Versa Networks CEO to Speak on SD-WAN and SD-Security at Light Reading BCE

Versa Networks’ Kelly Ahuja will discuss the future of SD-WAN, SD-Security, and virtualizing business services

Santa Clara, Calif., May 1, 2017

Versa Networks, a leading provider of software-defined wide area networks (SD-WAN) and software-defined security (SD-Security) solutions, today announced that Versa Networks CEO and president Kelly Ahuja will participate in this year’s Light Reading Big Communications Event (BCE), as a panelist on “Virtualizing Business Services: SD-WAN & Beyond.” The BCE conference, which is dedicated to the telecom business and its ultimate profitability, takes place Monday – Wednesday, May 15 – 17, 2017 at the Austin Convention Center, Austin, Texas.

“Virtualizing Business Services: SD-WAN & Beyond” explores the timely topic of how service providers are going to deliver virtualized business services, with a focus on SD-WAN, which is on track to grow to a $6 billion industry by 2020. But challenges remain: too often, there’s a WAN/branch barrier to digital transformation and cloud adoption due to branch sprawl, infrastructure complexity and interdependencies.

Who: Kelly Ahuja, CEO and president at Versa Networks is a seasoned industry veteran with more than 20 years of experience in networking and telecommunications. He currently serves on the board of directors for two startups in Silicon Valley. He spent 18 years at Cisco rooted in the design and deployment of telecommunications networks. He was most recently SVP of Service Provider Business, Products and Solutions at Cisco where he was responsible for developing and managing the service provider segment strategy and portfolio. Kelly held several other senior executive roles at Cisco, including SVP and GM of the Mobility Business Group, chief architect for the Service Provider business and SVP and GM of the Service Provider Routing Technology Group. Earlier in his career, he served as VP of marketing at optical networking startup BlueLeaf Networks and Product Management Leader at Stratacom. He also managed the design and deployment of data and voice networks for AT&T Canada, Bank of Canada and Telesat Canada.

What: The “Virtualizing Business Services: SD-WAN & Beyond” panel, featuring SD-WAN professionals, will explore the progression of business services based on network functions virtualization (NFV), including the rise of SD-WAN as a popular option. This panel will provide expert guidance on what’s possible with today’s technologies.

When: “Virtualizing Business Services: SD-WAN & Beyond”, Tuesday, May 16, 2017, 4:15 – 5:05 p.m. ET

Where: Light Reading BCE Conference, Austin Convention Center, Austin, Texas

Why: As providers and enterprises ponder the real costs of virtualizing the edge, they need to consider how much they can deliver from the cloud or the edge of their own network. SD-WAN is getting significant attention, but only provides hybrid WAN capabilities and reduces bandwidth costs. It does not solve the full challenge of cost, complexity and lack of agility for the entire branch. Versa’s goal as a next-generation software networking and security company is to provide an agile and secure software-based infrastructure for the whole branch office as well as the WAN.

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.