INTELLIGENT BRANDS // Cloud
Hybrid Will Be the New Normal for Next Generation Enterprise WAN
Taken from a white paper , Gartner discusses how public cloud services and mobility are driving business needs where the Internet and MPLS play an equally important role for enterprise connectivity .
Enterprise business needs for connectivity have evolved to such a point that network planners can no longer fulfill these needs by just sourcing a single private MPLS WAN service connecting branch offices to a Data Centre :
• Although branch offices still need to be connected to enterprise data centers , they now also need to be connected to various external cloud services . These cloud services are often sourced via separate projects for specific application needs that also lead to project-specific WAN connections , often based on the Internet .
• Enterprise employees ’ typical method of conducting business and accessing applications is shifting from PC workstations to laptops , mobile phones and tablets . These are increasingly being used in a mobile context outside of the office both to access applications and to interact with colleagues , partners and customers via the Internet .
The result , as evident from Gartner client inquiries ( see Note 1 ), is that enterprise WAN connectivity has evolved in an ad hoc manner based on project-by-project needs into what often are multiple independent solutions . This includes Internet used to offload MPLS , mobile broadband connecting to the Internet , and public cloud services added as application needs arise .
The problem arising from this ad hoc approach to enterprise connectivity is that the enterprise ends up with multiple point solutions with no allencompassing solution to manage , which makes it difficult to ensure consistently good application performance . Frequent inquiries with Gartner clients demonstrate that network planners focus too much on basic access connectivity — that is , connecting branch offices or remote users to the WAN . In that process , they often forget to consider how application traffic will flow in the WAN or consider how the end user experience is perceived from the client end .
The consequence is recurring application performance problems caused by incomplete WAN architectures that force high network
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