solutions | FatPipe Networks Blog

Not all SD-WAN solutions solve the problem

Buy SD-WAN – it will solve your network issues and improve your efficiencies. Really? How often have you been approached by an IT solution provider who represents a particular vendor’s product and convinces you that it will solve your problem? You trust them and buy their solution only to find it can only do 50% of you need it do.

This is very common in today’s market. Most WAN administrators want very simple things. A network that works efficiently, securely, and “autonomously” so that they can concentrate on delivering applications to their user base that help drive company profits.

So why is it so challenging to implement Software-Defined WAN (SD-WAN) solutions that work as desired? Research has shown that a large percentage of SD-WAN solutions deployed are either re-tooled or worst case – removed because they have not met specific needs.

Don’t buy the Hype!

Marketing plays a significant role in decisions made. Certain features and functions are marketed to solve business needs, but savvy administrators do not buy the hype. They require suppliers to prove effectiveness of the recommended solution.

Here is where the rubber meets the road.

Businesses will do Proof of Concept, and it is usually a good way to determine if the products will solve the problems. Or is it? Only if your POC has been designed to show you how the solution solves the “real” problem, not mask it with fancy screens showing how it “may” solve it without really getting to the bottom of the issue. The pressure to close the sale is always the driving force.

The truth is, most vendors want to help you solve your network problems. However, there is a flood of opportunists who simply want to make some cash. Simply put – software-defined network solutions should be simple to understand, simple to implement and above all, simple to manage!

Key Issues Facing Administrators

Now it is well known that businesses are most wary of the security of their data flowing across their network. How can they ensure that this traffic is secure from origin to destination and back? What about cloud-based applications, the internet as a reliable link, back up off-premise, and application performance? Can SD-WAN provide a comprehensive solution to ALL the issues, not just a subset?

Firewall companies will sell an SD-WAN solution, router companies will sell an SD-WAN solution, and ISPs will sell an SD-WAN solution. Which is right for your business?

It is all about the “S”

It is the “S” in SD-WAN that is critical to decision making. Without a comprehensive, integrated and simple to manage software suite, your SD-WAN may look a little like a cobbled together smorgasbord of hardware and software that is frequently difficult to navigate, difficult to remediate issues and impossible to customize. To exacerbate the problem – you need to retrain your IT staff, get new certifications or worse still, hire expensive administrators. And just wait until you have to upgrade! What happened to the SD-WAN that will solve my problems and be much more efficient?

The best approach to an SD-WAN solution is to focus your research and effort on the “S”. It is the software that drives the management of traffic on your network, not the hardware. It is the software that will give your business the flexibility and control required to ensure your data is secure, no matter which link is used, or where it is destined, and it is the software that will allow simple and easy to manage traffic management.

So, the software MUST be able to work on multiple platforms, virtual machines, large or small edge devices, and provide the user with a simple, easy to understand and use interface that provides a complete view of your entire network to enable effective traffic management.

It really is about Traffic Management

After all, it is about traffic management, isn’t it? The software you choose (the SD-WAN solution you choose) will determine the security, flexibility, reliability, and performance of your network. Can you afford NOT to look at the best of breed “S”?

FatPipe Networks have been developing networking solutions for over 20 years and were the first to sell “SD-WAN” into the market, even before SD-WAN became a buzz word. FatPipe’s software suite is unmatched in the industry with a comprehensive solution that addresses security, reliability, performance, compatibility and most importantly, is simple to install and easy to manage! Regarded as “best of breed SD-WAN” FatPipe works with any link type, including cable, wireless, 3G, 4G, 5G, LTE, satellite, broadband, and legacy systems such as BGP.

If you are serious about the “S” in SD-WAN, you must include FatPipe Networks in your evaluations.

FatPipe at Channel Partners 2019

I find most modern day IT conferences pretty much the same. Arrive, set up the booth, meet and greet, wine and dine and listen to presentations, some inspiring, some not so much. But, with so many attendees, it is important to be seen, be present and tell your targeted audience exactly what you can do for them with your solutions.

Channel Partners Expo in Las Vegas April 9-12 this year was a show to remember for several reasons. It was well attended, it had a lot of products for resellers to look at and above all, it was warm outside and that in of itself was comforting coming from a cold and snowy Salt Lake City Utah.

FatPipe Networks had steady traffic to the booth, with a large amount of interest in our current technologies. Some patrons knew about FatPipe networks and were pleasantly surprised at how our SD-WAN solutions have evolved and developed. FatPipe is known for being the first to market with networking solutions that helped shaped what SD-WAN is today, and the veterans in the reseller industry were cognizant of how FatPipe leads the industry with the concept of load balancing, redundancy and failover.

Today, however, the SD-WAN market has changed and FatPipe has too. The demand for the digital transformation which includes cloud based applications, IoT, AI, mobility, and secure management of data across the network is increasing dramatically. There is still reluctance to fully embrace SD-WAN technologies perhaps because of the legacy systems still in place, which are expensive to maintain and difficult to change. However, it is now well known that with SD-WAN, companies can take advantage of less costly connections, including the internet, but are wary of security. In fact, several recent surveys have identified security as the number 1 issue for network administrators, but what might not be apparent is that it is the talent to implement and manage SD-WAN that ranks a close number 2.

FatPipe’s highly secure, easy to manage SD-WAN solutions are once again leading the industry

It was really encouraging to talk to resellers of all shapes and sizes at Channel Partners this year and explain how FatPipe is once again leading the SD-WAN charge with solutions that meet both these, and many more, key concerns of network administrators. FatPipe’s latest software release has a patented security module that is FIPS 140-2 certified, making FatPipe a leader in secure data transmission across the WAN.

The concern about implementing SD-WAN solutions with unqualified IT staff is an interesting factoid that can be successfully addressed with FatPipe’s Enterprise View. A single pane view of the network allows FatPipe users a very simple and easy methodology to change settings, apply prioritization to application access, set automatic failover thresholds based on user defined criteria and manage the WAN traffic easily and effectively. And all this requires basic IT skills, no propriety certifications, retraining or refresh. In fact, FatPipe has installations at thousands of institutions across the globe where the skills of IT personnel varies from highly certified to very basic, and each site manages their network traffic using this easy to use tool from FatPipe.

FatPipe has developed solutions for the modern day SD-WAN environments with a suite of SD-WAN products that are secure, very easy to use and have the very best ROI in the industry.

Channel Partners was enlightening and exhausting, but at the end of the day, it was great to see old friends and meet new people, share ideas and above all, let all know that FatPipe is once again leading the SD-WAN market with innovative, industry leading solutions.