At VMworld 2019 Europe in Barcelona this week, VMware showcased a number of advancements for its SD-WAN by VeloCloud solution, including plans to deliver deeper integration between Microsoft Azure and the VMware SD-WAN Cloud Gateways deployed inside Azure.
- VMware SD-WAN delivers a Secure Access Services Edge (SASE) based on a global, multi-service network of more than 2,000 deployed VMware SD-WAN Cloud Gateways with integrated networking and network security capabilities. The Cloud Gateways are autonomous, stateless, horizontally scalable and cloud-delivered, distributed globally across co-location, IaaS, SaaS, and telco points of presence (PoPs) with public and private peering to optimize network latency. The VMware SD-WAN Cloud Gateway architecture serves all users and devices across campus, branch, and mobile use cases. The Cloud Gateways identify each end client, steering and optimizing application traffic through the Network of Cloud Services to deliver the best user experience.
- VMware SD-WAN Cloud Gateways provide the first hop for all traffic into the Network of Cloud Services made up of leading destination public clouds such as Azure, AWS, GCP, as well as leading application, security and analytics service clouds. This Network of Cloud Services spans both VMware services and best-in-class partner services, delivered from the cloud dynamically based on business policy and network conditions occurring at that instant of time. Native Cloud Gateway and Edge services include application steering, dynamic multi-path optimization, underlay visibility and reporting, on-demand mesh VPN, stateful firewall, and multi-cloud network orchestration.
- VMware’s Network of Cloud Services partners include cloud security (Zscaler, Check Point, Menlo Security), cloud access security brokers, (Netskope), cloud mid-mile transit (Mode, Teridion), cloud analytics (SevOne, Plixer), and Internet exchange services (Equinix).
The company said the Network of Cloud Services and the Azure integration furthers its vision of the Virtual Cloud Network – connecting and protecting the modern enterprise.
“The days of hub-and-spoke MPLS networks that connect to a hardware-based perimeter are over,” said Sanjay Uppal, vice president and general manager, SD-WAN at VMware. “VMware combines a unique hyperscale SD-WAN architecture spanning thousands of VMware SD-WAN Cloud Gateways with the most extensive ecosystem of third-party cloud services to deliver a consistent end user experience as well as world class security.”
What’s driving SD-WAN?
With hundreds of thousands of SD-WAN connections now active across the globe, it’s clear that the technology has moved beyond earlier adopters and into a rapid-growth phase where carriers, vendors and even cloud providers are racing to differentiate themselves with enhanced services.