Category Archives: SD-WAN

21 Nov

How FatPipe SD-WAN Adapts to the Evolving Needs of Branch Offices

The best networks aren’t the ones that are only the fastest, but are the ones that adjust the quickest.

With businesses spread across multiple countries or even continents, branch offices’ role in daily operations cannot be underestimated. The hard reality in the modern digital landscape is that if these branches are not equipped with a solution that adapts to their growing needs, they will suffer from performance issues which will have major consequences.

FatPipe SD-WAN: Adapting to the Evolving Needs of Branch Offices

  • With FatPipe SD-WAN, critical applications such as video conferencing or financial transactions can be prioritized to run over MPLS or high-speed fiber, while less demanding traffic can be routed over cost-effective broadband or 4G/5G connections. FatPipe SD-WAN ensures that each data packet takes the optimal path across the network, regardless of whether it’s traveling to the cloud, another branch office, or the main office.
  • Branch offices struggle with challenges related to session continuity and failover. Traditional networks are prone to disruptions during link failures, resulting in dropped connections, terminated sessions, and productivity loss. FatPipe SD-WAN solves this by offering stateful failover and session resiliency, meaning that if one link fails (for example, a fiber line or MPLS circuit), FatPipe will automatically reroute traffic over a secondary link (such as broadband or 4G/5G) without disrupting ongoing sessions.
  • FatPipe has the unique ability of data transmission across lines without dynamic routing protocols using FatPipe MPSec TM that makes network lighter, simpler, faster and more secure. Please refer to our Intelligent WAN Edge blog for more details.
  • FatPipe SD-WAN uses a threshold-based approach to monitor the quality of each selected line. It keeps tab on latency, jitter, and packet loss. If any of these exceed the thresholds, the traffic can be moved to another WAN connection to maintain optimal performance.
  • FatPipe SD-WAN accomplishes failover so gracefully; existing sessions continue on the original WAN interface while only new sessions are established on the failed-over connection.
  • In remote branch office areas, where high-speed connections like fiber may not be available, FatPipe SD-WAN optimizes available links such as satellite or cellular connections. It ensures efficient bandwidth utilization, dynamically switching between links to maintain the best possible performance, even in regions with unreliable connectivity.
  • Central management of FatPipe SD-WAN simplifies network operations, ensures higher performance and security, and reduces costs for branch offices while making it easier to scale and maintain consistency across all locations.
  • FatPipe SD-WAN ensures lower TCO with the feature of true load balancing of links without traffic duplication and single IP framework that have potential to save up to 60% of network bandwidth.

FatPipe SD-WAN allows branch offices to leverage any available connectivity—whether broadband, satellite, or MPLS—and integrates them seamlessly into the overall corporate network. Also, it ensures that security remains a top priority. The virtual network overlay can integrate advanced security features like encryption, traffic segmentation, and Zero Trust models, protecting sensitive data across all branch locations.

FatPipe SD-WAN addresses the performance issues inherent in long-distance interconnectivity reliably and efficiently. This ability of FatPipe SD-WAN to adapt quickly to varying needs, rather than just relying on sheer speed, is what makes it so effective for branch offices’ evolving demands.

20 Aug

Leveraging AI for SD-WAN Support: Best Practices and Innovations

Imagine a business experiences unexpected issues in their network.  The network team must quickly diagnose whether the problem originates from configuration errors, link failures, or external factors like ISP issues. Traditionally troubleshooting has been dependent on support engineer but with advent of AI the roles are undergoing transformation; FatPipe has introduced AI-based support for Partners and Customers, in the form of chatbot, that helps the teams to troubleshoot and diagnose the issue without calling technical support, thus reducing the network downtime.

FatPipe AI-Enabled Support for Enhanced User Experience

FatPipe AI-Enabled Support is an all-encompassing solution where the customer can gain comprehensive knowledge about FatPipe SD-WAN. The AI tool is a result of hundreds of years of technical expert experience which has been encoded for partners and customers to retrieve immediately to resolve not only simple issues but also the complex problems. FatPipe’s innovative strategy leverages the power of artificial intelligence to deliver real-time, intelligent support and answers any query for the user’s SD-WAN solutions. It provides the advantages of precise product insights (be it downtime-related or any troubleshooting issue), instant response, and 24/7 service. The result: Customer’s network runs flawlessly.

Best Practices that FatPipe AI Follows for SD-WAN Support

Several solution providers must understand that innovation alone will not bring results. Innovation, in tandem with best practices, is key to enhanced user experience.

  • FatPipe’s AI policy is transparent, and it explicitly states that the customer is interacting with the AI chatbot.
  • FatPipe AI is a customer-centric product made with regular updating based on  customer suggestions and queries.
  • FatPipe AI doesn’t miss the human factor; it essentially augments the skills of the support specialist by escalating to a support specialist through the portal.
  • The conversional flows are clear and user-friendly; It provides access to comprehensive resources and documentation, enabling users to resolve issues independently while deepening their understanding of SD-WAN.
  • There are options in the tool to engage with a customer support specialist through e-mail or chat or phone for complex issues. This helps in not leading to any unmet expectations.

FatPipe’s role in SD-WAN support is significant, enabling users to stay ahead of network challenges and focus on driving their business forward with confidence. It augments the innovative FatPipe patented features to maintain seamless, reliable and secure connectivity in an increasingly complex digital environment. FatPipe positions itself as a leader in innovation, showcasing its dedication to providing efficient, customer-centric support that resonates with today’s digital-first landscape.

31 Jul

FatPipe SD-WAN’s Pivotal Role in Overcoming Last Mile Connectivity Problems

The last mile or the final segment of line connectivity is crucial because it serves as the link between the network service provider and a networked location, making its performance critical for ensuring a reliable and efficient connection. As per recent studies, 80% of companies utilizing SD-WAN report experiencing performance concerns on the last mile of their network, more so in developing economies due to multiple infrastructure works of highways, telecom, sewage, roads etc. causing frequent fiber cuts.

How FatPipe SD-WAN Overcomes Last Mile Constraints?

FatPipe SD-WAN is an excellent solution for overcoming last mile constraints including handling network disruptions seamlessly –

  • Legacy network protocols struggle to aggregate different last-mile connectivity types like MPLS, Internet, Broadband, LTE, and VSAT. FatPipe SD-WAN’s patented technology seamlessly combines these into a single IP framework, ensuring efficient, secure, and parallel data transmission across disparate networks.
  • FatPipe SD-WAN prevents bottlenecks by adapting on-the-fly for optimal performance, using seamless failover to ensure zero user traffic disruption. This is achieved through patented technology that maintains a single packet copy across redundant lines, ensuring reliable and uninterrupted sessions.
  • FatPipe load balances outbound and inbound traffic across multiple available WAN links using industry-best techniques of MPSEC TM & SmartDNS TM. Many customers have benefitted not only with enhanced resiliency but also with payback period of less than a year by deploying FatPipe SD-WAN.

Benefits of FatPipe SD-WAN in Augmenting Last Mile Connectivity

  • FatPipe SD-WAN minimizes data loss by dynamically selecting the best path for traffic based on real-time network conditions.
  • Legacy networks can’t handle brownouts caused by high latency, packet loss, or jitter on last mile connects which is quite frequent phenomenon in most of the networks. FatPipe SD-WAN sets specific thresholds for these issues, automatically rerouting traffic to a stable line when they are exceeded. Once the link’s quality is restored, FatPipe seamlessly redirects traffic back to the original interface.
  • By optimizing traffic routing and prioritizing critical applications, FatPipe SD-WAN further optimizes latency. This is essential for applications that require real-time communication, such as VoIP and video conferencing.

FatPipe SD-WAN excels in addressing last mile constraints by continuously monitoring and optimizing the signal as it traverses the critical juncture. It can perform dynamic routing, ensuring optimal performance and reliability without the need of co-operation from the ISP. This proactive management guarantees minimal disruption, superior performance, and a seamless user experience, showcasing FatPipe SD-WAN’s superior capability in overcoming last mile connectivity issues.

11 Jul

How FatPipe SD-WAN Reduces Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) of Network Infrastructure

Several enterprises, even now, rely on standard WAN and SD-WAN offerings that generate high CAPEX and OPEX costs. This poses a high risk; the expenses for maintaining legacy WAN systems will eventually surpass the investment required for a modern, business-aligned network solution.  Companies witness around 20-30% cost reduction when they switch to the SD-WAN solution (according to reports) but embracing FatPipe software-defined approach reduces Network TCO by more than 50% ensuring FatPipe SD-WAN investment break even for customers in less than one year.

Industry Unique Features of FatPipe for SD-WAN Investment Break Even in less than one year

FatPipe being the inventor of key SD-WAN features has patented and innovative ways of network transformation for reducing network TCO.

  • Single IP Framework for Link Aggregation – FatPipe MPVPN patented technology aggregates traffic of heterogeneous last mile e.g. MPLS, Internet, broadband, LTE, 5G, wireless, leased lines, and satellite in end-to-end single IP framework enabling traffic navigation across multi- technology links. This traffic load balancing can reduce per annum customer bandwidth costs by 20-30%.
  • Load Balancing without Traffic Duplication – FatPipe SD-WAN MPSEC TM patent ensures no duplication of traffic among redundant lines during data, voice and video to ensure customer bandwidth savings up to 50% year on year.
  • WAN Optimization – Reduces TCO through advanced WAN optimization techniques namely caching, compression, de-duplication etc. FatPipe WAN optimization is at an innovative byte level, ensuring industry-best traffic optimization granularity. These features reduce bandwidth costs between 10% and 90% depending on payload application nature.
  • Selective Encryption – FatPipe’s patented hybrid WAN technology selectively encrypts only the traffic placed on public links, avoiding encryption on MPLS traffic. This feature reduces encryption overheads ensuring potential bandwidth savings by 30% depending on packet size.
  • Intelligent Traffic Management and Prioritization – This feature optimizes the utilization of available bandwidth reducing the need for over-provisioning and ensuring that critical applications receive the necessary resources to save excess bandwidth costs by 10% to 20%.
  • Unifying Heterogeneous Devices – FatPipe SD-WAN has the capability of working as router, stateful/next-gen firewall, Intrusion Detection and Prevention system, load balancer, unified threat manager, WAN optimizer, DNS, and DHCP as well as provides best-of-breed network performance and fault management system functionalities. This combination saves customer hardware TCO by about 10% to 30%.

Combination of these features during solution design phase leads to significant reduction in customer network costs by more than 50% and also provides better network availability, impregnable security, accelerated WAN traffic, and enhanced user experience for increased organization productivity.

01 Jul

Enhancing Business Productivity with Application Aware Routing

Traditional network architectures, while efficient at routing packets, fall short in understanding the applications being transported and hence are unaware of business priorities. This hinders businesses from achieving optimal operations as there is no real-time application-based traffic routing. Modern networks, equipped with knowledge of the applications they carry, provide multiple benefits to businesses.

Advantage of Application Aware Routing for Modern Businesses  

  • Application Path Control (Steering): When a Data Center link for a major e-commerce company’s Order Booking Application is impaired while a high-value order is being placed, the order will fail to go through. Application-aware routing, a key function, makes real-time routing decisions, redirecting the order booking to a better link ensuring successful Business closure. This involves abstracting, pooling, and assigning the transport infrastructure to applications based on software-defined policies. Application Aware Routing, a major function of Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN), steers and priorities mission-critical traffic ensuring that critical applications like voice and video sessions remain free from jitter, latency, or packet loss

  • Application Quality of Service: Imagine a customer at a bank’s priority desk trying to open an account during busy morning hours. The bank operator struggles with slow Account opening application due to bandwidth in busy hour being consumed by other employees opening large email attachments etc. An application-aware network, with appropriate policies, guarantees express bandwidth to the account opening application, preventing business loss. FatPipe SD-WAN has one of the best Application QoS modules for helping businesses increase profitability.
  • Application Portability: Users should seek solutions enabling easy application deployment across the cloud, data centers, remote premises or disaster recovery sites. The solution should offer centralized management to allow configuration and policy updates to multiple sites from a single interface. When applications move, policies should be easily updated and propagated across the network. FatPipe SD-WAN provides this functionality through user-friendly, zero-touch central orchestrator templates for specific policy directives of each Business.
  • Application Reports: In a remote factory, an employee using most of the bandwidth for personal Google downloads hinders business work. SD-WAN provides granular application reports at the user and link levels, allowing network administrators to diagnose the problem. FatPipe SD-WAN offers deep analytics, including CxO dashboards and detailed reports on top talkers, hosts, applications, and data usage by each application with user segregation enabling high quality Network Performance Management.

In summary, FatPipe SD-WAN application-aware agile and adaptive solutions for Network transformation ensure seamless and high-quality user experiences for enhancing business productivity and profitability.