:

Architectural qualities:
Native, ubiquitous integration
with the InternetDomains and users connected
and protected:•Hybrid and on-premise employees

Cross-functional intelligence andinnovations built-in•

Developers•

Customers

Composable and programmablearchitecture•Partners and contractors•

Multi-cloud deployments

Unified and simplified interface•

Hybrid and on-premise networks

Cloudflare | The connectivity cloud: A way to take back IT and security control

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Deep-dive: Connectivity cloud architectureComposable and programmable architecture:

Native, ubiquitous integration with the Internet:

A connectivity cloud is built from the ground up to beadaptable and compatible. Specifically:

A connectivity cloud’s architecture is deeply integrated
with the Internet. Specifically, it provides:•Every connectivity method and cloud service is interoperable with eachother in every network location•

Infrastructure sitting in many global cities and IXPs — not just a few data
centers per region•Layer 1 through 7 connectivity is fully API programmable everywhere••Decoupled from tech stack (at extremities) and location

Complete control of a request from source to destination — not just a via
software-defined overlay or underlay•

Build your own API-enabled serverless functions on the exact same
servers as every other service in the connectivity cloud•

Network connectivity that scales infinitely on demand across every
location, with no configuration during setup or operation•

Services that are always available from every server — and agnostic tocloud providers and geo-locations across every origin•

Connectivity from any source automatically routed to every data center
to ensure 100% service availabilityAs a result, organizations can:•Not compromise on security, networking, and innovation as they switch
between clouds (IaaS, PaaS, SaaS), on-prem networks, or users (customer,employee, partner)•Orchestrate and automate services with any third-party system•

Customize data locality rules to meet compliance, privacy and sovereignty
requirements

Cloudflare | The connectivity cloud: A way to take back IT and security control

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As a result, organizations benefit from:•Low latency for every Internet-connected user, application, and network
infrastructure•

No hardware or virtual appliances to activate, manage, or scale•

A control plane for all services running on all servers, providing 100%
operational consistency
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Built-in intelligence and innovations

Unified and simplified interface

A connectivity cloud offers:

A connectivity cloud offers:•No inter or intra data center service chaining•

One unified management interface across an integrated product platform•

Security, performance, privacy, and compliance functions are all built-in,
rather than bolted-on•

Consolidated logging, with integrations with any cloud log storage andanalytics platform (e.g. SIEM)•

Cross-functional threat intelligence that sees most existing attacks andwhat you’re trying to protect•

Cross-functional network intelligence that sees all Internet paths andaccelerates any request along the fastest route

As a result, organizations get:•Better threat intelligence, particularly via continually enhanced machinelearning models•

Better connectivity and end-user experiences•

No trade offs — e.g. having to deactivate security services to ensure
application availability or compliance•

Faster development, since security, performance, and compliance are built
into new serverless applications

Cloudflare | The connectivity cloud: A way to take back IT and security control

As a result, organizations benefit from:•

Simplified policy updates, user account creation, and other day-to-day
security tasks•

Simplified setup and management of any business resource (on-prem orin the cloud), along with other day-to-day networking tasks•

Faster employee training•

Simpler troubleshooting and customer support•

More efficient vendor consolidation

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Connectivity cloud use cases

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To understand how a connectivity cloud can help an organization efficiently connect everything and everyone in its IT environment, consider thehypothetical fashion retail company Acme Inc. Acme’s operations span seven countries, including 40 brick-and-mortar locations and a thriving
ecommerce presence. The company has seven corporate offices and employs 3000 people, about 30% of whom are partially or fully remote.

Use case: Streamline corporate
network security

Use case: Create consistent security
posture across online portfolio

Use case: Accelerate
development and testing

Acme’s multinational operations and hybrid
workforce are fertile breeding grounds for loss ofcontrol. Establishing secure connectivity acrossa variety of locations, devices, applications, andinfrastructure can quickly become an endlesstime-sink.

Acme manages many websites for its various
brands and regions — not to mention a hostof APIs connecting those sites to critical thirdparty services. Without a unified security
infrastructure, Acme will likely lack an accurate,consistent view of threats across its entire online
portfolio — a classic example of loss of control.

Acme continually launches new features and experiences
across its online portfolio. But engineers and web
managers risk of being bogged down with application
sizing, security and performance integration, and othertime-consuming deployment tasks — ultimately pitting
control and speed against one another

With a connectivity cloud, Acme can both secureand connect all of these network components on asingle platform, without complex integrations andworkaround — perhaps in keeping with a Secure
Access Service Edge (SASE) approach.

With a connectivity cloud, Acme can track every
variety of threat from a single pane of glass —and efficiently apply new protections and policychanges across the entire portfolio.

With a connectivity cloud, all of the above considerations
are either integrated or fully automated, making it simpler
for Acme teams to focus onbuilding and testing.

Use case: All of the above
Unlike many services, a connectivity cloud can meet all of the above use cases with the same infrastructure and UI. In such a situation,
the efficiency would compound. More efficient network security would help IT and web teams manage the online presence more easily.
Integrated security, performance, and development would make the whole organization’s innovation engine more nimble.
The connectivity cloud becomes a platform for all of Acme’s digital transformation goals.

Cloudflare | The connectivity cloud: A way to take back IT and security control

9How better control over the IT environment benefits the businessTechnology team benefits

Connectivity cloud capability

Users can easily use preferred tools• Fewer IT support tickets

Broader business benefits

Better connectivity across any user, app, andnetwork•

Simpler day-to-day security and networking
tasks

•

Easier to manage security policy, user profiles, routing
rules, etc•

Better threat intelligence•

Faster, more effective threat response•

Easily switch between clouds or on-preminfrastructure•

Apply any security service to any infrastructure• Faster integrations•

Manage and automate services with any thirdparty system•

Faster integrations• Easier to adopt best-of-breed cloud services•

No virtual appliances to activate, manage,or scale•

A control plane for all services running on allservers•

Easier IT and security management• Reduced security alert fatigue•

No tradeoffs between security, performance, andcompliance•

Easily meet compliance requirements• No need to switch off security services to prevent
compliance risk•

More efficient software development

Cloudflare | The connectivity cloud: A way to take back IT and security control

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Easier adoption of innovative technology• Reduced risk from shadow IT•

More time for innovative technology work
• More agile response to emerging threats
Reduced organizational risk

More efficient digital transformation• Easier control of critical data
More efficient digital transformation• Better employee productivity
Faster digital product launches• Better digital customer experiences•More time for innovative technology work
• Reduced organizational risk
Easier regional and vertical expansions• Reduced organizational risk

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Cloudflare delivers on the connectivity cloud promise

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Cloudflare’s global network and platform represent the world’s first connectivity cloud. It helps enterprise technology leaders reduce thetime, risk, and cost of managing their people, devices, systems, apps, clouds, and networks. It was designed from the ground up to deliver
a unified experience for organizations’ customers, workforce, and developers amidst a vastly complex, distributed compute, storage andapplication environment.

It does this through:Composable and programmable architecture: All Cloudflare services can run on
every server in our network, and are fully abstracted from any specific hardware.
In addition, it’s easy to customize routing rules, access policies, and code with
our serverless development service, Workers — which runs everywhere our otherservices do.
Internet-native, global, ubiquitous reach: The Cloudflare network spans over
300 global cities and interconnects with over 12,500 ISPs, cloud services, andenterprises — allowing it to sit within 50ms of 95% of the world’s Internetconnected population.
Cross-functional intelligence and innovations: Cloudflare serves approximately
20% of all web traffic, and stops over 140 billion threats per day. This network andthreat intelligence powers our entire portfolio of security, performance, privacy,compliance, and development services.
A unified and simplified interface: Which lets you manage Zero Trust security,
network connectivity, application security and performance, development,compliance, privacy, and more — all through a single pane of glass.

Cloudflare | The connectivity cloud: A way to take back IT and security control

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Global enterprises use Cloudflare to regain control of
their IT and security“Cloudflare’s security insights technology shows me
exactly what’s happening across the entire digital
footprint…it’s exceptionally powerful to walk into
the boardroom and say, ‘these are the attacks we’reexperiencing, here’s where they are coming from, andthis is how we’re blocking them.”“We know if a device on the network has malware. We
can instantly cut a connection, secure our importantsystems, and remediate an affected machine. The
Cloudflare integration with Crowdstrike strengthens ouroverall security posture…We have [also] seen benefits
like happier developers and simplified maintenance.”“Because Cloudflare Workers is a highly distributed
architecture, I don’t have to spend time with my teamfiguring out how to build features to be highly available.
Our time to market has dramatically sped up, and weknow that anything we code through Workers will meet
our service-level agreements (SLA) for high availability”“Cloudflare is streamlining our migration from onprem to the cloud. As we tap into various public cloudservices, Cloudflare serves as our independent, unified
point of control — giving us the strategic flexibility tochoose the right cloud solution for the job, and theability to easily make changes down the line.”

Cloudflare | The connectivity cloud: A way to take back IT and security control

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