Alibaba Cloud comes together with Aryaka for global, fully managed SD-WAN

China’s Alibaba Cloud has announced a partnership with cloud-first managed SD-WAN (software-defined wide area network) provider Aryaka.

Aryaka says the partnership will enable high-performance global connectivity, with unified service-level agreements (SLAs) and a “superior” experience for customers in the Asia Pacific region and internationally. 

The partnership is also designed to help Alibaba Cloud customers in China extend their reach abroad, using a global service that integrates SLA-driven connectivity with application acceleration, security, WAN optimisation, SaaS (software as a service) access, last-mile services and global orchestration.

The same advantages are also claimed to apply to enterprises outside the Alibaba Cloud footprint, which can now tap into Aryaka’s end-to-end global WAN for access into China. In effect, Aryaka claims to be providing a global on-ramp to the Alibaba Cloud.

Under the partnership, Alibaba will also offer the Aryaka SmartServices portfolio via the Alibaba Cloud International Marketplace. Alibaba and Aryaka’s joint reseller partner, Netbank, will offer services in China.

Alibaba Cloud is recognised as the largest public cloud provider in China and Asia Pacific, with a 41.7% market share in China and 28.2% across APAC in 2019. It has 21 regions and 63 availability zones around the world, serving millions of customers. 

“Alibaba Cloud is the number one public cloud provider in Asia Pacific and China,” said Aryaka CEO Matt Carter. “We are thrilled that Alibaba Cloud has partnered with Aryaka as one of its global networking partners. The combination of the world’s best managed SD-WAN provider and Alibaba Cloud will help deliver a truly cloud-first WAN to enterprises, modernising their WANs.”

Selina Yuan, president of international business at Alibaba Cloud Intelligence, added: “By combining Aryaka’s technology with Alibaba Cloud’s robust network infrastructure, customers will be able to achieve unparalleled application performance through this partnership in China and globally.”

Jay Joon Tjun Weing, CTO, SD-WAN at Netbank, said: “As part of the Alibaba Cloud Partner Network in China, we are proud and excited to be part of the Alibaba Cloud-Aryaka global partnership in delivering a true global SD-WAN solution to customers. Chinese companies with global ambitions can now enjoy best-in-class Alibaba Cloud infrastructure and Aryaka SD-WAN technology at their fingertips.”

The partnership is one of a series of deals inked by Aryaka since it announced in November 2019 that it was aiming to disrupt traditional SD-WAN and legacy service provider models. At the time, it said it was launching technology that would unyoke enterprises from carriers’ burdens and “rigid, limited” offerings.