Versa Networks
October 25, 2016
The growth of software-defined WAN (SD-WAN) has created new opportunities for distributed enterprises to better manage their WAN environments, but it has also given rise to several incorrect assumptions about the technology and how it’s used. It’s something that happens with any new technology. As the technology gains attention and acceptance in the market, some misconceptions about it are also bound to spring up. Here are three of the biggest myths that surround SD-WAN … and the real story behind them: #1: Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) will be entirely replaced by public Internet transport connections The real story: The reasoning behind…
Versa Networks
September 27, 2016
Telecommunications companies have taken a strong interest in SDN. At the same time, more enterprise use cases for NFV have been emerging. Network functions virtualization (NFV) and software-defined networking (SDN) are related and both use network abstraction. However, SDN separates and abstracts the control plane into software from the data plane, which remains in hardware, and NFV is a combination of separating wholesale network and security functions into specific software, then service chaining them. NFV: Not Just for Telcos When network function virtualization (NFV) first started making headlines about four years ago, the initial use cases for the technology had…
Versa Networks
September 13, 2016
Software-Defined Wide Area Networking (SD-WAN) promises a wide variety of benefits — from cost savings by enabling the use of public Internet as well as MPLS and single-use CPE links to faster time-to-response in making changes to the WAN. The software-defined world is new to many WAN administrators and engineers. They’re being pushed further away from hardware and toward software. There’s even an expectation in many organizations that networking professionals learn to code — or at least begin to treat their infrastructure as such. It’s a change that appears to be accelerating, and the WAN administrator/engineer role will become one…
Versa Networks
August 23, 2016
A recent IDG report predicted that the nascent software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN) industry, worth a mere $225 million last year, will experience a 90 percent compound annual growth rate over the next five years to become a $6 billion industry by 2020. SNS Research revealed that by the end of 2020, service provider investments in network function virtualization (NFV), SD-WAN and software-defined networking (SDN) will total more than $18 Billion. The Growth Drivers Telcos are aggressively jumping on the NFV and SDN bandwagon, targeting deployments across a multitude of areas. SNS Research said that operators are driven by the…
Versa Networks
August 2, 2016
In November 2015, Versa Networks emerged publicly with its vision of addressing core operational, business agility and cost-reduction issues faced by both network service providers and enterprise customers. Since then, our products have received unequivocal recognition from analyst firms, industry publications and thought leaders. Recently, we added two more feathers to the cap by being included in CRN’s 2016 Emerging Vendors List and Startup 50’s Big 50-2016. These awards recognize our vision to overhaul the legacy enterprise WAN and branch network architecture. CRN’s Emerging Vendors CRN’s 2016 Emerging Vendors List recognizes up-and-coming technology suppliers that are shaping the future of…
Versa Networks
June 28, 2016
Whether you’re a product manager or operations leader at a managed service provider (MSP) – or the end customer of an MSP – you know the challenges of building and deploying a successful WAN across dozens (or hundreds) of sites. Truck rolls (yes, that’s usually plural) to each branch office to drop off, plug-in and properly configure equipment. Often 5 to 7 pieces of equipment. And the ongoing maintenance + equipment swap outs or additions as business needs or capacity requirements expand. But managed service offerings are starting to change. Just as enterprise data centers evolved from physical servers/storage/networks to…
Founder and CDO, Versa Networks
May 9, 2016
Each year, Gartner produces a “Cool Vendor” report that spotlights innovative companies in the area of communications service provider infrastructure. This year we are honored to be included, given the strong amount of innovation occurring in the telecommunications industry. Gartner’s recognition of Versa in this category really highlights the great strides our team has made since founding the company in 2012. I like to think we are truly transforming how managed services like SD-WAN are being built and operated to achieve unprecedented agility and profitability. According to Gartner, Cool Vendors typically fall into two main groups. “Ones that offered a…
Versa Networks
February 23, 2016
Industry analysts have noted that branch offices are increasingly becoming a targeted point of entry into corporate networks, with attack volume growing more than 500 percent over the last three years. This is due in large part to three major trends/issues: the increasing adoption of cloud- vs. data center-hosted apps, the adding of Internet circuits as additional (and lower cost) connectivity for branch offices, and the largely unchanged and static architecture of branch office networks. The latter point is compounded by the need to deploy a multitude of siloed security appliances and/or software packages to enforce any kind of defense-in-depth…
Versa Networks
February 9, 2016
Gartner published its Market Guide for Software-Defined WAN in December 2015 where it defines the key operating requirements for the new SD-WAN market and discusses the first set of vendors in this nascent market. By meeting the listed operating requirements, Gartner recognized Versa Networks as a Representative Vendor of SD-WAN. Gartner’s SD-WAN definition requires that vendors meet four key requirements: “SD-WAN solutions provide a lightweight replacement for traditional WAN routers, and are agnostic to WAN transport technologies (that is, they support MPLS, Internet, Long Term Evolution [LTE], etc.).” “Based on business and/or application policies, SD-WAN solutions allow for load sharing…
Founder and CDO, Versa Networks
January 14, 2016
Awareness of, and demand for, Network Function Virtualization (NFV) exploded in 2015. This comes after just three years of life as a technology. It is no surprise to us that NFV is getting so much attention. The need for greater service agility, versatility and reduced costs around networking has never been clearer — especially in the wake of ongoing transitions to the cloud and DevOps operating modes, as well as the need to squeeze greater cost efficiencies from network resources. Software-Defined WAN (SD-WAN) in particular is gaining momentum. In the past six months, inquiries regarding this nascent technology have soared,…
