Cloud Gateway deploys XMaaS for the very first time

In a unique new relationship, Cloud Gateway have partnered with the world’s largest gift delivery service, to implement their new Christmas-as-a-Service (XMaaS) connectivity solution. Santa Claus has transformed his network to improve agility, efficiency, and global festivity.

The Challenge

It is no secret that the technology landscape is changing, and this is nothing new for Santa Claus, who has been operating for so long, Companies House seem to have mislaid his records. Remarkably still a sole trader despite a customer base of 7 billion (IR35 exempt), Santa has, until now, been content to run his business using legacy infrastructure. Unfortunately for Santa, the ‘advent’ of competing services such as Amazon Prime and Wish.com have forced him to reconsider his model.

Other factors too, played a part. As traditional letter writing wanes in popularity, Santa is inundated with emails from a growing population. More requests from more children requires additional manufacturing sites, which, given his shrinking geographical footprint at the North Pole, is not a straightforward challenge to overcome. The workforce too, is demanding flexibility to work from home. However with no Remote Access Service, this issue has, sadly for the elves, been shelved.

But there was one challenge that topped the tree. A tinsel-twitchingly, swan-swimmingly, lords-a-leapingly difficult problem to overcome. Santa Claus has a single, annual, delivery deadline that cannot be missed under any circumstances.

The Aspiration

Having seen a lot of clouds during his daily grind, Santa had been keen to start using cloud technology for some time. However, with a growing number of factory sites, an isolated HQ, and millions of customer end-points, the network challenge seemed insurmountable. In addition to its wide reach, any solution would need to be resilient, with 100% guaranteed availability, particularly out of hours on the 24th December.

It was also critically important to ensure traffic was protected. STEM learning initiatives have bred a new generation of hackers, who, against their better judgement, may be tempted to intercept delivery ahead of time to find out if their Christmas wish list will come true. Not only this, but a company called Grinch Enterprises had been sniffing around for a number of years… It was time for a zero-trust model.

The Solution

With Cloud Gateway’s Christmas-as-a-Service (XMaaS) solution, every house on the planet is connected, protected by a Layer 4 FirePlace. Access control policy is configured from the heart of the network, allowing Santa, and only Santa, to enter each home. For packages in transit, the solution implements Deep Parcel Inspection (DPI) to check and alert signs of malicious activity.

In addition, the XMaaS monitoring and analytics portal sends a wealth of data from each home to the central network. By combining his traffic data with innovative new cloud applications, Santa can plan his journey against local weather reports, commercial flight paths, and children’s sleeping patterns. Delivery within a limited timeframe is now as easy as (mince) pie.

But wait, there’s myrrh… The Remote Access Service allows Santa to access all of this information on the move via mobile, in real-time. For crucial governance and audit trails, the solution is equipped for Yule Log Storage. No duplicate deliveries, full evidence, totally compliant.

Cloud Gateway’s XMaaS solution conforms to ISO HO HO 27001 and is delivered as a fully managed service, backed by SL-eighs. Service management is powered by the industry-leading platform, SNOW (ServiceNow).

For bespoke solutions, whatever your business model, speak to networking experts at Cloud Gateway to create your own truly Agile Network.