Whether you’re a product manager or operations leader at a managed service provider (MSP) – or the end customer of an MSP – you know the challenges of building and deploying a successful WAN across dozens (or hundreds) of sites. Truck rolls (yes, that’s usually plural) to each branch office to drop off, plug-in and properly configure equipment. Often 5 to 7 pieces of equipment. And the ongoing maintenance + equipment swap outs or additions as business needs or capacity requirements expand. But managed service offerings are starting to change. Just as enterprise data centers evolved from physical servers/storage/networks to…
Each year, Gartner produces a “Cool Vendor” report that spotlights innovative companies in the area of communications service provider infrastructure. This year we are honored to be included, given the strong amount of innovation occurring in the telecommunications industry. Gartner’s recognition of Versa in this category really highlights the great strides our team has made since founding the company in 2012. I like to think we are truly transforming how managed services like SD-WAN are being built and operated to achieve unprecedented agility and profitability. According to Gartner, Cool Vendors typically fall into two main groups. “Ones that offered a…
Industry analysts have noted that branch offices are increasingly becoming a targeted point of entry into corporate networks, with attack volume growing more than 500 percent over the last three years. This is due in large part to three major trends/issues: the increasing adoption of cloud- vs. data center-hosted apps, the adding of Internet circuits as additional (and lower cost) connectivity for branch offices, and the largely unchanged and static architecture of branch office networks. The latter point is compounded by the need to deploy a multitude of siloed security appliances and/or software packages to enforce any kind of defense-in-depth…
Gartner published its Market Guide for Software-Defined WAN in December 2015 where it defines the key operating requirements for the new SD-WAN market and discusses the first set of vendors in this nascent market. By meeting the listed operating requirements, Gartner recognized Versa Networks as a Representative Vendor of SD-WAN. Gartner’s SD-WAN definition requires that vendors meet four key requirements: “SD-WAN solutions provide a lightweight replacement for traditional WAN routers, and are agnostic to WAN transport technologies (that is, they support MPLS, Internet, Long Term Evolution [LTE], etc.).” “Based on business and/or application policies, SD-WAN solutions allow for load sharing…
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,…
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…
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…
Subscribe to the Versa Blog
Trial
ROI
Contact