Cloud virtualization platform adds flexibility to legacy enterprise networks

Cloud wide-area network (CloudWan), unifies and centralises complex corporate networks, as well as provide flexibility and control over hybrid cloud deployments, says information and communication technology firm Internet Solutions software-defined networking (SDN) and Internet executive head Greg Montjoie.

The enterprise cloud network virtualisation platform was launched by the company and uses SDN and network function virtualisation to link public and private cloud deployments – so-called hybrid cloud models common in most businesses – into a seamless virtual network that is smart, responsive and elastic.

Data traffic and network complexity between business sites are becoming more substantial, especially as many devices across disparate sites are added to an enterprise Wan.

Existing network technologies are increasingly restrictive, owing to the changes in technologies that affect widely used and industry-standard Multiprotocol Label Switching, or MPLS, legacy networks, and which can no longer guarantee fast and reliable network connections, states Montjoie.

By delivering cloud-based, centralised network provisioning and management, CloudWan overcomes the biggest drawbacks of legacy network technologies, he avers.

Software-defined networks are the building blocks of cloud-integrated networks, where cloud service and network are merged, rather than linked, adds Internet Solutions MD Saki Missaikos.

“By uncoupling the network from its physi-cal confines, like data storage has been with the advent of cloud services, enterprises can adapt and expand in response to market and customer needs with more agility,” he says.

CloudWan unifies legacy technology-based enterprise network into programmable entities that improve traditional network device deployment and upgrades, simplify management and automate control of the network. Virtualised functions can be deployed rapidly onto the core virtual network using CloudWan, and there is the central control of setup and configuration across the network, says Montjoie.

However, CloudWan also provides enterprise networks with cloud-like adaptability and elasticity so that each enterprise has a network that is easily customisable to its exact needs and bandwidth or geographic demands.

The platform virtualises network functions and supports open communication protocols and application programming interfaces that are device-agnostic, but still offer the same security, reliability and resiliency afforded by proprietary hardware and appliances. This feature will enable significant cost savings as enterprises scale up their networks, he says.

“Networks are being strained by business demands for more bandwidth, more optimisation and more dynamism to realise more value.

CloudWan enables enterprises to leverage its features to optimise their complex networks when there is a need to deliver applications to users over the network or to increase bandwidth,” says Montjoie. For example, when an additional site such as a new warehouse, branch or outlet, needs to be added to an enterprise network, the configurations and appropriate application rule sets are instantly deployed to that site. The configuration profiles are pre-set according to the client’s network grouping structures, he explains.

The CloudWan solution was developed by Internet Solutions in partnership with Japanese telecommunications multinational NTT Group’s Innovation Institute, which is a prominent Silicon Valley-based innovation centre for NTT Group.

The partnership resulted in a SDN solution based on Internet Solutions’ open standards-approach to SDN and its vision of the future enterprise, says Missaikos.

“Solutions like CloudWan enable our clients to use their networks and the Internet as intelligent business catalysts, rather than just a data-carrier systems,” he concludes.