With UC becoming more integral to enterprise operations with each passing day, security is paramount.

Of course, providers like Microsoft, Zoom, or Webex understand this, and therefore, all of their platforms have certain levels of built-in security to secure their customers and their data while using the platform.

However, in an age of growing cyber attacks, no longer is it enough to worry about your own safety solutions and procedures. It is now essential you keep an eye out for your UCaaS provider and how secure it is.

Think this is overblown? Think back to summer 2024, when cybersecurity company CrowdStrike sent out an update that caused computer systems across the world to go down for days.

Although it wasn’t a cyber attack that caused it, it highlights downtime, for whatever reason, can be devestating. So understanding how your service provider is protected may be a key part of your enterprise’s data resilence strategy.

One way to ascertain this is by looking at the data centres that underpin your service. It is here, that UCaaS provider Webex stand out.

Where Webex stands

HQ’d in California, USA, Webex is a comprehensive cloud-based collaboration platform developed by Cisco, designed to enhance communication and teamwork through video conferencing, messaging, and calling solutions.

Webex offers a suite of applications including Webex Meetings, Webex Teams, and Webex Calling, which facilitate seamless interactions for both remote and in-office teams.

As of June 2024, Webex Calling has over 15 million users in more than 160 markets and its CCaaS service Webex Contact Center seats surged by 75 percent in the same year.

The platform is recognised for its high-definition video quality, robust security features, and ability to integrate with various business applications.

The Global Network of Data Centres

At the heart of Webex’s infrastructure is a strategically distributed network of data centres.

These facilities support Webex’s global operations, ensuring seamless communication and collaboration for millions of users worldwide.

Although operated under a Cisco umbrella with multiple data centres around the world, Webex services recieves many dedicated decisions when it comes to its operation.

Just last winter, Webex announced it had opened a new data centre in Manchester.

Speaking at the time of the announcement, VP of Product Management at Cisco Amey Parandekar said:

“The continued expansion of the Webex platform allows customers to meet evolving regulatory and compliance requirements and demonstrates our commitment to driving continuous service enhancements for our global Webex Calling customer base.”

This was the second opened in the country, with an existing data centre already in London.

Equally, both UK data centres support multi-tenant and Dedicated Instance deployment models for Webex Calling.

The fact there are two data centres and both focusing on the same thing bring two things to its customers.  

Firstly, it brings Webex services closer to end-users and strengthens the capacity to reduce latency and improve performance.

Secondly, it provides crucial redundancy, enhancing the platform’s resilience against potential outages or disruptions.

In laymans terms, what this means is if one data centre goes down for whatever reason, the other one can remain operational and still provide services from the country.

Webex state that any failure of an individual server in a group initiates transparent routing of requests to other available servers within the WebEx Collaboration Cloud.

Equally, Blocklevel replication of data across servers and data centres speeds fault and disaster recovery in the event of system failures, power outages, and other events that can affect entire sites or geographies.

Indeed, when looking at Webex Calling data centres, this pairing contigency seems to be across the board.

There are two data centres in the US, Canada, Japan, Australia, and in the EU (Germany and Netherlands).

A Multi-Layered Approach to Security

Although the service offered is incorporeal, the data centres that keep Webex afloat are very much real.

Although not as often considered by the end user, the physical security of data centres is often considered a key component of security.

Cisco employs a multi-layered security model that encompasses physical site security, network-based protection, and data safeguards.

Access is tightly controlled through a combination of biometric systems, video surveillance, and strict personnel protocols.

Equally, only authorised Cisco security personnel and accompanied visitors can enter these facilities, ensuring the physical integrity of the infrastructure.

On the network level, Webex utilises advanced firewalls, intrusion detection systems, and continuous monitoring to protect against cyber threats.

All communications between Webex apps, devices, and services occur over encrypted channels, using TLS 1.2 or later with high-strength cipher suites.

This encryption extends to all media streams, including audio, video, screen sharing, and document sharing, ensuring end-to-end protection of user data.

Webex also boasts a sophisitacted aproach to data at rest, with access to data stored in the cloud only achieved using WebEx Connect IM, and only after proper user authentication.

Data Sovereignty and Compliance

In an era of increasing data regulation, Webex’s infrastructure is designed to meet stringent compliance requirements.

The recent addition of the Manchester data center in the UK exemplifies this commitment.

By ensuring that both active and redundant calling media and signaling data remain within UK borders, Cisco enables businesses to adhere to post-Brexit data residency regulations.

From an end-users persepctive, having Webex operate in areas where local laws apply help enterprises stay on the right side of data laws, like GDPR and further enhances its credibility as a secure platform for business communications.

This capability is particularly crucial for regulated industries such as finance and government, where data sovereignty is not just a preference but a legal requirement.

Scalability and Performance

Webex’s infrastructure is built for scale. The platform utilises a carrier-class information-switching architecture, purpose-built for real-time services and allows Webex to handle massive volumes of traffic while maintaining high performance and reliability.

The data centres are strategically placed near major internet access points and use dedicated high-bandwidth fibre to route traffic globally.

This placement optimises routing and minimises latency, crucial factors in delivering a seamless user experience and ensuring communications and collabroation for its customers remain unhindered.

The infrastructure also leverages cutting-edge technologies like ThousandEyes for network intelligence. Deployed at the “front door” of Webex data centres responsible for serving customer traffic, customers can use this to monitor and troubleshoot their own Webex performance.

Resilience and Disaster Recovery

Should all of those aforementioned failsafes fail,

Webex’s infrastructure is designed to offer service continuity and disaster recovery as critical components.

The geographic distribution of data centres, for onem enables global site backups and high-availability services.

This design eliminates single points of failure and allows for geographic failover of Webex services in the event of a major disruption.

Equally, backup processes within Cisco data centers are comprehensive, including both global site backups and file backups.

These processes involve tiered backups with both online and offline saves, stored in geographically dispersed locations.

This approach significantly reduces the risk of data loss and ensures that services can be quickly restored in the event of an outage.

The Webex Piece of Mind

As the use of UCaaS services expands and consolidates in the face of our hybrid and remote working world, security, resilience, and contingency will increasingly become a motivating factor for enterprises choosing a solution.

It is here where Webex really shines.

With its strategically located data centres, robust security measures, and compliance with stringent data regulations, Webex is able to offer fluid user experience alongside operational confidence.

Its dual data centre approach, combined with advanced backup and disaster recovery strategies, ensures that businesses can rely on Webex for uninterrupted communication whilst adhereing to regulations.

With its most recent annoucement Mancherester being made in September 2024, it is clear Webex’s commitment to continuous improvement and innovation in this area is ongoing.



from UC Today https://ift.tt/0kCTKRd