Tag Archives: WAN Redundancy

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

11 Aug

Delta Airline’s Massive Network Disaster Could Have Been Avoided

Recently, Delta airlines had a massive network disaster. This is one of the most prominent public examples of business disruption. The airline said the power failure originated at its headquarters in Atlanta, and crashed the entire network. The airline system failed and the back-up systems failed to switch over. It is always better to have a Business Continuity plan in place prior to any disaster.

FatPipe Site-to-Site failover enables companies to plan for back-up data centers without any interruption. This ensures that all web and other incoming traffic is re-directed to the back-up site. Site-to-site failover and load balancing together can help IT Managers to survive this type of disaster, especially customer facing operations, as all the operations will fail over to the back up site.

25 Jan

Conduct your own investigation

SD-WAN is the new hot acronym in wide area networking that makes complex deployments very simple. With SD-WAN several companies are offering this technology with its components such as encryption, WAN path control, application performance routing, optimization and overlay networks to the customers leaving it difficult for them to choose on.  Their decisions might go wrong in choosing one that promises absolute success. But with little awareness and consideration of some important factors the consumers can select a solution that is appropriate for the product they wish for.

The primary thing that a customer needs to know about the vendor is how long have they been in SD-WAN market offering this solution and how do they support the business at times without leaving the network in peril. Even if the vendor claims that he has countless number of customers always check for the genuine ones and avoid pit falls. Be cautious while learning about the vendors patents and try to know whether they have the patents covering their technology? Or else they are violating someone else’s patents. At the same time make sure that your company is not exposed to intellectual property violation which may get you into trouble. So make sure that the product offered by the vendors is a good fit before you actually deploy it in your existing network.

According to analysts, FatPipe SD-WAN solutions bring together all the components under a single umbrella in a single easy to deploy solution.

 

11 Jan

FatPipe Security: FIPS 140-2 & Web Filtering

The Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) Publication 140-2, (FIPS PUB 140-2), is a U.S. and Canadian concerted effort to impart computer security standard helps impute cryptographic modules for hardware and software products, issued and published by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) U.S. and has been embraced by the Canadian government’s Communication Security Establishment (CSE). FIPS is concurrently administered by NIST and CSE under the parasol of the Cryptographic Module Validation Program (CMVP).

FatPipe web filter can monitor and screen SSL/HTTPS web pages and enforces internet usage policy by blocking access to websites and internet application. The content can be blocked by site using URLS and specific file types. FatPipe encryption supports AES, 3DES, SHA1 and MD5. It provides standard encryption with IPSec and GRE encapsulation and can establish VPN/GRE tunnels with 3rd party security appliances while undergoing FIPS 140-2 certification. FatPipe cloud hosted security enhances cloud-based firewall and SWG deployments where the traffic is tunneled to cloud gateway using GRE or IPSec tunnels and trusted locations can be propagated to branches for more efficient routing. FatPipe products are FIPS 140-2 certification pending.

11 Sep

Top 100 Furniture Retailer Chooses FatPipe SD-WAN to Ensure Business Continuity

SALT LAKE CITY, UT– One of America’s top 100 furniture retailers* has chosen FatPipe SD-WAN technology for multi-line network redundancy and fail-over. Processing orders and general office communications are supported by a site-to-site VPN infrastructure directly connected to its headquarters. “Computer automation is a key element to our overall business process,” said the Network Engineer. A stable VPN is essential to the furniture outlet’s ability to conduct business.

The company realized how mission critical its VPN was when communications to one of its warehouses was cut off for one entire business day due to a downed line. The line was physically cut, accidentally, on account of construction in the area. The data stream was stopped and productivity was significantly affected. They experienced delays in putting through orders because they had to revert to manual processes. Their inventory control was difficult to maintain and had to be reconciled from paper records once the data line was available again.

“Our entire business process for that location was affected when our VPN went down,” said the Network Engineer. Other applications, including email, accounting, inventory software, and warehouse management software all were run over the VPN. “We hit the point where downtime is unacceptable,” said the Network Engineer.

He and his team researched ways to mitigate the effects of WAN downtime. They first considered BGP. According to the Network Engineer, it was a hassle. “We started the ball rolling on implementing BGP and the more we got into it, the more difficult it was becoming, so we looked for an easier solution that was just as effective, but less expensive and time consuming. We chose FatPipe SD-WAN.”

Not only can FatPipe’s SD-WAN conduct line failover automatically, it is dynamic and works with the company’s diverse combination of data lines including DSL – something BGP simply cannot do. The company uses FatPipe to aggregate a mixed breed of DSL, T1, wireless, and Metro-Ethernet rings at the various sites. Data is automatically failed over to available lines if a connection, component, or service fails.

The company also enjoys the added benefit of FatPipe’s patented security overlay technology, MPSec, which provides an additional layer of security.

The Network Engineering teams are implementing other mission critical applications, including VoIP, over its VPN, where IP data route control and QoS will come into play. These features are integrated into FatPipe’s SD-WAN solution.

ABOUT FATPIPE

FatPipe® Networks founders Dr. Ragula Bhaskar and Sanchaita Datta invented the concept of software defined wide area networking and hybrid WANs that eliminate the need for hardware and software, or cooperation from ISPs and allows companies to control WAN traffic. FatPipe currently has 11 U.S. patents and over 180 technology claims related to multipath, software defined networking. FatPipe technology provides the world’s best intra-corporate wide area network solutions that transcend Internet and other network failures to maintain business continuity and high transmission security. FatPipe, with several thousand customers, has offices in the United States, and around the world, with over 700 resellers worldwide including almost all national resellers in the US.

*FatPipe does not release the names of its customers as a general policy of confidentiality.

 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:

Hayley Doehler

(801)281-3434 ext. 2221

E-mail hayley@fatpipeinc.com