Tag: SD-WAN

Network architects now assume greater responsibility for understanding the business requirements and translating them into the appropriate network design, using hardware and software to deliver the required reliability, security and performance.

When the majority of branch office traffic was confined to an enterprise’s intranet boundary, network hardware (with extended procurement and implementation cycles) was installed in corporate data centers and branch offices to manage traffic. However, with most enterprise traffic now flowing between public clouds and the Internet, enterprises are seeking faster, more efficient means of establishing and managing secure connections between branch offices and cloud environments.

Today we launched a new generation of Network Edge services that will be a game changer for global businesses, equipping them to rapidly modernize their networks virtually on Platform Equinix®. With Network Edge, organizations can select, configure and connect virtual network services from industry-leading vendors like Cisco, Juniper and Palo Alto Networks at the edge in minutes—without additional space, power, hardware or equipment.

For most, “analytics” represents a broad term, and rightfully so. As the prevailing winds of digital transformation continue to push interconnection to the digital edge, a plethora of real-time analytics requirements (and capabilities) have irreversibly raised the ante for immediately available insights on topics as far ranging as petroleum futures and retail purchasing trends to the depths of cyber security counter-intelligence.

Digital disruption is forcing organizations to focus on a digital strategy that optimizes the ability to access and consume digital technologies, such as public cloud services, software as a service, artificial intelligence, blockchain and Internet of Things platforms, within a continuously evolving digitally connected world.

Enterprise customers are demanding more flexible, open, and cloud-based WAN technologies, rather than installing proprietary or specialized WAN technology that often involves expensive, fixed circuits or proprietary hardware.

To tackle latency issues, many organizations have started placing significant portions of their application and IT infrastructure at the digital edge where they are close to globally dispersed users, partners and cloud services.

The legacy enterprise network is flat, expensive to run and does not provide the flexibility and elasticity that a cloud-enabled enterprise demands. As the primary platform for service consumption, the offering from the NSPs had to change.

With an NFV strategy, enterprises can deploy common x86 virtualization hardware that is ready to run a host of different Virtual Network Functions (VNFs)—software appliances deployed on NFV infrastructure.

Going forward, the next generation IT infrastructure ̶ compute, storage, network and data centers ̶ will be open source-based, leveraging standards developed by organizations such as the Open Networking Forum and the Open Compute Project.