There was a time not very long ago when Wide Area Networks (WANs) were the best solution for connectivity among multiple locations to keep work flowing and businesses connected to critical day-to-day information. Yet like all things in a rapidly changing technological space, WAN is evolving — fast. Chuck Paolillo, Chief Technology Officer at CloudFirst, recently shared his insights on a changing WAN landscape, and how software-defined WAN, or SD WAN, is moving at light speed to embrace the cloud. Addressing the MAGIC (Mid-Atlantic Group of IBM i Collaborators) at the Sheraton Virginia Beach November 9-11, 2019, Mr. Paolillo’s topic was simple and direct: The Benefits of Cloud SD WAN as a Failsafe.
WANs, Mr. Paolillo observed, had intrinsic value, but also came with considerable challenges. For example, he noted, a retail business with a central headquarters and numerous locations needs dependable connectivity to critical applications and traditional WAN architecture can prove inadequate. WANs can be unreliable, causing downtime and result in lost productivity, render network management cumbersome and costly and, should a business look to establish a new location, building out that infrastructure could be expensive and very time-consuming.
Acknowledging companies’ needs for reliable connectivity to applications, Cloud SD-WAN emerged as a ‘failsafe’ to ensure uninterrupted access to applications to keep business moving. As a result, Mr. Paolillo stated, Cloud SD-WAN, such as FailSafe by Nexxis (a unit of CloudFirst), represents a significant step forward in ensuring uninterrupted connectivity among multiple locations. Cloud SD-WAN has numerous benefits over traditional WAN, Mr. Paolillo added. These include:
- More reliable connectivity thanks to the use of multiple Internet Service Providers (ISPs)
- High-speed connectivity with low latency
- Lower operating expenses for both bandwidth and for management
- Reining in the public Internet to deliver enhanced reliability, high availability, and predictable
Quality of Experience (QoE) - Global server Load Balancing, or GLSB, offered with FailSafe, provides a unique public IP bloc
that is consistent with ingress and egress traffic — even when using multiple carriers at the
client - 100% Dependable connection to cloud services
- Agility and scalability, enabling users to add new locations quickly without
disruption
In summary, Mr. Paolillo stressed that Nexxis “provides next-generation voice and data services that provide ultra-reliable access to CloudFirst’s premier cloud services for IBM i (ezHost, ezRecovery, ezAvailability, and ezMonitor). FailSafe by Nexxis, Mr. Paolillo concluded, also works flawlessly with other cloud services, such as AWS, Azure or Google.
Clearly, Mr. Paolillo summed up, Cloud SD-WAN is a powerful tool that allows business to enhance connectivity, scale with agility, and work optimally and efficiently, all at lower cost.
Contact a CloudFirst representative for information on how FailSafe by NEXXIS can be integrated into your business for maximum efficiency, productivity, and profitability.
