Network Computing

 

SD-WAN is one of the most applied enterprise networking models among SDN applications. According to IHS market research, there will be approximately 45% of enterprises in North America to adopt SD-WAN in the next two years. The era of “software-defined everything” is happening in real-time and SD-WAN is already a booming sector.

Nowadays, small and medium enterprises are relying more and more on smart cloud services in order to stay connected anytime and anywhere. Indeed, cloud-based service solutions provide SMEs the flexibility and scalability for connections among their branches and client devices, at a lower investment in physical hardware. However, while enjoying the convenience and flexibility of cloud service solutions, the SMB communication networks are also exposed to cyber threats and are sometimes the victims to cyber attacks as well.

Businesses today rely more and more on high-speed network to achieve profitability and sustainability. As enterprise networks are connected to more devices than ever, high-speed, high-volume network traffic is required, but network monitoring tools for service assurance, traffic/data analytics, application performance and bandwidth management are far below the required capacity. According to researched surveys, over 50% of the surveyed enterprise IT personnel have reported data loss or dropped packets during traffic. The real-time network performance management and diagnosis platforms are the key factors for optimal performance, and minimal downtimes.

Network connectivity and communications have drastically transformed how the maritime industry carries out its critical business operations. Tasks such as voyage planning, vessel performance analysis, maintenance/manning expense estimation and onboard physical security can now be conducted with reduced cost, greater efficiency and better-defined accuracy, resulting in stronger revenues, enhanced profitability and competitive advantages.

Today’s enterprises are highly driven by cloud computing, cloud storage and mobile services in order to stay competitive in the market. However, this attracts more and more advanced cyber attacks to get through the network protocols. According to official reports, around 80% of organizations have experienced data breaches, no matter the scale and size of the institutes. In other words, even small and medium sized organizations are also at risks. In fact, the issue is occurring more frequently as more and more companies and government offices are targeted for spear phishing, malware, ransomware and other types of hacks.

Software-defined wide area network refers to WAN connections built and provisioned using software-defined networking (SDN) technology instead of proprietary hardware. Such virtualized WAN connections are intended for establishing highly agile and manageable enterprise networks at the compute and application tiers, between corporate HQs and branch offices or between data centers spanning large geographic distances.

The trend of cloud computing presents an opportunity to replace physical CPE (Customer Premises Equipment) with virtualized, software-defined CPE in order to establish flexible branch-to-cloud connections. Over the past few years in the industry, many enterprises have implemented virtual branch network by focusing on virtualized network services. In other words, virtual machines are replacing physical equipment to assure branch network connectivity while saving hardware costs. Therefore, enterprises today are seeking a reliable yet compact gateway solution that help them optimize and monitor their cloud connectivity between enterprise centers and branches.

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