SDWAN

Software Defined WAN
How software-defined networking is pushing more #WAN services into the cloud.
   10 years ago
#sdwanSoftware Defined WANHow software-defined networking is pushing more #WAN services into the cloud.
Top Votes
Rayno
Q4: Talked about virtualized services. What are the #WAN services we'll likely see virtualized and/or in the cloud?
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A Cochenour
Anything truly core to enterprise ops will end up there, routing, redundancy mechanisms, address allocation, DNS, and policy enforcement (QoS, security and the like) come to mind.
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Rayno
So how scared is @cisco? #SDN
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dana blouin
I think DNS is really ideally matched for SDN WAN.
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A Cochenour
awareness of a problem drives fear and it could be argued there's not a lot of the former within large/traditional WAN equipment players, so perhaps not a lot of the latter :-)
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A Cochenour
It's one thing to have interop/compat and another thing to fundamentally embrace a movement
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Rayno
Interesting. @cisco actually appears more tuned in than @JuniperNetworks, but that's just an opinion
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Rayno
How they handle the revolution will be interesting
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Rayno
I see huge upside in security and analytics services
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Rayno
For example, getting realtime data on how applications are being used. maybe who's watching Netflix? ;-)
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A Cochenour
Counter question on this, how many customers of large/traditional WAN equipment players can sit down and USE SDN/CloudWAN capabilities without significant upheaval and investment?
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dana blouin
I know cisco was working on an SDN solution a few years back, or at least that was what the sales engineer told me when I inquired about it.
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A Cochenour
I think we would all love to see the traditional WAN equipment players help to drive the CloudWAN and related movements
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Steve Woo
@ajcochenour #SDWAN and especially cloud-enabled and as as service solutions support incremental deployments and co-existance with legacy networks.
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A Cochenour
Without coexistence we're just rebuilding everything from one generation to another
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dana blouin
@ajcochenour That is the business model, or so it seems sometimes. But I agree with you, coexistence is how to drive tech forward.
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Parag Thakore
Based on business priority of App #SDWAN can offer visibility and both inbound/outbound QoS for SaaS Apps
Rayno
Q2: Along the same lines. What are the benefits enterprises are looking for in applying SDN prinicples to the WAN?
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A Cochenour
WANs are much more than a few paths/routes, WAN resources MUST be democratized. We did it with OS/apps, then storage and now LAN/WAN
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dana blouin
A2: For me I see scalability, if you are a company that wants to go then SDN on the WAN makes a lot of scenes.
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Rayno
"WAN Democratization" I like that. So are we fleeing the tyranny of the branch office router?
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A Cochenour
I would say so, the WAN Edge has never been (easily) scaled horizontally, that's been a missing link and a constraint until recently.
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dana blouin
unlocking scalability is a big step in allowing companies to grow and grow quick, or at least avoid some of the growing pains.
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Steve Woo
Yes, #SDN separation of control plane applied to the WAN provides easier configuration of and flexibility in using different transports, helping democratization and scaling
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A Cochenour
Critical distinction there Steve, adding a control plane to compute gave us virtualization, networks have always-ish had such, previously is just wasn't programmable.
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Rayno
So we are leaving the tyranny of the fixed control plane as well
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Steve Woo
absolutely, with #SDWAN it's programmable, abstracted and enabled with APIs as well
Rayno
Q1: What are enterprise gripes with legacy technology approaches to WAN connectivity? Why #CloudWAN now?
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A Cochenour
Flexibility! CloudWAN makes Months/day -> hours/minutes
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dana blouin
cost and time savings, it seems to be what drives everything.
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Rayno
cool. What else?
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David Pollack
Apps are here there anywhere. Connectivity is MPLS LTE etc. globally
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A Cochenour
Subset of flexibility but having the option to deal with the unexpected is invaluable
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Parag Thakore
Branch WAN Complex to Manage and Deploy, Static Architecture inhibit Migration to Cloud, Price/BW of private WAN expensive to support Real Time collaboration applications # SDWAN solves these
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dana blouin
I am sure flexibility is a bit part, but assuming CloudWAN and SDN deliver then reliability as well.
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Steve Woo
#SDN should steer apps around link issues, and #cloudWAN provides the redundancy of the Internet
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A Cochenour
Big +1 for this point Steve!
Rayno
@velocloud > What's the feedback from your customers? What's top of mind?
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Steve Woo
Traditional WAN connectivity fails to leverage Internet/broadband and adapt to the migration to the cloud.
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Rayno
Thanks Steve how can SDWAN and #CloudWAN help this adaptation?
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Parag Thakore
Gone are days of complex WAN management. Many of our customers want simplified roll out of Branch WAN with no onsite IT support
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Rayno
Fewer wiring headaches eh?
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Parag Thakore
WAN LifeCycle - #SDWAN solves Day 0 to N ICOM- Install, Configure, Operate and Manage with Business Policy Abstraction
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Rayno
Interesting Parag. What is your largest installation so far?
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Parag Thakore
many customers are rolling out deployments to multiple hundreds of sites
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Rayno
And I imagine the big advantage is they can do that much, much faster
Rayno
Q6: What role do you see SPs taking in delivering #SDWAN?
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Parag Thakore

Adding new network Services to SP managed CPE has been historically complex and not flexible. With #SDWAN and #NFV when businesses demand more services or capacity, SPs can be quick to respond and reduce time-to-revenue.
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Rayno
Thanks Parag, good points
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dana blouin
I agree, it is all about services, that is their money maker and they want to make that as profitable as they can, that means SD WAN!
Rayno
WAN technology will virtualize branch-office routers, #VPNs WAN Optimization, and #ADC technology and move this functionality into the cloud. #SDN
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Rayno
In addition, cloud applications have changed how people access software. The applications are now "out there" rather than "In here" (enterprise)
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Steve Woo
Yes, a key strategic driver is the migration to SaaS. Networking has traditionally followed the changes in compute.
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A Cochenour
In this case I think we'll see compute architectures grow and benefit from following the network
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Steve Woo
Agree, #SDN and cloud will benefit both compute and networking architectures synergistically
Rayno
Housekeeping: This transcript will remain online for many months. So you can always come back and see how smart we are.
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Rayno
Q5: What are the top questions enterprises might have about deploying SD-WAN?
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dana blouin
If they are not asking about security there is an issue.
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Rayno
Indeed security seems to get more important every day
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dana blouin
with all the data we are putting out there security has to be a top factor for any new technology being integrated into an enterprise solution.
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Steve Woo
Yes! Some common questions about #SDWAN including security, migration and reliability are raised and discussed in this FAQ: http://ow.ly/KFbsn