How Managed Network Services are Evolving to Simplify the Global WAN

Basically, it is away that operators (that is, telecommunications operators) manage managed network services have not changed in decades. The basic architecture of this network, known as hub and radio, is organized so that they communicate with the data center in a Managed Network with a separate firewall in the middle. However, this type of WAN legacy cannot support current business needs, including a critical step in the cloud, as well as mobile users who need to access the network from anywhere, not just from the branch.

Yishay Yovel, vice president of market strategy at Cato Networks, has been following the operator's dilemma for years. According to Yovel, there are many catalysts for this evolutionary change in the managed network services market.

"Traffic flows on the network has changed significantly in recent years," he said. "Sending all network traffic to the data center before it can be transferred to the cloud is actually an obstacle to performance, but when security is centralized, a traffic backhauling is required to use security settings. But now the companies are changing their traffic patterns to move directly to the cloud or over the Internet, breaking the old security model. Security must be placed everywhere through traffic that no longer strictly goes downtown. "

Another catalyst for change is worker mobility. Yovel hired the gesture only for the organization and physical locations, leaving mobile workers out of the network. Companies are forced to find another method of connectivity, such as a VPN. It only increases the overall complexity.

Globalization is another problem.

"Multinational companies generally have to combine multiple MPLS providers to create a global network," Yovel said. "It is a real challenge to find a coherent and convenient network wherever companies operate today, and there is pressure to manage all this with a very small staff."

"The first challenge for the managed network services market is what was once a well-defined and well-understood managed network, which had specific objectives, specific designs, specific best practices, is about to collapse. It must reach so many objectives and as many needs as the classic hub and the MPLS spoken network with centralized security simply don't work well anymore, "explains Yovel”

The first evolutionary step: NFV

The first step towards the evolution of the market for managed network services was the virtualization of network functions (NFV).

"When service providers were faced with the need to simplify operations, move faster, respond faster, they adopted an appliance virtualization approach," says Yovel. "Think of all the different network functions that were part of the old network: new generation firewalls, various orchestration solutions, VPN solutions, etc. They virtualized all these boxes, but this did not change the main dynamics of the network itself. Each function of different suppliers has always had its own management interface, as well as its own scaling and sizing environment. The fact that the appliance was virtualized did not change it. They still had the same problem with the centralized architecture of the past. "

Take the example of virtualizing a firewall. Mobile device users must always connect over a long-distance Internet to a firewall in a specific location to get the security they need. The fact that the firewall is virtualized does not change this dynamic.

"I always have a firewall in a specific location which is now virtual that I have to connect to, and all the challenges I have had before for my users. They have not benefited from virtualization at all," says Yovel.

The bottom line is that the NFV doesn't go far enough to transform the Network Operators in order to achieve real agility and flexibility and meet today's business needs.

Follow the AWS managed services model

"Customers want managed network services and I think they want AWS [Amazon Web Services] network management" says Yovel. "They want a managed network the same way they managed servers, managed storage and all the other good things that go to AWS. Unfortunately, telecom operators don't have this business model today. The following are still very expensive and very complex. "

A new approach to managed network services is needed and many large suppliers are facing this challenge. Yovel's company, Cato Networks, is one of these vendors, as are some other companies, such as Microsoft, Aryaka, Meta Networks, and Mode.

In general, the new type of managed network service provider is native to the cloud, where everything resides in the cloud and customers simply subscribe to a service, as they do today with AWS. The provider establishes a global private network consisting of several points of presence on a multi-operator level 1 backbone. The managed service provider then controls the routing and latency of packets globally on this predictable backbone and SLA. By using multiple links and load balancing between them, the service provider can offer reliability, high availability, guaranteed performance and consistency worldwide. In addition, all traffic on the backbone is encrypted for safe transport.

Customers can connect their data centers, branches and mobile users to this global network to the nearest PoP. The network also pairs with public clouds and SaaS applications, providing customers with direct and secure access to them. Security, such as firewalls, antivirus, and malware, as well as IDS / IPS, is typically integrated directly into the network and is readily available everywhere, even for mobile workers.

This new architecture solves the problems that legacy WAN architecture cannot. Network transport is consistent worldwide. Customers can directly access the cloud and the Internet without redirecting traffic or sacrificing security. Mobile workers can access it without the need for a VPN. And since the network is offered as a service, there is no need to install equipment or circuits at the customer to provide the service in a new location.