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invade the data centre, it’s probably futile
to put a timescale on this. What we see is
a number of sound business reasons for
finally moving towards a consistent way of
codifying operations, reducing complexity,
and optimising costs. Ultimately customers
will drive this, not the vendors.
Software Defined Networking (SDN) is
gaining huge attention in the media, so
everyone is well aware of it in the Middle
East and every data centre today – at least
every data centre and service provider
that wants to remain in business over the
next few years – is looking at how it can
better automate and orchestrate assets for
competitive gain.
There is still some residual scepticism about
what SDN means in practice, and whether it
can deliver everything it promises. However,
the underlying premise of SDN appears
compelling in terms of reducing equipment
costs in the core, reduced complexity and
improved control and transparency. Given
the scale of some of the infrastructure in
the Middle East, we would expect some of
the larger service providers and enterprise
customers to take the lead here first.
FEATURE: SDN
individual devices via a command line
interface, and allowing traffic to move
more quickly and consistently. For example,
it would be very easy to set a network
up in such a way that the traffic to and
from certain users travels through secure
connections only. Or, you could set a
policy that would always route unified
communications traffic over lowest latency
circuits, to ensure that these applications
are consistently supported. SD-WAN allows
these policies to be immediately translated
into operational rules and downloaded to all
managed devices upon implementation. across many locations at the same time. The
task of setting up secure connections to all of
these locations could be a slow and error-
prone exercise if traditional methods are used.
By contrast, this task can be accomplished in
much less time using the centralised control
and automation capabilities of SD-WAN. In
more general terms, SD-WAN makes it easy to
establish secure connections in full-or-partial
mesh topologies that interconnect enterprise
sites, VPCs and cloud regions.
Connecting remote offices to
cloud applications Modern software development practices
rely on the capability of DevOps teams to
work together and work fast. DevOps must
be able to quickly set up and take down test
environments; waiting days or weeks to get a
VPN connection to the cloud is simply not an
option. This also applies to situations where
semi-custom applications are deployed. With
SD-WAN, what once took days or weeks
can be done in minutes, maximising the
efficiency of DevOps initiatives.
This particular use case is based on the
heavy demand for cloud-based applications
in modern organisations. Setting up
Internet connectivity for remote offices
and branches of your business can be a
frustrating, slow and inefficient process
when using traditional methods. But
through the use of SD-WAN, connecting
offices in new locations can be dramatically
simplified and sped up. For example, you
can quickly design a shadow appliance,
Streamlining DevOps with temporary
VPN connections
Linking enterprise sites effectively
Most businesses are entirely reliant on MPLS
Charbel Khneisser, Regional Presales
Charbel Khneisser, Regional
Director,
METNA
at Riverbed
Presales
Director,
METNA
at Riverbed
How can SD-WAN can be
used to improve network
performance across a range
of different use cases?
Setting traffic path rules
A key function of SD-WAN is that it allows
for the customisation and implementation
of management policies designed to
facilitate business needs. This is done via
a GUI-based, central console, avoiding the
time-consuming requirement of configuring
www.intelligentcio.com
which functions as a placeholder for a
physical device, on the central management
console of an SD-WAN solution. Zero-touch
provisioning can then be used to bring
the device online without the need for
administrative action when it is plugged in
at the remote/branch office.
A 10-minute setup
Frequently within an organisation, a cloud-
based application will be used by people
to connect enterprise sites, but significant
savings can be achieved by relocating
some (or all) WAN traffic onto broadband
Internet. SD-WAN makes it easy to set
up secure, hybrid WANs that blend MPLS
with broadband Internet in any number
of network patterns and set-ups. As an
added benefit, an administrator can use
policy-based management to set priorities
and automatically balance traffic across
WAN links depending on circumstances and
business needs. n
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