Cisco Catalyst (Formerly Viptela)

Benefits of Cisco's SD-WAN Solution

Enhanced Bandwidth and Lower Costs

Cisco's SD-WAN solution allows businesses to benefit from increased bandwidth by leveraging a transport-independent WAN. This enables the use of multiple transport networks, such as 3G, 4G, internet circuits, satellite, MPLS, or even dedicated circuits for the underlying physical network. The result is a significant reduction in costs compared to traditional MPLS circuits.

Simplified Management through Automation and Orchestration

By introducing automation and orchestration, Cisco's SD-WAN platform reduces the need for manual intervention or input by IT staff. The in-depth analysis provided by the platform includes carrier performances, uptime of the WAN infrastructure, and application bandwidth overviews for each category of application.

Improved Application Performance and User Experience

With its monitoring tools and use of automation and orchestration, Cisco's SD-WAN platform aims to increase the network experience for users by providing the most reliable connection possible for various applications and services. The platform can automatically reroute traffic to a better-performing circuit or even to a different location to maximise performance and achieve an optimal user experience.

Enhanced Security Features

Cisco's SD-WAN solution offers improved security benefits for enterprises by providing end-to-end network segmentation, traffic encryption, and a zero-trust security model. These features help to protect valuable data and maintain the integrity of the network.

Decision-making Factors

In conclusion, the benefits of Cisco's SD-WAN solution include increased bandwidth at lower costs, simplified management through automation and orchestration, improved application performance and user experience, and enhanced security features. Organizations considering upgrading their WAN infrastructure should take these factors into account to determine if Cisco's SD-WAN offering is the right fit for their needs.

Cisco's SD-WAN Components

V Manage

V Manage is a crucial component in Cisco's SD-WAN architecture that simplifies the management and monitoring of the entire SD-WAN network. Using V Manage, administrators can design, implement, and modify policies, manage devices, and monitor network performance through a single, unified interface. This unified interface significantly improves the user experience and reduces the complexity of managing multiple remote locations.

V Smart

V Smart is Cisco's SD-WAN controller that is responsible for maintaining and distributing policies to all devices within the network. Acting as the central brain of the SD-WAN network, V Smart plays a vital role in ensuring consistent performance and security policies across the entire WAN. By automating the process of policy distribution and synchronisation, V Smart eliminates the need for manual intervention, saving precious time and resources for IT administrators.

V Edge

V Edge devices are Cisco's SD-WAN routers that are present at the edge of the SD-WAN network. This component serves as the primary point of connectivity between the WAN transport links and the local area network (LAN). V Edge routers use their built-in intelligence to optimise traffic flows by selecting the most suitable transport link based on performance metrics and application requirements. These routers not only improve overall network performance but also enhance user experience by maintaining consistent service levels across the entire network.

V Bond

The V Bond component in the Cisco SD-WAN architecture serves as the orchestrator that facilitates communication between other components, such as V Manage, V Smart, and V Edge devices. V Bond is responsible for device authentication and onboarding, ensuring that only authorised devices join the SD-WAN network. By establishing secure connections between components, V Bond plays a critical role in maintaining the security and integrity of the entire SD-WAN network.

Analytics

Analytics is a vital aspect of Cisco's SD-WAN solution, providing administrators with in-depth insights into network performance, application usage, and carrier performance. Through real-time monitoring and historical data analysis, the analytics feature enables informed decision-making and proactive issue identification. These insights allow the administrators to optimise network performance by fine-tuning policies and making necessary adjustments based on the data-driven observations.

Decision-Making Factors

Cisco's SD-WAN solution delivers an efficient, scalable, and secure network with its integrated components that work in harmony to provide optimal performance. The V Manage, V Smart, V Edge, V Bond, and analytics components collectively contribute to a seamless and streamlined network management experience. By intelligently examining design choices and relying on real-world data, Cisco's SD-WAN components allow businesses to make informed decisions that ultimately lead to improved network performance, reduced costs, and enhanced user experiences.

Cisco's SD-WAN Architecture

When evaluating Cisco's SD-WAN solution, it is crucial to understand its architecture and components. Cisco has developed an SD-WAN platform that addresses the limitations encountered in traditional wide area networks. The following analysis highlights the key features, benefits, and efficacy of Cisco's SD-WAN architecture.

Transport Independence and Increased Bandwidth

A significant advantage of Cisco's SD-WAN solution is its ability to utilise multiple transport networks, such as 3G, 4G, internet circuits, satellite, MPLS, or dedicated circuits for the underlying physical network. This feature not only increases bandwidth but also results in lower costs and higher diversity compared to a conventional MPLS-based WAN setup.

Automation and Orchestration

Cisco's SD-WAN platform simplifies network management by introducing automation and orchestration. This approach removes the need for manual intervention or input by IT staff, reducing both cost and risk associated with maintaining a wide area network.

In-Depth Analysis and Improved Performance

The SD-WAN architecture boasts comprehensive analysis capabilities, including monitoring carrier performances, uptime for V-edge routers and circuits, and application bandwidth overviews. By monitoring all WAN connections and tracking key performance metrics, the system can automatically select the most efficient connection with the lowest latency and highest throughput, improving user experience without requiring manual adjustments.

Rapid Deployment and Reliability

Due to the SD-WAN platform's ability to utilise various underlying transit networks, deployment of connectivity at remote locations is significantly faster than relying solely on traditional MPLS circuits. Additionally, the platform ensures more reliable connections for users by automatically rerouting traffic depending on application performance, providing a superior network experience.

Enhanced Security

Cisco's SD-WAN solution enhances enterprise security by offering end-to-end network segmentation, traffic encryption, and a zero-trust security model. This additional layer of defence is crucial in today's evolving cyber threat landscape.

Overlay Architecture

Cisco's SD-WAN solution is an overlay architecture, using software to create a logical network on top of the physical underlay network. This approach extends the technology trend of software-defined networking (SDN) into wide area networks, facilitating automation and improved end-to-end throughput and performance without manual intervention.

Key Components

There are several essential components of Cisco's SD-WAN offering, including V-Manage, V-Smart, V-Edge, V-Bond, and analytics. These elements work together to provide a comprehensive and effective SD-WAN solution.

Decision making fact: Cisco's SD-WAN architecture offers a multitude of benefits compared to traditional WAN setups, including increased bandwidth, transport independence, automation, improved performance, enhanced security, and rapid deployment. Its overlay architecture and key components create a compelling solution for enterprises looking to upgrade their wide area networks while reducing operational costs and complexities. Additionally, the platform's data-driven insights and real-world testing demonstrate its effectiveness in delivering a superior network experience for users.

Demonstration of Live SD-WAN

In today's digital environment, enterprises face multiple challenges with traditional WAN setups, such as high costs, time-consuming provisioning, unpredictable application performance, and complex configurations required for modern IT infrastructure. Cisco's SD-WAN solution aims to address these issues with a range of features that have been tested in real-world applications.

Transport Independence for Increased Bandwidth and Lower Costs: Cisco's SD-WAN allows enterprises to utilise multiple transport networks - 3G, 4G, Internet, satellite, MPLS or dedicated circuits - reducing dependency on expensive MPLS circuits. This increases bandwidth capacity and network diversity, resulting in lower costs.

Automation and Orchestration for Simplified Management: Cisco's SD-WAN introduces automation and orchestration that eliminate the need for manual intervention, easing configuration management and improving the reliability of the network.

In-Depth Analysis for Optimised Network Performance: Cisco SD-WAN provides exhaustive analysis, monitoring the WAN connections at different locations, and tracking key performance metrics, such as uptime, carrier performance and application bandwidth. This data-driven approach ensures an optimal user experience by automatically selecting the best available connection for different applications.

Rapid Deployment for Faster Network Expansion: Cisco SD-WAN's transport-independent architecture enables faster deployment of connectivity at remote locations. This allows for quicker network expansions compared to traditional MPLS circuits.

Enhanced User Experience: The automated monitoring and routing provided by Cisco SD-WAN result in a more reliable connection for users depending on the application they are using. This reduces downtime and minimises the need for manual intervention, ensuring a seamless network experience for users.

Improved Security Measures: Cisco SD-WAN offers enhanced security through end-to-end network segmentation, traffic encryption and a zero-trust security model. This safeguards enterprise data and secures the network infrastructure.

Cisco's SD-WAN solution is a significant advancement over traditional WAN setups, providing increased bandwidth, lower costs, better network management and an improved user experience. Real-world testing has demonstrated the value of these features, exhibiting tangible benefits that help businesses address the challenges associated with traditional WAN.

Decision-making factors: Enterprises should consider factors such as the need for increased bandwidth, reduced costs, rapid deployment, improved network performance, and enhanced security when deciding whether to adopt Cisco's SD-WAN. Data-driven analysis and real-world testing provide evidence of the effectiveness of the solution, making it a reliable choice for addressing the challenges of traditional WAN infrastructure.

Sandbox Environment

Cisco's SD-WAN solution offers a versatile and interactive environment for users to test and experiment with its various functions. This feature gives users an opportunity to experience the technology and understand its benefits first-hand. By simulating real-world scenarios and situations, the sandbox environment aids users in making informed decisions based on hands-on experience.

The Cisco SD-WAN platform provides multiple benefits, such as increased bandwidth and lower costs due to its transport-independent nature. This allows enterprises to utilise various transport networks like 3G, 4G, MPLS, and dedicated circuits. The SD-WAN solution also minimises risks associated with maintaining complex network setups and simplifies automation and orchestration.

Through in-depth analysis and extensive monitoring tools, users enjoy improved application performance at their locations. This is achieved by selecting the most suitable connection with the lowest latency and highest throughput for the specific application. Moreover, the SD-WAN platform accelerates the deployment of connectivity at remote locations by removing dependency on a single transport model.

Enhanced security features are also emphasised in Cisco's SD-WAN solution, with end-to-end network segmentation, traffic encryption, and a zero-trust security model being implemented. This not only safeguards data but also builds trust among users.

During the exploration of the sandbox environment, users will witness how Cisco's SD-WAN platform reduces manual intervention, ensuring smooth functionality and optimised performance. The hands-on experience with this technology will provide users with a better understanding of its relevance in real-world scenarios.

Decision making fact

Based on the hands-on review, users will appreciate and recognise the numerous advantages Cisco's SD-WAN solution provides, particularly in terms of increased bandwidth, lowered costs, simplified network management, enhanced security, and improved overall experience. By engaging with the sandbox environment, users can gain valuable insights and make informed decisions about adopting Cisco's SD-WAN technology for their business needs.

About Cisco Viptela

Viptela was founded in 2012 by CEO Ramesh Prabagaran and CTO Nehal Bhan. The company was acquired by Cisco Systems in 2017 for $610 million as their cloud-based SD WAN solution (with advanced routing, segmentation and security capabilities) for large enterprises. Cisco chose Viptela’s software-driven and cloud-first WAN architecture because it integrated well with Cisco’s Digital Network Architecture (DNA), building on automation, virtualization and analytical capabilities.

Viptela was named in Forrester’s Wave on Zero-trust as a leader for two consecutive years and currently deploys in 70% of the Fortune 100, with a significant presence in all major sectors. Cisco Viptela is an industry specialist with decades of experience.