Executive Summary
Saudi Telecom Company (stc) uses Graphiant to deliver a differentiated, next-generation cloud connectivity service that provides secure, private, and dependable access into AWS, Azure, GCP and OCI without relying on the public internet. Graphiant delivers measurable value across performance, security, cost, and operational agility, including up to 10xfaster performance, more than 40% reduction in attack surface, up to 4x fewer required inter-cloud connections, cloud connection activation in minutes instead of weeks, and more than 60% reduction in cloud connectivity costs. WithGraphiant Data Assurance capabilities hosted in KSA, stc can also enforce customer-specific geographic traffic boundaries and support national data sovereignty and data residency requirements, enabling KSA-based enterprises and local agencies to keep traffic within the Kingdom while offering flexible regional policies for customers across the Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia.
Customer Overview
stc is the Kingdom’s leading telecommunications and digital services provider, serving enterprise, government, and multinational organizations across the Middle East and beyond. As enterprises accelerate digital transformation initiatives, stc recognized a growing demand for secure, high-performance connectivity intoglobal cloud platforms.
With the launch of a new Google Cloud region in Saudi Arabia and increasing enterprise adoption of AWS, Azure,GCP, and OCI, stc needed a modern networking solution capable of delivering private and secure enterprise cloud connectivity. stc needed to provide reliable and predictable application performance, multi-cloud access across leading providers, cost-effective alternatives to internet-based connectivity,and regional cloud access for customers outside Saudi Arabia.
To achieve these goals, stc selectedGraphiant to power its next-generation cloud networking services.
Key Values Delivered
- Secure Private Connectivity: Graphiant enabled private enterprise-to-cloud connectivity without using the public internet, improving security and reducing exposure to network-based threats. Private connectivity delivered up to 10x faster performance while the secure fabric reduced the attack surface by over 40%.
- Simplified Multi-Cloud Networking: A unified networking architecture enabled stc to connectcustomers across AWS, Azure, GCP, and OCI without managing separatecloud-specific networking models. This reduced complexity and lowered thenumber of required inter-cloud connections by up to 4x.
- Regional Expansion Opportunities: Graphiant enabled stc to extend cloud connectivity servicesbeyond Saudi Arabia, supporting its goal of becoming a regional cloudconnectivity hub for enterprises across the Middle East.
- Data Sovereignty and GeographicTraffic Assurance: Graphiant’s Data Assurancecapabilities enable stc to enforce customer-specific geographic trafficboundaries and sovereign data requirements. This allows stc to supportKSA-based companies and local agencies that require traffic and data handlingto remain within the Kingdom, while also giving regional and internationalcustomers flexible policy models based on their own jurisdictionalrequirements.
- Faster Service Deployment: stc rapidly deployed new cloud on-ramps and customerservices without the delays of traditional WAN expansion. New cloud connectionscould be activated in minutes instead of weeks.
- Cost Optimization: By eliminating reliance on costly legacy WAN architecturesand inefficient internet routing, Graphiant helped stc reduce cloudconnectivity costs by more than 60%.
Enabling Secure Multi-Cloud Connectivity for Enterprise Customers
As enterprise customers increasingly adopt multi-cloud architectures, stc needs to deliver secure, deterministic, and high-performance connectivity into AWS, Microsoft Azure, GCP, and OCI while maintaining carrier-grade availability, segmentation, and operational control. These customers require private enterprise-to-cloud transport for mission-critical workloads across financial services, healthcare, government, manufacturing, and digital commerce, where inconsistent packet delivery, unmanaged routing paths, and internet-facing exposure are not acceptable.
Traditional service delivery models often require separate underlay circuits, IPsec overlays, cloud-specific interconnects, and provider-specific routing configurations for each customer and cloud destination. While these approaches establish basic reachability, they introduce operational fragmentation across routing, encryption, policy enforcement, monitoring, and troubleshooting. Each new cloud connection may require custom design work, manual coordination across network and security teams, and separate lifecycle management for each provider-specific connectivity path.
With Graphiant’s Network Edge platform, stc delivers private enterprise-to-cloud connectivity through a unified, policy-driven network fabric. Customers connect to AWS, Azure, GCP, and OCI without sending traffic over the public internet or maintaining separate cloud-specific network designs. Graphiant’s secure fabric reduces the attack surface by over 40%, while private connectivity delivers up to 10x faster performance compared to traditional internet-based access. By consolidating multi-cloud connectivity into a common architecture, stc has also reduced the number of required inter-cloud connections by up to 4x.
This changes the stc operating model from custom network engineering for each customer-cloud pair to standardized service instantiation across a common Graphiant fabric. Instead of designing independent connectivity paths, security controls, and routing policies foreach cloud provider, stc uses repeatable templates for customer onboarding, route propagation, segmentation, encryption, and policy enforcement. A customer requiring access to Azure and GCP is provisioned through a consistent service workflow rather than managed through separate provider-specific configuration and operational processes.
For stc operations teams, this reduces manual handoffs between network engineering, security, cloud operations, and service assurance teams. Customer connectivity is provisioned through a common architecture, policies are applied consistently across cloud destinations, and service monitoring is aligned around the Graphiant fabric rather than multiple independent transport and overlay domains. The result is amore scalable and operationally efficient multi-cloud connectivity service with stronger security, improved performance consistency, and simplified lifecycle management.
Extending Cloud On-Ramp Services Beyond the Kingdom
Many regional enterprises operating outside Saudi Arabia lack direct access to local hyperscale cloud regions in their own markets. These organizations need secure and dependable connectivity into cloud infrastructure hosted in the Kingdom, but they often face limited local cloud availability, higher-latency internet paths, inconsistent routing behavior, and increased operational overhead when connecting to cloud resources across borders.
Previously, these customers often had to build site-to-cloud IPsec tunnels, rely on public internet transit, or implement custom cross-border connectivity designs for each cloud provider. These models can create fragmented overlay networks, variable application performance, inconsistent encryption and routing policies, and complex troubleshooting across customer sites, service provider networks, internet paths, and cloud environments. As more countries, sites, and cloud destinations are added, the model becomes increasingly difficult to scale and operate.
With Graphiant, stc extends its role from a domestic connectivity provider to a regional cloud access hub. Using Graphiant’s secure global networking fabric, stc enables customers across neighboring markets to privately connect into AWS, Azure, GCP, and OCI resources hosted in Saudi Arabia. Customers benefit from private connectivity that can deliver up to 10x faster performance, a secure fabric that reduces attack surface by over 40%, and a simplified cloud access model that lowers connectivity costs by more than 60% compared to costly legacy WAN architectures and inefficient internet routing.
This changes how stc delivers regional cloud access. Instead of building country-specific or customer-specific connectivity architectures, stc exposes Saudi-based cloud regions through a standardized regional on-ramp service. Customer sites outside the Kingdom are onboarded into the Graphiant fabric and connected to cloud destinations through consistent routing, encryption, and policy controls. This allows stc to scale the service across multiple countries and customer environments without creating a new bespoke architecture for every deployment.
Enterprises in neighboring markets that lacks local hyperscale cloud presence are able to connect branch offices, data centers, or regional operations into cloud resources hosted in Saudi Arabia through stc’s Graphiant-powered on-ramp service. Rather than engineering separate tunnels or circuits into AWS, Azure, GCP, and OCI, the customer consumes private cloud access through stc, while stc applies consistent service policies, manages the connectivity fabric, and scales capacity as customer demand grows.
The result is a repeatable regional cloud access architecture that extends Saudi Arabia’s cloud ecosystem across the Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia. stc is able to deliver private, dependable, and cost-effective cloud connectivity to customers beyond the Kingdom while positioning Saudi Arabia as a strategic gateway for secure enterprise access to global cloud platforms.
Delivering KSA-Hosted Services While Enforcing Sovereign Data Residency and Geographic Traffic Boundaries
As stc continues to expand its role as a large scale connectivity provider, it also has to address strict national sovereign regulations and data residency requirements. For many KSA-based enterprises, government entities, and local agencies, cloud connectivity must do more than provide secure and reliable access to cloud platforms. It must also ensure that service data is hosted within the Kingdom and that customer traffic can be constrained to approved geographic boundaries.
Graphiant enables stc to address this requirement by hosting the stc Graphiant service in KSA. This gives stc a sovereign service foundation for delivering cloud connectivity capabilities that align with Saudi data residency expectations and national regulatory requirements. Instead of depending on control, policy, or assurance capabilities hosted outside the Kingdom, stc can provide a Graphiant-powered service where the data assurance function is deployed within Saudi Arabia.
In addition to sovereign hosting requirements, stc also has network traffic requirements which vary by customer. A Saudi government agency, regulated enterprise, or KSA-based business may require traffic to remain within the Kingdom and avoid transit through foreign jurisdictions. A customer in India or another regional market may not need the same geographic restriction, but may still require secure, private, and policy-driven connectivity into cloud resources hosted in Saudi Arabia. Graphiant gives stc the ability to define and enforce these differentiated geographic policies based on each customer’s location, regulatory profile, and business requirements.
With Graphiant’s Data Assurance offering, stc combines KSA-hosted service control with customer-specific traffic boundary enforcement. Traffic policies align to sovereignty requirements so that KSA-bound traffic remains within the Kingdom when required, while other regional and international customers use broader connectivity policies where appropriate. This allows stc to support strict Saudi data residency requirements without limiting its ability to serve customers across the broader region.
The result is a differentiated sovereign cloud connectivity service that stc offers to customers in Saudi Arabia and beyond. By using Graphiant Data Assurance hosted in KSA, stc provides capabilities that are not available from other service providers, including private multi-cloud access, geographic traffic control, policy-based routing, and data residency alignment from a service foundation deployed inside the Kingdom.
The Graphiant Advantage
Graphiant enables stc to deliver a modern, secure, and scalable cloud connectivity service purpose-built for today’s multi-cloud enterprise environments. By providing private, dependable access into AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, and OCI without relying on the public internet, Graphiant helps stc improve application performance, strengthen security, reduce connectivity costs, and accelerate customer onboarding into new cloud regions. The solution also allows stc to extend cloud on-ramp services beyond Saudi Arabia, positioning the Kingdom as a strategic regional hub for enterprise cloud access.
