Tag Archives: management

29 Oct

SD-WAN Growing Use Cases for the Cloud

SD-WAN: Growing Use Cases for the Cloud

It’s remarkable how fast software-defined wide-area networking (SD-WAN) has gained momentum. Many people ask why. The answer is: SD-WAN is expanding the functionality of automating and management access to cloud applications.

The primary trigger for the growth and interest in SD-WAN is the shift, over the past decade, of a massive amount of applications to the cloud (both private and public). Networks in the client-server era were built to access applications that were housed either at an enterprise site or, more rarely, in a private data center. But the cloud shifted the game — creating the need for fast access to applications wherever they reside, including the cloud when accessed across the Internet.

Cloud Connection Challenges

From the CIO or CTO’s perspective, cloud has many benefits but also presents many challenges from the network and security point of view. Cloud applications can speed the velocity and agility of IT, enabling your workforce to connect and build on new applications on demand.

But the challenge is that you need to build a new infrastructure to support these cloud applications. There are several challenges to connecting your workforce to this new world of agile cloud applications. Here are a few:

Application Performance: Cloud means there are many routes for workers to connect – and generally they do so using the network, not always under control of the corporate network. They could be using Internet broadband to connect to a cloud application or they might be on a corporate WAN. SD-WAN technology can add network intelligence to the corporate WAN to recognize which applications are being accessed and connect them in the most efficient, cost effective way. It can provide Internet breakout to make sure that general Internet traffic is not routed through expensive private data-center connections (such as MPLS). And furthermore, SD-WAN technology can be used to connect directly to recognize the most common cloud applications (Microsoft Office 365, Salesforce), and connect to application-specific gateways that speed up applications access.

Security: With the increased use of the Internet and cloud technologies, it’s harder for IT staff to assure security when employees are using the network to connect to the cloud. SD-WAN can enable additional network visibility and security functions that assure that cloud applications are being accessed in a secure way. More importantly, by enabling network branches and endpoints with SD-WAN, IT staff can gain more insight into how the networks are being used and implement security policies.

Agility and Automation: In the hardware-based WAN world, networks were connected with complicated hardware configurations and leased lines, making changes to the network topology and architecture difficult. In order to connect to the cloud, a more responsive network is needed to gain control and visibility over cloud connections. With SD-WAN, networks can be more quickly orchestrated and changed using software, increasing the speed with which IT and networking staff can respond to changing business demand. In addition, SD-WAN deployments can often be set up using software-based automation tools such as templates.

End-User Attraction: Making Life Easier

What’s most powerful about SD-WAN is that it has the potential to solve several of these challenges at once, by providing an integrated, software-driven platform for automating network policy and applications.

Cloud applications mean that traffic flows within the network have drastically changed and become inefficient. The technology to handle these new traffic flows is embedded in many SD-WAN platforms.

SD-WAN emerged with a few use cases anchored to the need for fast cloud access, but those use cases are now expanding, according to Futuriom research.  That is because the WAN is a key enabler — and also possibly stumbling block — for cloud applications.

So how exactly does SD-WAN do that? The MEF, a global industry alliance comprised of more than 150 networking technology and service-provider organizations, is working to reduce the confusion surrounding SD-WAN technologies and solutions. As part of their work the MEF has identified the following as being fundamental capabilities of SD-WAN managed services:

  • Secure, IP-based virtual overlay network
  • Transport-independence of underlay network
  • Service assurance of each SD-WAN tunnel
  • Application-driven packet forwarding
  • High availability through multiple WAN links
  • Policy-based packet forwarding
  • Service automation via centralized management, control and orchestration
  • The MEF also identified some value-added services that are beyond the fundamental SD-WAN service offering. This includes WAN optimization and advanced security services.

These expanding capabilities of SD-WAN show why it’s growing so fast – it’s become the Swiss army knife of WAN automation and management. This is why IT and network managers have taken a liking to the approach is that streamlines the management of many of challenges posed to given users a better experience in connecting to the cloud.

FatPipe Networks has been developing and delivering traffic management solutions for over 17 years and was “SD-WAN before SD-WAN was cool”- Gartner.   With 12 seminal patents and a comprehensive suite that addresses any SD-WAN need, FatPipe Networks is a must for any WAN administrator considering or updating their WAN traffic management needs

26 Jul

12 Attributes of a Best of Breed SD-WAN

12 Attributes of a Best of Breed SD-WAN Solution & Why You Need One for Secure Traffic Management

SD-WAN is really about traffic management.   Sure, zero touch deployment is not necessarily a traffic management solution, but the reason software is driving WAN deployments and configurations is simply that it is capable of managing your data links and traffic across these links.

Network Security

Extensive research has established that security is the number one issue faced by WAN administrators.  Hosting your data in the cloud, hybrid cloud or on premise has created the need for highly secure traffic management between users and your data.   There are a lot of SD-WAN solutions out there that claim to have the capabilities to manage this traffic securely, but not all SD-WAN is the same.

If you think security, firewalls are part of the conversation.   Firewalls are designed to detect and prevent intrusion, but are not WAN traffic management devices.   Traditional Routers are designed to route traffic over multiple links, but have been complicated to install and definitely complicated to manage.

SD-WAN has certainly disrupted the traditional networking industry and today, software managing your data traffic is becoming much more commonplace.   For SD-WAN to be successful in today’s complicated networks, it must be simple to install and, above all, simple to use and administrate.   It must be able to run on popular hypervisors, be compatible with cloud infrastructures and understand multiple link types, including legacy systems, such as BGP networks, as well as the less expensive and ubiquitous broadband networks.

So how does the WAN administrator find the best SD-WAN solution when there is so much choice and marketing hype?   Understanding the features and functions of pure SD-WAN is important, especially when it comes to security of your data.

Best of breed SD-WAN solutions will come with the following features:

  1. Easy to install
  2. Support ALL link types (existing legacy systems (BGP) as well as Internet, satellite, 3G,4G,5G, LTE, cable)
  3. Support multiple links in one device (up to 12 interfaces is not uncommon)
  4. Support bandwidth ranges from 10Mb up to 40 Gig.
  5. Provide secure management of BOTH inbound and outbound traffic.
  6. Allow customization and assignment of application traffic on certain links with instant failover
  7. Ability to determine healthy links instantly, which allows for instant failover, of BOTH inbound and outbound traffic. This usually means the methodology used to test the links is very important.  Ask what algorithms the software uses to test the links.
  8. Cloud support with emphasis on secure traffic transmission and instant failover capabilities to multiple link types.
  9. Zero touch branch deployment
  10. Options to host or outsource to MSP
  11. Opex or Capex offerings
  12. Most important! Easy to use management tool!   It must provide a simple to use traffic management tool that allows for quick, easy and intuitive changes to any link or application traffic not matter where that application or link is located on the WAN.   You should NOT have to retrain your IT staff or pay for certified staff to manage your SD-WAN implementation.

Of course, this is not a comprehensive list, but if you are looking for an SD-WAN solution to sustain your systems for some time to come, you need to consider each of the features above and map them to your long-term plan.  Remember, security is the number one issue, so do not look at any SD-WAN solution that cannot provide selective encrypted data flow across the network, and preferably choose solutions that incorporate stateful firewall IDS/IPS features.    SD-WAN will definitely benefit the efficiency of your network, but do not settle for limited capabilities, knowing that your user count will increase and your network will expand.

FatPipe Networks has been developing and selling SD-WAN solutions for over 17 years, and are widely known as the “inventors” of SD-WAN.   The software suite is extremely comprehensive, but what is most talked about is the easy to use interface, EnterpriseView™ – which is a single pane view of the network allowing administrators easy access and with simple to understand menus, administrators can make changes to traffic management, no matter the destination, starting point or route taken.

FatPipe Networks encryption is FIPS 140-2 certified, making it the only SD-WAN vendor with an encryption module approved by government agencies.  To add to the security capabilities, FatPipe recently announced firewall support next generation firewall IPS/IDS features allowing users the luxury of having a highly secure traffic management solution with integrated firewalling.

FatPipe’s comprehensive SD-WAN suite is unique in the industry especially its patented SmartDNS™ which provides customers with INBOUND fail-over capabilities, not seen in other SD-WAN offerings.   FatPipe also provides industry leading policy-based routing, giving administrators the ability to set thresholds based on common network issues, such as latency, jitter, and packet loss that will trigger if certain user defined conditions are met, ensuring data is not lost or compromised due to congestion or other link issues.

FatPipe is certainly a top contender if you are seriously considering SD-WAN or are upgrading your current network solution.  Call FatPipe today at 1-801-683-5656 x 1224.

www.fatpipeinc.com

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29 Mar

The Intelligent Edge-where are we today?

What is it, and where is it going?

Most WANs of today still use routers and technology that, at the time, served a purpose and provided a mechanism to expand the network to remote branches and locations across the world using MPLS or similar protocols.

But times have changed.  Traffic on WANs has increased by almost 10 fold in the last 15 years.   T1 was “revolutionary” many years ago, providing speeds of a blistering 1.5Mb/s.    Today, this throughput is not going to make the grade in 99% of WANs.   Fiber, or optical networks can reach speeds of over 100Gbps.   It is like buying a new car every 5 years.   You see the features and you want them, as do network administrators.  

So what is the “Intelligent Edge?”  

First, what really is “the edge”?  A definition from Wikipedia is “an edge device provides an entry point into enterprise or service provider core networks.  It can be thought of as a router that provides authenticated access to faster more efficient backbone and core networks.”     Essentially, “the edge” of any network is thought of to be a place where you generate, collect, and analyze data on the edge of the network where the data is generated rather than in centralized servers and systems.   Computation is largely or completely performed on a distributed device node known as smart device or edge device.  

OK – so now we understand “what” the edge is, so what is the “intelligent edge?   As Wide Area Networks grew and became more complicated with more and more devices being attached, both hard wired, wireless and remote, the need for bandwidth increased, dramatically. 

Today – there are almost 24 Billion devices connected to the internet with the expectation of 50 billion by 2020.    Think of the “intelligent Edge” as a place where computing occurs.   It is “intelligent” because there is technology there that has ability to control, analyze and compute.   This can be a manufacturing floor, a farm crop field, a city, your home, power plant, sports arena, your car, in the air, or under the sea.  These interrelated computing devices or objects are referred to as the Internet of Things (IoT) and these devices are driving how and why the “intelligent edge” is becoming a key focus for network managers.   This intelligent edge connects these devices, performs analytics, computes, and can control actions that were formerly confined to the central or cloud based data centers. 

The usage and access demand is what is driving “edge” technologies and solutions.   It is much better to access the information and data as close to the connection point as possible.  

On average, users have 5 different devices to attach to the network.    Of course they expect to attach to a network and access the applications and data they need, instantly.   But this requires a network with agility, flexibility and “intelligence” to understand where the requests are coming from, how to manage the requests in the most efficient and effective manner possible and to provide reliable connectivity which, after all, is why sensors and monitors are being installed in machines such as wind turbines, to monitor vibration, wear and operating effectiveness, and help prevent brownouts or blackouts.    However, without constant and reliable connectivity, the data provided by these sensors would be “lost”.

The un-intelligent router in all its forms is struggling to find relevance in this scenario. The availability of ethernet handoff is killing the router business. They are trying hard to find relevance in this scenario.

So where next for the “intelligent edge”?  

As stated earlier, more and more devices are being connected and more and more data being collected on a multitude of things to help streamline decision making to prevent downtime or in the worst cases, failure.    

Networks of the future are going to be driven by the need for instant information, instant decisions, and instant remediation.   All of which is why the “intelligent edge” will become a mainstream “product” in the design and implementation of ANY network.      Having said that, what does this mean for networks of today, and what should the administrators plan for to embrace these changes?

Let’s look at the current most important issues faced by network administrators and how embracing intelligent edge devices will affect how these issues might be dealt with.

Firstly – Security:

Many recent surveys suggest the number one issue faced by network administrators worldwide is, security.  Security of data, whether in transmission or stored somewhere is critical.    We just have to look at the problems faced with social media company data breaches, credit card company breaches and others to know that data security is by far and away the number one issue.  Can the “intelligent edge” help?  Yes and no.   It is not the “edge’ that can prevent hacking, it is the underlying software that transmits the data that is key.    The transmission of data across the network, from edge device or user to data center to other devices, needs to be secure.   Administrators need to deploy software solutions that provide highly secure data transmission, and that includes data from the edge.    The intelligent edge, does however, compute locally and provides a more local management issue, rather than a broad network security issue.

Second:- Ease of Management:

Believe it or not, the costs of recruiting, training, certifying and managing skilled IT staff is becoming a major issue for any business.   The days of paying for continuing education and propriety certification are waning.   Today, administrators are looking for solutions that are easy to manage, especially when devices and or offices are remote.   The Intelligent Edge should be simple, easy to install and manage remotely, and for the most part, this is true once the devices are installed.

Third: – Compatibility with existing networks:

Organizations are reluctant to rip and replace their networks.   If a solution can augment existing installations, administrators will look favorably at these recommendations.  So, does the intelligent edge help with these decisions?    Certainly, as they can use existing infrastructure provided there is an underlying software that can manage data transmission and device access securely and reliably.  

Fourth: – Network performance:

Latency, bandwidth, reliability, duplication and overall cost of the network are all top of mind.  Intelligent edge devices cannot perform or provide the benefits they claim to bring to a business if the underlying network is slow, unreliable or using legacy systems that are slow and difficult to manage or update.    The Intelligent Edge is only going to be as good as the network infrastructure it is connected to.  The bottom line here is to make sure the network is configured to take advantage of intelligent edge device data.    

So now what?

The Intelligent Edge is certainly something that can help network administrators predict the future more accurately.  The more data these devices provide, the better the decision will be on how to use this information, and with the advent of AI, this information can be acted on immediately, providing “instant” remediation or feedback that helps businesses learn what we like, when equipment may malfunction, where to route data to avoid a line failure, how to prepare for the best solution, and even where we might choose to travel to next.

So just install intelligent edge devices and move on?   Stop!    Read this first!

Earlier in this article, we mentioned the need for the underlying network infrastructure to be “intelligent edge” ready.    Remember, you can have all the sensors and monitoring services available, but if the data they produce is not getting to the right places at the right time, you are back to square one.    Adding more devices or “edge services” does not make network administration easier unless you have the right network solution to take advantage of these benefits.

Without installing software solutions to monitor and manage your edge devices, the “intelligent edge” becomes another user on the network.   In order to take advantage of the many benefits the “intelligent edge” provides, you need to make sure your network is ready.   

It must be ready to:

  • Transmit data from all devices, including the intelligent edge devices, securely and effectively, without user intervention.
  • Proactively route data on the best available link in times of congestion
  • Automatically failover in a sub second if a connection should fail
  • Use all and available bandwidth proactively and intelligently, without having to reconfigure the network
  • Automatically detect and remediate attempts to breach the security of the network
  • Be managed easily and simply from a single point, with zero touch provisioning for remote branches.

FatPipe Networks has been providing network solutions for over 15 years and is the only company with a patented security module that is FIPS 140-2 certified, providing military grade security for traffic across the WAN or across broadband networks.   FatPipe solutions give administrators the comfort of the highest SD-WAN security available.

Fatpipe patented technologies have eliminated the need for BGP routing, and with it all the delays in inefficiencies of route propagation. Fatpipe brought intelligence to the edge.

Using FatPipe’s single pane GUI management tools, administrators can not only see exactly what their network looks like, but with FatPipe’s QoS, they can prioritize application access no matter where the application resides, in the cloud or locally.   In addition, FatPipe’s solutions allow for load balancing over multiple links, including Cable, DSL, MPLS, DIA, 3G, 4G, 5G LTE and satellite.  FatPipe’s management tools are easy to use, requiring basic IT skills saving companies’ significant time and IT staff educational costs.

FatPipe has always been a company serving network administrators.   FatPipe was providing WAN SD-WAN solutions long before SD-WAN became a buzz word.  The solutions are built to work with existing LAN and WAN infrastructures and protocols.  In fact, FatPipe is the only SD-WAN vendor to support up to 40Gbps bandwidth and up to 15 interfaces.  

FatPipe Networks:  801-683-5656 x1224.

20 Mar

The Most Important Factors Affecting WAN Administrators Today

Organizations are looking at how to reduce the costs of WAN management and WAN optimization.  With the advent of Cloud based applications for a private, public or hybrid cloud, businesses are searching for the best solution to help not only implement these changes, but to manage them as well.   Here are three of the most important factors affecting WAN administration today:

  1. Security: Without question, the most important factor affecting the implementation of any SD-WAN solution, is security. Our research revealed that security of applications hosted in the cloud and locally was paramount to IT administrators.    But it is not only security of cloud based applications.  Transmission across the WAN is equally important, especially for organizations with international operations.
  2. Ease of Management: This gives rise to the second most important factor affecting WAN administrators.   Administrator skills required to manage the WAN.   Organizations cited that the need to have highly skilled, and in some cases, vendor certified personnel to manage their WAN equipment was costing too much, especially with on-going maintenance of proprietary systems and solutions.  More than 50% of respondents stated that they have difficulty in retaining IT expertise, especially in today’s job market.   Solutions that keep it simple, easy to manage and cost effective are preferred.
  3. Compatibility with existing networks:  Very few suppliers can claim to have a suite of offerings that can address the complex need to address security, ease of management of private and public cloud application needs and compatibility with existing networks.    Rip and replace is not something WAN administrators want, or should do.   There is growing need to upgrade, enhance and augment existing infrastructures, using the equipment and legacy systems to help implement a SD-WAN solution that is compatible with current networking technology and protocols such as BGP. EIGRP, and OSPF, and well as provide inbound and outbound load balancing and traffic control.

FatPipe offers its customers SD-WAN solutions with WAN Optimization and network optimization.  These solutions are available as appliances, virtual machines (VMs) and instances in the Azure and AWS cloud.

FatPipe has always been a company serving network administrators.   FatPipe was providing SD-WAN solutions long before SD-WAN became a buzz word.  The solutions are built to work with existing LAN and WAN infrastructures and protocols.  In fact, FatPipe is the only SD-WAN vendor to support up to 40Gbps bandwidth and up to 15 interfaces.  

FatPipe Networks – www.fatpipeinc.com Call 801683-5656 x 1224