Versa Networks Launches Solutions to Deliver the Most Significant Advancements to WANs and Branch Networks in 20 Years

Networking Industry Veterans Leverage the NFV Trend to Create Carrier-Grade Software Solutions for vCPE, SD-WAN and Branch Security Use Cases

Santa Clara, Calif., November 10, 2015

Versa Networks, a networking and security startup providing next-generation WAN and branch solutions for service providers and enterprises, today announced the launch of its solution portfolio – delivering the biggest technology advancement to WANs in 20 years. Co-founded by Kumar (CEO) and Apurva Mehta (CTO), networking industry veterans, the company has leveraged the rapid advances in virtualized network functions (VNF), programmability, and dynamic provisioning, and coupled them with proven networking technologies to re-architect the WAN and branch network for greater agility, cost efficiency and simpler operations.

WAN in Need of Disruption; Versa VNFs Will Help

The traditional WAN and managed service markets have not seen significant technology or operational changes in nearly 20 years. Solutions for disruption of the $40B+ WAN market are now in strong demand from both providers and enterprises, with the “intelligent” segment of the market estimated to reach $3.2 billion by 2018 (Doyle Research), while the enabling network function virtualization (NFV) market is projected to reach $11.9 billion by 2019 (Infonetics/IHS).

The reason for the demand in next-generation WANs and branch networks is clear – service providers and enterprises continue to face significant problems when expanding their legacy WANs and managed service offerings:

• Service providers must develop and provision managed services more rapidly, increase top-line service revenue through more robust service offerings, and improve service profitability through lower-cost infrastructure and packaging models
• Enterprises are stuck with the traditional WAN connectivity challenges of long provisioning times, operational complexity, and the high cost of connectivity services and proprietary networking hardware

Versa Networks fundamentally changes how service providers and enterprises build, operate and secure WANs. Instead of continuing the use of expensive and proprietary hardware appliances, Versa enables its customers to deploy carrier-grade software solutions in both the branch office and head-end. Versa enables this new architecture through its broad set of network and security VNFs, coupled with centralized management and multiple deployment options using low-cost hardware. Target use cases include virtualized CPE (vCPE), software-defined WAN (SD-WAN), and virtualized branch security.

Components of the Versa VNF Solution

The Versa VNF solution consists of three components that together create next-generation WANs and branch networks:

• Versa FlexVNF : The core building block for Versa VNF solutions, which includes a broad set of virtualized network and security functions with carrier-grade multi-tenancy, programmability, service chaining, service elasticity, and cost-effective deployment choices
• Versa Director: Single point of centralized control and management for both connectivity and services
• Versa Analytics: A real-time analytics engine that provides control, visibility, prediction and a feedback loop for adaptability

The Versa solution provides a unique set of carrier-grade software capabilities that can radically change how service providers and large enterprises build and operate WANs and managed services:

• Multi-tenancy: The ability to provision and manage hundreds of individual customers or business subsidiaries
• Multi-service with automatic service chaining: The ability to build complex managed services and branch network architectures with multiple networking and security functions, and have each function automatically integrated and interoperable without truck rolls or onsite support
• Cost efficiency and service agility: The ability to run Versa VNFs on commodity hardware, providing a reduction in deployment time of a new network or security service from months to hours, all while reducing total cost of ownership (TCO) by up to 80 percent
• Elasticity: The ability to dynamically scale up and down the capacity of any network or security service without a truck roll or hardware refresh
• Application-awareness: The ability to optimize connectivity options based on the application, not the location, to provide better user experiences

Versa VNFs can be deployed across a wide range of WAN use cases: service providers can build a broad set of managed services, from virtualized CPE (vCPE) deployments for SMB customers to managed SD-WAN and security services for mid-market and larger business customers; large enterprises can use Versa VNFs to build their own carrier-grade SD-WANs with multi-layer security.

Customer and Executive Quotes

Mirko Voltolini, VP Technology and Architecture of Colt, a provider of world-class network, data center and voice services to businesses around the world: “We’ve paved the way for virtual CPE and hybrid network services, and have partnered with Versa Networks to develop a set of agile virtualized network functions that will augment our managed service offering. Versa’s NFV solution comes with significant flexibility and has enabled Colt to deliver new services to the market faster.”

Sylvain Desbureaux, Network Expert and Head of Anticipation Projects, Orange: “Leveraging network function virtualization (NFV) to build application-aware managed services provides Orange with greater business flexibility, operational benefits, and value-added capabilities when compared to traditional managed service models for SMBs. NFV will empower Orange Business customers through immediate user-driven activation of services without any truck roll or forklift upgrade at the customer premises, while greatly simplifying their CPE. The Versa solution provides detailed visibility of business customers and their network usage.”

Kumar Mehta, CEO and Founder of Versa Networks: “Both service providers and enterprises have been struggling for years with the massive complexity of legacy WANs, the months-long process to add even a single new branch connection or incremental security function. Industry analysts and insiders have called out the WAN and branch networks as a top initial use case for NFV, but the devil is in the details of how you build them. We believe we’ve found the answer, and that Versa solutions will provide next generation WANs and managed services with a difference.”

Availability

Versa VNF solutions are available now.

About Versa Networks

Versa Networks, the leader in SASE, combines extensive security, advanced networking, industry leading SD-WAN, genuine multitenancy, and sophisticated analytics via the cloud, on-premises, or as a blended combination of both to meet SASE requirements for small to extremely large enterprises and Service Providers, and via the simplified Versa Titan cloud service designed for Lean IT. Thousands of customers globally with hundreds of thousands of sites trust Versa with their networks, security, and clouds. Versa Networks is privately held and funded by Sequoia Capital, Mayfield, Artis Ventures, Verizon Ventures, Comcast Ventures, Liberty Global Ventures, Princeville Capital, RPS Ventures and Triangle Peak Partners. For more information, visit https://www.versa-networks.com or follow Versa Networks on Twitter @versanetworks.