Businesses are shifting from their traditional operating model and service delivery in a swift way. To adjust to the changing business environment Internet Solutions has launched CloudWAN – its first virtual software defined wide area network (SDWAN) solution for next-generation enterprise networking.
The solution which is now available in Kenya and East Africa will among other things enable companies to reduce set-up time and service costs of network solutions and applications, upgrade existing services and increase productivity by quickly getting new offices online.
Using software-defined networking (SDN) technology and network function virtualization (NFV), CloudWAN will enable clients to link public and private clouds into a seamless virtual network that is smart, responsive and elastic.
In a press statement, Internet Solutions Managing Director Richard Hechle said today’s enterprise networks are not driving enough business value in the modern economy. To drive business value, all IT resources must support dynamic business requirements such as expansion into new locales – including the network.
He noted that the existing networking technology, hardware and expertise is expensive, and enterprises are dependent on physical equipment which means cumbersome installation and constant maintenance. As data traffic between remote offices and sites gets more substantial, investing in legacy network technologies may not be the best financial fit and it no longer guarantees a quick connection. On the other hand, consumers, clients and stakeholders no longer accept ‘the network is down’ as an explanation for service or business failure.
Hechle said: “Thanks to the digital revolution, we are experiencing a disruption of traditional business models. Vast and siloed corporate structures are giving way to highly agile enterprises which are no longer confined by geography, and that are built to respond quickly to fast-changing markets. Networks must be equally responsive. In this time of business transition, future-proofing is a priority,” he said.
“As we take our first steps towards cloud-integrated networks, solutions like CloudWAN will enable our clients to use their networks and the Internet as intelligent business catalysts, rather than just a data carrier system,” added Hechle.
He noted that by uncoupling the network from its physical confines, like data storage has been with the invention of cloud services, the enterprise can adapt and expand in response to market and customer needs with more agility than ever before.
According to Hechle, business information and communications technologies are becoming virtualised services yet hardware does not enable IT managers to be pragmatic in their responses to management requests, or to increase the resilience of their infrastructure investments. That is why the future lies in virtualised services.
As multitudes of devices in numerous sites are added to an enterprise WAN, existing network technologies are increasingly becoming restrictive, expensive and can no longer guarantee quick and reliable network connections.
Currently, Enterprise WANs require network hardware such as hubs, routers, switches, proxy servers and firewalls, as well as network architects and engineers to install, configure and test the hardware manually. When an already-complex network requires additional capability, instead of investing in additional equipment, cumbersome installation and costly support, CloudWAN virtualises network functions such as firewalls or WAN accelerators.
“Software-defined networking is leading to open communication protocols and APIs that are device-agnostic but still offer the same security, reliability and resiliency of vendor-proprietary hardware and appliances. This will lead to significant cost-savings for enterprises as they scale their networks,” he said.
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