4 Ways VeloCloud Fits Into Your SD-WAN Strategy
Toward the end of last year, Gartner released its first-ever Magic Quadrant devoted specifically to SD-WAN, or as Gartner formally defined it, WAN Edge Infrastructure. The “Leader” quadrant 
was relatively sparse, but there were two names in there with which Arraya (and our regular blog readers) are very familiar. Cisco is one of them. Last summer on this blog, we explored the use cases of two of Cisco’s most popular SD-WAN options: Viptela and Meraki. While we’ve covered another company in the “Leader” square for other solutions, we haven’t yet delved into its SD-WAN capabilities. Given its high marks from Gartner, our Networking team decided to rectify the situation.
VMware was more than a Leader in Gartner’s estimation. The company – whose VMC on AWS offering we only recently completed a deep dive into – received the highest marks around for completeness of vision. It was also ranked right near the top for its ability to execute on that vision. VMware’s principal solution in the space is SD-WAN by VeloCloud. VMware acquired VeloCloud in December 2017 and it has clearly proven to be a formidable pairing.
With VMware SD-WAN by VeloCloud locked in as one of the premier SD-WAN solutions on the market, let’s dive into four use cases where it can offer the most value.
Use Case #1: Branch and/or remote offices. Far-flung or isolated locations are a longstanding feather in SD-WAN’s proverbial cap. VMware SD-WAN by VeloCloud is ideally suited for this use case. It provides additional value by further strengthening the bonds between these locations and the rest of the organization. VMware SD-WAN by VeloCloud can clear up the congestion that so-often plagues voice or video applications (particularly in such use cases) while also opening up more bandwidth wiggle room. This ensures no matter the distance or terrain between offices, communication and collaboration will be seamless.
Use Case #2: Bogged down SaaS applications. SaaS applications such as Office 365 and AWS have become instrumental to many employees’ workdays. Should these applications suffer from degraded performance – or worse, go down entirely – it could leave organizations at a standstill. SD-WAN by VeloCloud keeps traffic and requests flowing smoothly between users, the platforms they count on, and the data center.
Use Case #3: Porous connections and communication. Security must be a top-of-mind concern for all organizations, no matter their size or industry. VMware SD-WAN by VeloCloud helps support the VPN, encryption, and load balancing needed to keep employee connections safe and available. Furthermore, it can also enable admins to spin up hardened connections between endpoints on an as-needed basis.
Use Case #4: Foggy edge end-point visibility. Network admins must have eyes everywhere. This is especially true for the edge of their organizational network. Beyond just being able to monitor traffic flow, admins must also have the reach to be able to respond to problems quickly. VMware SD-WAN by VeloCloud offers admins a boost of confidence by reacting to monitoring connection health, triaging, and then reacting to issues on the fly.
Next Steps: Explore more VeloCloud and SD-WAN use cases
Want to learn more about SD-WAN and the impact it could have on your organizational network? Visit https://www.arrayasolutions.com//contact-us/ to reach out to our team of experts. They can answer any questions you may have as well as help you assess whether or not your organization is SD-WAN ready.
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