SDWAN – WAN Optimization
The Legacy WAN
The legacy Wide Area Network WAN is based on architecture and systems that gobble up expensive bandwidth, are data center dependent and offer unpredictable application performance. Not only that, but the infrastructure is complex and has many different standards and technologies making management a perpetual series of headaches.
WAN OP and SD WAN
These issues have driven the evolution of WAN Optimization (WAN OP) and the SD-WAN or Software-Defined Wide Area Network.
The beauty of the software-defined WAN is many fold. For instance, the SD-WAN approach allows you to reduce or eliminate high cost MPLS lines using lower cost data paths. The SD-WAN can let you have redundant connectivity where each type of traffic is taken to a data path that is suited to its needs. Beyond that, an SD-WAN provides a unified management environment.
We have implemented WAN, WAN OP and SD-WAN solutions for many companies and organizations in Midwest States like Indiana, Ohio, Illinois and Kentucky. Each client environment obviously has it’s own requirements and challenges. Our experience, expertise and industry knowledge can be a useful resource as you look at how to best meet your information, communication and security needs.
WAN Optimization explained
WAN Optimization (sometimes called “WAN Op”) is the practice of maximizing data transfer efficiencies by using methods like compressing data as it moves onto and off the WAN. WAN Optimization involves various techniques using hardware and software methods to get greater data through-put over the network.
Not more bandwidth cost, WAN optimization
Some clients have had Enterprise US deploy WAN Optimization as their users experienced their systems being “slow” due to network and data usage growth over time. They come to us to help them “buy more bandwidth”. While bandwidth costs have come down, network connectivity is still obviously not free. Once we are sure that network data transfer is an issue, we can then look at how a WAN optimization solution may improve system performance. We work with many WAN Optimization providers of both hardware and software solutions.
A 1-RU WAN OP appliance that supports 4 Mbps of WAN bandwidth and 500 GB of secure local data storage, the NX-1700 is ideal for branch or remote offices.
WAN Op key benefits: Users notice, fast payback
Our Wan Op clients have typically seen a doubling of the data throughput rates of their networks! The users all notice and remark about how much faster their systems are. The financial payback period for the cost of Wan Op vs. additional bandwidth costs is normally a matter of months.
Compressibility of Data
A 1-RU WAN OP appliance that supports 4 Mbps of WAN bandwidth and 500 GB of secure local data storage, the NX-1700 is ideal for branch or remote offices.
Part of assessing the potential effectiveness of WAN Optimization is looking at the data types on the network and how well they can be “compressed”. For example most data types that are used in normal office and business communications like email, documents, picture files, (static) video files will compress fairly well. Live streaming applications like video conferencing data may see better performance with certain WAN optimization solutions.
WAN Op configurations
WAN Optimization was first mainly done between a corporate HQ and branch offices. It has grown to also be employed to operate between data centers or data silos to move more data using less bandwidth. DC2DC WAN Optimization as it is often known, often involves real time backups that are part of business continuity-disaster recovery applications that have been implemented. WAN Op in this setting can do things like allow backups to take place in previously allocated bandwidth despite a large increase in the amount of data that must be moved.
A 2-RU WAN OP appliance that supports 2.5 Gbps of WAN bandwidth and 1.6 TB of secure local data storage, in 16 x 100GB SSDs, the NX-10700 is intended for deployment in larger data facilities, such as regional hubs, multinational data centers, and disaster recovery locations.
WAN Op appliances & WAN Op software
WAN op can be accomplished by hardware appliances or by software based solutions. The WAN Op appliances are great for high circuit counts and high bandwidth applications. The software based WAN Op solutions require server resources that can be virtual machines under VMWare or Hyper-V for example. Enterprise US has implemented both approaches and can help determine the best design for your specific network configuration and data transfer needs.
Dual WANOP Success stories:
Two Indiana based companies, one with multi-national locations and the other with multiple domestic locations have successfully deployed WANOP solutions through EUS. These deployments have helped them to avoid the cost of bandwidth upgrades and have improved performance of network dependent applications. These projects involve the implementation of SilverPeak’s virtual and physical WAN Optimization solutions. These solutions help every network based activity like cloud and application computing work much better. This is because they make the data flow much better over the same network bandwidth. Enterprise US consultants can work with you on improving the cloud and other network performance you can get over the same bandwidth.
What Clients Say:
“Enterprise Unified Systems has the agility we need… They are very proactive. They push us on how we can use technology as a critical asset to our business, not a grind it out expense. This has been instrumental to our fast growth in this cautious economy.”
Business with offices in Indiana & Michigan
For more comments from clients see the Testimonials Page.
