Founder and CDO, Versa Networks
January 14, 2016
Awareness of, and demand for, Network Function Virtualization (NFV) exploded in 2015. This comes after just three years of life as a technology. It is no surprise to us that NFV is getting so much attention. The need for greater service agility, versatility and reduced costs around networking has never been clearer — especially in the wake of ongoing transitions to the cloud and DevOps operating modes, as well as the need to squeeze greater cost efficiencies from network resources. Software-Defined WAN (SD-WAN) in particular is gaining momentum. In the past six months, inquiries regarding this nascent technology have soared,…
Founder and CDO, Versa Networks
November 10, 2015
Enterprise WAN and branch architectures really haven’t changed much in the last 20 years. Traffic patterns, though, have changed quite a bit with the advent of cloud apps like Office365 and Salesforce.com. Couple that with large amounts of branch traffic going to recreational sites. But today’s branch architectures are still designed for branch-to-data center or -HQ connectivity based on expensive MPLS connectivity or DIY over-the-top VPN technologies like DMVPN (which are complex to setup and manage). At the same time, broadband connectivity has significantly improved and its performance metrics are similar to MPLS. Compounding these WAN issues is the fact…
Versa Networks
November 7, 2015
If you’ve been reading IT trade publications lately, you may have seen a new networking sector called software-defined WAN (SD-WAN). SD-WAN provides several value propositions for the enterprise in the form of lower connectivity costs by adding broadband/Internet options to your MPLS WAN, improved application performance through “app-aware” routing, and reduced complexity and operational delays by centrally managing branch appliances with zero-touch provisioning. But it doesn’t take a hardened network manager (or IT purchasing department analyst) to conclude that while SD-WAN improves connectivity, key branch services like security and WAN optimization are not part of the solution. Hence branch architectures…