Network engineers must take the lead to push DDI to the cloud

Copyright TechTarget - All rights reserved https://cyber.law.harvard.edu/rss/rss.html Techtarget Feed Generator en Fri, 05 Jun 2026 07:50:44 GMT https://www.techtarget.com/searchnetworking editor@techtarget.com Enterprise network engineers often find themselves locked out of the public cloud. As companies shift the core of their digital infrastructure from data centers to the cloud, DevOps and cloud teams build their own networks. As a result, network engineering teams are relegated to managing interconnects between these cloud silos and the on-premises network. Many network engineers are content with this, but others see the risks of inefficient network design, complexity and inconsistent security. Network engineers should establish a presence in their organizations' cloud environments, but they might be unsure where to start. One good starting point is DNS, DHCP and IP address management. <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchnetworking/feature/How-a-DDI-platform-supports-IP-based-network-management">Network engineers use DDI</a> to control and automate operations around these core network addressing technologies. Cloud teams tend to take a more chaotic approach, which leads to the following issues: <ul class="default-list"> <li>Fragmented and overlapping IP address space.</li> <li>Inconsistent DNS configurations.</li> <li>Stale DNS records.</li> <li>Major security gaps around DNS infrastructure.</li> </ul> These issues create an increasingly attractive attack surface for hackers. Network engineers specializing in DDI must lead a more unified approach to the framework. This article discusses the challenges in how cloud teams manage DDI and explains how network engineers can refine their approach to address these issues. <section class="section main-article-chapter" data-menu-title="The risks of fragmented DDI across cloud"> <h2 class="section-title">The risks of fragmented DDI across cloud</h2> Network engineers could improve cloud resilience and reduce security risks by extending enterprise DDI into the cloud. They understand IP address planning, DNS zone management and <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchnetworking/tip/A-guide-to-Windows-DHCP-server-configuration">DHCP configuration</a>. They also know how to manage all three together at scale with the DDI platforms to control on-premises networks. Unfortunately, many of them remain frozen out of the cloud. According to Enterprise Management Associates' <a target="_blank" href="https://www.enterprisemanagement.com/product/ddi-directions-2026-preparing-core-network-services-for-an-agentic-multi-cloud-world-summary/" rel="noopener">DDI Directions 2026 report</a>, which polled 300 enterprise IT professionals, only 37% of DDI engineers and architects believe they have sufficient influence over how DDI technology is implemented in the public cloud. DDI pros in multi-cloud companies reported having even less influence, presumably because they're struggling to partner with multiple cloud teams rather than just one. This influence gap presents risks. According to EMA's research, a lack of influence over DDI implementation in the cloud correlates with the following: <ul type="disc" class="default-list"> <li>Less success with overall DDI strategy.</li> <li>Insecure DNS infrastructure.</li> <li>An inability to automate DDI operations, which breaks cloud infrastructure operations.</li> </ul> </section> <section class="section main-article-chapter" data-menu-title="How DDI engineers can earn cloud clout"> <h2 class="section-title">How DDI engineers can earn cloud clout</h2> DDI teams can establish better partnerships with cloud teams in the following ways: <h3>Close the cloud gap</h3> DDI teams should get executive buy-in. Right now, a huge gap exists between how IT executives and technical personnel perceive this issue. Recall that just 37% of DDI engineers and architects believe they have enough cloud influence. Among IT executives, however, 59% responded likewise. Executives have a blind spot to the risks posed by this siloed approach to DDI. DDI subject matter experts need to <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchsecurity/post/4-tips-to-help-CISOs-get-more-C-suite-cybersecurity-buy-in">raise this issue</a> up the chain of command. <h3>Ensure cloud compatibility</h3> Cloud teams often prefer different tools and technologies from those that network engineers use. They view on-premises networks as legacy technology. Before network engineers ask cloud teams to integrate their operations with the enterprise's DDI strategy, they need to ensure that DDI tools are cloud-friendly. This also means the DDI stack needs to enable highly automated operations. It also needs an <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchapparchitecture/definition/API-management">open and modern API</a>. In fact, EMA's research found that only 41% of IT pros are fully satisfied with the quality of their DDI platforms APIs. Sufficient API quality correlated very strongly with having more influence over DDI implementation in the cloud. Network engineers need DDI that integrates with and manages IP addresses and DNS services in the public cloud. Many DDI vendors can discover DDI assets in public cloud environments, but they can't manage them directly. In other words, some DDI vendors give network engineers <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchcloudcomputing/definition/cloud-visibility">visibility into cloud</a> IP space and DNS, but they don't give them control over these assets. EMA expects most DDI vendors to add more direct management of cloud DDI over the next year or two, but that capability is long overdue. Today, 66% of DDI pros say they need a DDI platform that actively controls and manages IP address space in the public cloud, and 68% say they need their IP address management tools to integrate with and manage cloud DNS services. </section> <section class="section main-article-chapter" data-menu-title="The way forward for unified DDI in the cloud"> <h2 class="section-title">The way forward for unified DDI in the cloud</h2> The path forward shouldn't be confrontational. DDI teams aren't trying to make things hard for cloud teams or act as gatekeepers -- they want to be useful. Potential ways DDI can help cloud teams include the following: <ul class="default-list"> <li>Manage IP address allocation for cloud workloads.</li> <li>Navigate DNS integration challenges for cloud teams.</li> <li>Providing visibility dashboards.</li> </ul> DDI teams must bring cloud-friendly options to the table that integrate seamlessly into DevOps and CloudOps toolchains. Otherwise, they'll miss their opportunity to build credibility with cloud teams. Shamus McGillicuddy is vice president of research for the network management practice at Enterprise Management Associates (EMA). He has more than 20 years of experience in the IT industry and has written extensively about the network infrastructure market. Prior to joining EMA, McGillicuddy was the news director for Informa TechTarget's SearchNetworking site. </section> DDI can help network engineers break through the silos that separate cloud and on-premises network management. But engineers have to make sure IT executives understand why. https://cdn.ttgtmedia.com/rms/onlineimages/cloud_g1135435124.jpg https://www.techtarget.com/searchnetworking/post/Network-engineers-must-take-the-lead-to-push-DDI-to-the-cloud Wed, 22 Apr 2026 17:00:00 GMT Network engineers must take the lead to push DDI to the cloud The most dominant theme from AWS re:Invent 2025, as expected, focused on AI. Discussions centered on new AI services, an agent development platform environment, code translators and more. But, over in the corner, out of the limelight but not unworthy of note, were several announcements related to enterprise networking. AWS brought forward new capabilities, both large and small, that will drive a pivotal shift in how enterprises approach cloud and multi-cloud connectivity. These developments underscore the growing importance of seamless, secure and efficient networking services in <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchcio/tip/How-to-build-a-digital-transformation-roadmap-in-6-steps">enabling digital transformation</a>. <section class="section main-article-chapter" data-menu-title="The multi-cloud elephant in the room"> <h2 class="section-title">The multi-cloud elephant in the room</h2> For much of AWS's history, it opted against the idea that customers needed to collaborate with other cloud providers for services. This was despite the fact that most enterprises use two or more cloud providers on a consistent basis, leading to a whole niche industry devoted to making multi-cloud connectivity practical and consistent. However, at AWS re:Invent 2025, AWS was more open to multi-cloud than ever after years of resistance. It was a talking point during the <a href="https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2025/11/preview-aws-interconnect-multicloud/">announcement of AWS Interconnect</a>, a new family of managed network services designed to simplify private connectivity to and across cloud environments. The flagship offering, Interconnect - multicloud, was launched in collaboration with Google Cloud's Cross-Cloud Interconnect. This service enables enterprises to establish private, high-speed, MACsec-encrypted connections between VPCs in AWS and Google Cloud regions through a fully managed provisioning process that completes in minutes. Key features of Interconnect - multicloud include the following: <ul class="default-list"> <li>Quad-redundant infrastructure. Used for <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchdatacenter/definition/high-availability">high availability</a>, with pre-provisioned capacity across separate physical buildings.</li> <li>99.99% uptime. Ensures reliability on the AWS portion of the connection.</li> <li>Open specification for multi-cloud networking. Published on GitHub, which enables other cloud providers to adopt the architecture.</li> </ul> This new offering eliminates the need for customers to procure and manage their own circuits, routers, cross-connects or third-party fabrics, significantly reducing supply chain and operational complexity. By shifting routing, failover and provisioning into a cloud-operated model, AWS plans to deliver hyperscale-grade resiliency as a shared service, making it accessible even to organizations with limited networking expertise. </section> <section class="section main-article-chapter" data-menu-title="Simplifying cloud access connectivity"> <h2 class="section-title">Simplifying cloud access connectivity</h2> The second piece of the Interconnect family, Interconnect – last mile, aims at simplifying the effort and cost of establishing network access to cloud-based VPCs from premises locations. The focus is on making this process a straightforward service request within the AWS Console, providing flexible connectivity between 1-100 gigabits per second (Gbps). The heavy lifting, such as <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchnetworking/tip/How-to-set-up-a-VLAN-for-enterprise-networks">configuring virtual LANs,</a> autonomous system numbers and Border Gateway Protocol peering, will be orchestrated through integrated, automated provisioning coordination between AWS and the local business ISP. <a name="_Hlk216423437"></a>The first partner working with AWS is Lumen, but AWS is publishing a standard API for any local service provider to adopt it. </section> <section class="section main-article-chapter" data-menu-title="Accelerating hybrid networking"> <h2 class="section-title">Accelerating hybrid networking</h2> AWS also announced several broader enhancements to hybrid networking, making it faster and easier to deploy. Key updates include site-to-site VPNs and direct site-to-site VPNs. <ol class="default-list"> <li>Site-to-site VPNs. Supports speeds of up to 5 Gbps, paving the path for faster data transfers between on-premises and cloud environments.</li> <li>Direct site-to-site VPN. Integrates with Eero devices to simplify distributed site management and improve disaster recovery capabilities.</li> </ol> These advancements are particularly relevant for those managing hybrid environments, as they reduce the time and effort required to establish secure, high-speed connections between on-premises infrastructure and cloud resources. </section> <section class="section main-article-chapter" data-menu-title="The path to industry standardization"> <h2 class="section-title">The path to industry standardization</h2> <a name="_Hlk216436748"></a><a name="_Hlk216436854"></a>The partnership with Google Cloud is a strong start, but the true potential of AWS Interconnect - multicloud lies in its ability to integrate with other major cloud providers, such as Microsoft Azure, which has already expressed commitment to join the program in 2026. <a name="_Hlk216435780"></a>With Azure's inclusion, the three major cloud providers will all participate in the Interconnect - multicloud framework, which will cover a significant majority of multi-cloud networking needs in North America. As additional providers adopt the open specification, enterprises will benefit from greater path diversity, improved resiliency and a more fully unified approach to multi-cloud networking. The full potential of AWS Interconnect - last mile will take longer, as each local service provider must come on board with automated provisioning. AWS hopes its customers -- and eventually the market as a whole -- will drive this process, as local ISPs begin to view the service as a necessary requirement rather than a competitor.  The AWS networking announcements at re:Invent mark a significant evolution, with the potential to reshape how enterprises <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchcloudcomputing/definition/cloud-architecture">design and operate cloud access and multi-cloud architectures</a>. By delivering simplified, high-performance connectivity tools, AWS addresses current challenges and sets the stage for a future where multi-cloud networking is as seamless and reliable as single-cloud operations. These innovations represent an opportunity to accelerate digital transformation while reducing complexity and cost for enterprises of all sizes. Jim Frey covers networking as principal analyst at Omdia. Omdia is a division of Informa TechTarget. Its analysts have business relationships with technology vendors. </section> AWS re:Invent 2025 introduced Interconnect - multicloud, a platform aimed at simplifying multi-cloud and hybrid networking and enabling secure, high-speed connectivity. https://cdn.ttgtmedia.com/rms/onlineimages/cloud_g943065362.jpg https://www.techtarget.com/searchnetworking/opinion/AWS-reInvent-2025-signals-a-shift-in-multi-cloud-networking Fri, 12 Dec 2025 15:30:00 GMT AWS re:Invent 2025 signals a shift in multi-cloud networking Arista Networks has acquired VeloCloud from Broadcom, a move that adds software-defined WAN to its portfolio. <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchvmware/tip/VMware-SD-WAN-by-VeloCloud-optimizes-edge-device-connectivity">VeloCloud enables</a> Arista to provide a more complete offering to customers as it strives to remain competitive in a mature market that continues to see convergence between security and networking, according to Jim Frey, an analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group, now part of Omdia. "It was an opportunity for Arista to fill a gap in their offerings versus their key competitors," he said. "They didn't really have a true SD-WAN-type solution." Shamus McGillicuddy, an analyst at Enterprise Management Associates, agreed that Arista's purchase of VeloCloud is a move to expand its offerings toward becoming an end-to-end provider of networking products. But he also said its focus on SD-WAN is "a bit behind the market." Vendors including HPE, Cisco and Extreme Networks already provide customers with a deeper integration between security and networking by offering zero-trust and secure access service edge (<a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchnetworking/definition/Secure-Access-Service-Edge-SASE">SASE</a>) capabilities, according to McGillicuddy. Security vendors including Zscaler and Palo Alto Networks also have portfolios that combine the two technology areas. Arista isn't quite there yet, he said. "They don't have a cloud-based security story that would be the basis of a SASE solution," McGillicuddy said. "My guess is that they're going to partner with someone in that realm or maybe make an acquisition or two, but they're not talking about that right now." Still, the purchase of VeloCloud is a step in the right direction for Arista, Frey said, enabling it to tell a more complete story to customers and to add features it will need if it's to become a more comprehensive provider. "Arista couldn't answer that entire need without something like VeloCloud," he said. In its <a target="_blank" href="https://www.arista.com/en/company/news/press-release/21646-pr-07012025" rel="noopener">press release</a>, Arista stressed the influence of AI on the networking market -- language that wasn't directly connected to the acquisition itself. Analysts said the deal isn't a direct AI play, but indicates Arista's preparation to support AI workloads, especially at the edge. "Having SD-WAN that can do intelligent traffic optimization and performance optimization across wide area network is really important for being successful with these AI deployments," Frey said. VeloCloud also includes <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchvmware/news/366615192/Broadcom-unveils-AI-networking-features-for-VCF">VeloRAIN</a>, or Robust AI Networking, which incorporates AI and machine learning into the VeloCloud architecture for routing optimization and other functions, said Cindy Whelan, practice leader in the telco B2B strategies and solutions group at Omdia, a division of Informa TechTarget. She added that the technology "fits with Arista's broader efforts to incorporate AI into their operations and solutions." <section class="section main-article-chapter" data-menu-title="Benefits for Broadcom"> <h2 class="section-title">Benefits for Broadcom</h2> The deal also benefits Broadcom, which would have needed to continue investing in VeloCloud if it wanted the product to remain competitive, McGillicuddy said. VMware purchased VeloCloud in 2017 to bring SD-WAN into its NSX network virtualization portfolio for use cases such as edge computing. In 2023, <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchdatacenter/news/252520587/VMware-may-be-Broadcoms-next-acquisition-target">Broadcom acquired VMware</a> -- and VeloCloud with it -- in a $61 billion deal. The VeloCloud divestment is strategic and likely indicates that VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) and private cloud infrastructure are more of a priority for Broadcom than networking, according to McGillicuddy. "VeloCloud was part of an incomplete vision for offering a portfolio of network software solutions with NSX," he said. "NSX is now sort of buried within VCF. It's clear Broadcom doesn't want to have a set of networking solutions from VMware. They want VMware to be their full-stack cloud software infrastructure." Nicole Laskowski is the editorial director for Informa TechTarget's enterprise IT news team. She drives coverage for news and trends around AI, enterprise applications and IT infrastructure. </section> Arista fills a gap in its portfolio with VeloCloud's SD-WAN capabilities. https://cdn.ttgtmedia.com/rms/onlineimages/arvr_g1273484747.jpg https://www.techtarget.com/searchnetworking/news/366627055/Arista-buys-VeloCloud-from-Broadcom Wed, 02 Jul 2025 18:20:00 GMT Arista buys VeloCloud from Broadcom Wireless technologies have grown in popularity and require the right type of wireless network to support them. It's important for organizations to choose the right type of wireless network, as each has its own functions and use cases. The different types of wireless networks are the following: <ul class="default-list"> <li>Wireless LAN (WLAN).</li> <li>Wireless metropolitan area network (WMAN).</li> <li>Wireless personal area network (WPAN).</li> <li>Wireless WAN (WWAN).</li> </ul> Each wireless network requires different equipment and connections, and covers a range of areas -- from short-range personal device connections to large areas that accommodate multiple connections. <section class="section main-article-chapter" data-menu-title="1. Wireless LAN"> <h2 class="section-title">1. Wireless LAN</h2> WLANs provide internet access within a building or a limited outdoor area. WLANs support a variety of devices that use radio waves, including laptops, smartphones, tablets and IoT devices. Homes and offices first used WLANs, but its use has since expanded to include stores and restaurants. Since WLANs rely on radio transmissions instead of wired connections, their range is limited to a single business or campus. WLANs operate using radio frequency (RF) waves and various wireless protocols. The most common protocol is the 802.11 standard, also known as Wi-Fi. While the two terms are often used interchangeably, <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchnetworking/answer/Wireless-vs-Wi-Fi-What-is-the-difference-between-Wi-Fi-and-WLAN">Wi-Fi is only one type of WLAN</a>. <figure class="main-article-image half-col" data-img-fullsize="https://www.techtarget.com/rms/onlineimages/networking-wireless_wlan_vs_wifi-h.png"> <img data-src="https://www.techtarget.com/rms/onlineimages/networking-wireless_wlan_vs_wifi-h_half_column_mobile.png" class="lazy" data-srcset="https://www.techtarget.com/rms/onlineimages/networking-wireless_wlan_vs_wifi-h_half_column_mobile.png 960w,https://www.techtarget.com/rms/onlineimages/networking-wireless_wlan_vs_wifi-h.png 1280w" alt="Venn diagram of how WLAN and Wi-Fi compare." height="384" width="279"> <figcaption> Use this Venn diagram to discover how wireless, WLAN and Wi-Fi are different. </figcaption> <div class="main-article-image-enlarge"> </div> </figure> WLAN configurations are either ad hoc or infrastructure. Endpoint devices on an ad hoc WLAN communicate directly without needing an access point (AP). Infrastructure WLANs operate with APs, which broadcast a wireless protocol, such as Wi-Fi. For example, a <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchnetworking/tip/Tips-for-setting-up-a-home-network">simple home network design</a> connects a modem to a local service provider's cable or fiber. A wireless router connects to the modem and receives its signal, which it then broadcasts to devices. In this case, the router serves as the wireless AP. Office networks also use the infrastructure model but in a more complex manner. Large offices require multiple APs, which are usually mounted on the ceiling. Each AP connects to the office backbone network with a wired connection to a switch and broadcasts a wireless signal to the surrounding area. APs coordinate support for users around the office to maintain open, connected sessions between APs. For example, as users move around, APs will reestablish connections to the nearest point to maintain continuous and seamless connectivity. </section> <section class="section main-article-chapter" data-menu-title="2. Wireless MAN"> <h2 class="section-title">2. Wireless MAN</h2> Wireless <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchnetworking/definition/metropolitan-area-network-MAN">metropolitan area networks</a> provide broadband internet access to people across larger areas compared to WLANs. These networks cover up to 50 kilometers -- approximately the size of a city. However, despite its name, a WMAN can also provide coverage to rural areas. WMAN connections are either point-to-point or multipoint. WMANs operate on RFs and primarily use the <a target="_blank" href="https://boneymaundu.medium.com/wi-fi-vs-wimax-a-basic-understanding-c6ecf2b18ac6" rel="noopener">802.16 wireless standard</a>, also known by the IEEE as WirelessMAN and generally as WiMAX. WiMAX uses both licensed and unlicensed bands and supports a larger range of frequency bands. WMAN principles are the same as those of WLANs. APs connect to the internet and broadcast wireless signals throughout the coverage area from the sides of buildings or on telephone poles. Users connect to their desired destination via the nearest AP, which forwards the connection to the internet. <figure class="main-article-image full-col" data-img-fullsize="https://www.techtarget.com/rms/onlineimages/networking-types_of_wireless_network-f.png"> <img data-src="https://www.techtarget.com/rms/onlineimages/networking-types_of_wireless_network-f_mobile.png" class="lazy" data-srcset="https://www.techtarget.com/rms/onlineimages/networking-types_of_wireless_network-f_mobile.png 960w,https://www.techtarget.com/rms/onlineimages/networking-types_of_wireless_network-f.png 1280w" alt="Comparison diagram showing the different types of wireless networks" height="262" width="560"> <figcaption> Use this chart to compare the major differences among WLANs, WMANs, WPANs and WWANs. </figcaption> <div class="main-article-image-enlarge"> </div> </figure> </section> <section class="section main-article-chapter" data-menu-title="3. Wireless PAN"> <h2 class="section-title">3. Wireless PAN</h2> Wireless <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchmobilecomputing/definition/personal-area-network">personal area networks</a> cover a limited area -- typically up to 10 meters. It connects individual user devices to each other. WPANs require little infrastructure and often include smaller personal devices. Examples of devices in a WPAN include the following: <ul class="default-list"> <li>Mobile phones.</li> <li>Laptops and computers.</li> <li>Wireless computer devices, such as a keyboard or mouse.</li> <li>Wireless headphones.</li> <li>Wearable smart devices.</li> </ul> Common WPAN protocols include Bluetooth and <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/iotagenda/definition/ZigBee">Zigbee</a>. Bluetooth enables hands-free phone calls, connects a phone to earpieces and transmits signals between smart devices. Zigbee connects stations along an IoT network. Infrared technology remains limited to line of sight, such as TV remotes connected to televisions. </section> <section class="section main-article-chapter" data-menu-title="4. Wireless WAN"> <h2 class="section-title">4. Wireless WAN</h2> <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchnetworking/tip/As-wireless-WAN-matures-benefits-and-challenges-emerge">WWANs</a> use cellular technology to provide wireless access outside the range of other wireless networks. This type of network has an unlimited range and connects networks across large geographical areas. The largest WWANs have a worldwide range and enable user mobility. WWANs are particularly adept at reaching areas wired networks can't. Since WWANs use cellular technologies such as 4G LTE and 5G, they operate using cell towers, which are available nearly everywhere within the U.S. and most other countries. However, users aren't limited to making phone calls; WWANs also use cellular technology to enable speech or data transfer. Users can also connect to the internet to access websites or server-based applications. This works by routing user connections to the nearest cell tower, which then connects to either another tower or the wired internet. <div class="youtube-iframe-container"> <iframe id="ytplayer-0" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/C18cWjrU6KI?autoplay=0&modestbranding=1&rel=0&widget_referrer=null&enablejsapi=1&origin=https://www.techtarget.com" type="text/html" height="360" width="640" frameborder="0"></iframe> </div> Editor's Note: This article was originally written by David Jacobs and expanded by Nicole Viera to reflect industry changes and improve reader experience. David Jacobs has more than 30 years of networking industry experience. He has managed leading-edge hardware and software development projects as well as consulted Fortune 500 companies and software startups. Nicole Viera is assistant site editor for Informa TechTarget's SearchNetworking site. She joined Informa TechTarget as an editor and writer in 2024. </section> The four types of wireless networks -- wireless LAN, wireless MAN, wireless PAN and wireless WAN -- differ in size, range and connectivity requirements. https://cdn.ttgtmedia.com/visuals/ComputerWeekly/Hero%20Images/network-abstract-2-adobe.jpeg https://www.techtarget.com/searchnetworking/tip/The-4-different-types-of-wireless-networks Mon, 10 Mar 2025 13:14:00 GMT The 4 different types of wireless networks Broadcom has added support for satellite connections to its VMware VeloCloud, making the software-defined WAN an option for connecting devices in remote locations to a company's global network. Broadcom, which <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchdatacenter/news/366560755/Broadcom-completes-VMware-acquisition-promises-investment">acquired VMware</a> for $61 billion last year, introduced satellite connectivity for VMware VeloCloud Edge 710 appliance at the VMware Explore conference on Tuesday along with two larger appliances, the 720 and 740, with the same capability. Satellite connectivity, along with the <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchnetworking/tip/FWA-use-cases-for-next-generation-connectivity">fixed wireless access</a> already in the VeloCloud Edge, lets Broadcom offer the WAN technology as an option for linking IoT devices running in environments without reliable internet access, said Shamus McGillicuddy, an analyst at Enterprise Management Associates (EMA). "The addition of fixed-wireless access and satellite connectivity to SD-WAN [software-defined WAN] appliances will enable a variety of edge deployments beyond the typical branch location," he said. Broadcom is particularly interested in increasing VeloCloud use for connecting AI applications at the edge to the WAN. "We're focused on enabling enterprises to adopt edge AI workloads," said Sanjay Uppal, general manager of Broadcom's Software-Defined Edge Division, in a statement. What Broadcom lacks is a ruggedized version of its VMware VeloCloud appliance with satellite connectivity. That would make the SD-WAN product an option in harsh environments where industries like oil and gas, agriculture, and aerospace run IoT devices, McGillicuddy said. Initially, enterprises used SD-WAN to connect branch offices and campuses to global networks using internet connections rather than a carrier's expensive <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchnetworking/tip/4-steps-to-start-a-successful-migration-from-MPLS-to-SD-WAN">MPLS link</a>, which routes traffic through the data center before taking it to the WAN. SD-WAN use has expanded to edge connectivity at a time when remote work has reduced the number of branch offices, McGillicuddy said. "With more people working from home, a lot of commercial real estate is empty, so no one needs SD-WAN to connect those offices," he said. "It obviously contracts demand." Nevertheless, SD-WAN use is growing. From now through 2027, <a target="_blank" href="https://blogs.idc.com/2023/10/09/idc-marketscape-evaluates-worldwide-sd-wan-infrastructure-vendors-and-market-trends/" rel="noopener">IDC predicts</a> the SD-WAN infrastructure market will rise 10.1% annually to $7.5 billion. <section class="section main-article-chapter" data-menu-title="Integrating Symantec security to VeloCloud"> <h2 class="section-title">Integrating Symantec security to VeloCloud</h2> To secure VeloCloud connections, Broadcom has integrated the SD-WAN's points of presence with the company's Symantec points of presence (<a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchnetworking/definition/point-of-presence-POP">PoPs</a>). The integration will provide lower latency when connecting to cloud and SaaS providers. This year, Broadcom introduced integration between VMware's VeloCloud Secure Access Service Edge with the Symantec Security Edge. The VeloCloud SASE, or Secure Access Service Edge, bundles networking and security technologies to deliver them as a single cloud service. The Symantec Security Edge focuses more on security than network connectivity, providing core features like zero-trust network access, secure web gateways and a firewall as a service. Broadcom customers that want <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchsecurity/tip/Explaining-the-differences-between-SASE-vs-SSE">SASE and a secure service edge</a> from a single vendor will appreciate the VeloCloud SASE and Symantec Security Service Edge (SSE) integration, McGillcuddy said. However, Symantec is not a market leader in SSE. EMA research shows most organizations have taken a best-of-breed approach for SD-WAN and SSE. However, firms that conduct market forecasts predict that organizations will eventually seek a single vendor for SD-WAN, SASE and SSE. "I agree that it probably will happen. But today's customers aren't moving that way yet," McGillicuddy said. Antone Gonsalves is an editor at large for TechTarget Editorial, reporting on industry trends critical to enterprise tech buyers. He has worked in tech journalism for 25 years and is based in San Francisco. Have a news tip? Please drop him an <a href="mailto:agonsalves@techtarget.com">email</a>. </section> Satellite connectivity lets Broadcom offer the VeloCloud SD-WAN as an option for linking IoT devices to the global network from environments without reliable internet access. https://cdn.ttgtmedia.com/rms/onlineimages/storage_g1197646065.jpg https://www.techtarget.com/searchnetworking/news/366608902/VMware-VeloCloud-SD-WAN-gets-satellite-support Tue, 27 Aug 2024 09:00:00 GMT VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN gets satellite support <section class="section main-article-chapter" data-menu-title="What is SD-WAN security?"> <h2 class="section-title">What is SD-WAN security?</h2> SD-WAN security refers to the practices, protocols and technologies protecting data and resources transmitted across software-defined wide area network infrastructure. <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchnetworking/definition/SD-WAN-software-defined-WAN">SD-WAN</a> is designed for internetwork communication, or communication between two separate networks. It is the technological successor to the long-established multiprotocol label switching (<a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchnetworking/definition/Multiprotocol-Label-Switching-MPLS">MPLS</a>), an ideal networking protocol for intranetwork communication, or communication between two applications or systems within a data center or private network. However, MPLS does not handle communication between a private network and cloud service providers (<a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchitchannel/definition/cloud-service-provider-cloud-provider">CSPs</a>) such as Amazon Web Services. Here, SD-WAN steps in, simplifying the management and operation of a <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchnetworking/definition/WAN-wide-area-network">wide area network</a> by decoupling the network hardware from its control mechanism. </section> <section class="section main-article-chapter" data-menu-title="The challenges of SD-WAN security"> <h2 class="section-title">The challenges of SD-WAN security</h2> SD-WAN must securely manage communications between the private and the public cloud. It routes traffic based on application requirements, network conditions, regulatory compliance concerns and business policies using prioritization and centralized management. The widely distributed nature of the network and its connection to the open internet create the following challenges for SD-WAN security: <ul class="default-list"> <li>Encryption and authentication. When moving data between public and private clouds, <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchsecurity/definition/encryption">encryption</a> is mandatory. However, this limits visibility into encrypted traffic, making it difficult to detect and prevent more advanced threats. Security experts seek to strike a balance between encryption and traffic monitoring.</li> <li>Cloud protection. To protect customer traffic from cloud-specific threats, CSPs have unique security services -- in particular, cloud access security brokers (<a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchcloudcomputing/definition/cloud-access-security-broker-CASB">CASBs</a>) and <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchsecurity/definition/Cloud-Security-Posture-Management-CSPM">cloud security posture management</a>.</li> <li>Endpoint protection. Remote users, branch offices, remote devices and internet of things devices all present a greater challenge than a networked PC inside a private network. <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchsecurity/definition/antivirus-software">Antivirus software</a>, <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchsecurity/definition/endpoint-detection-and-response-EDR">endpoint detection and response</a>, and mobile device management systems offer endpoint security.</li> <li>Scalability and performance. SD-WAN performs encryption and decryption in real time, but <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/whatis/definition/large-language-model-LLM">large language models</a> and increasing deployments require greater computational resources. Security platforms and equipment must handle increasing volumes of data without compromising computing or network performance.</li> <li>Visibility and control. Many enterprises deploy a multi-cloud system, dynamically routing traffic across many paths and clouds. Maintaining visibility in these networks is both crucial and difficult due to the sheer volume of data being moved. It requires mature and robust monitoring and management tools.</li> <li>Threat detection and response. SD-WAN environments face <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchsecurity/definition/malware">malware</a>, <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchsecurity/definition/ransomware">ransomware</a> and <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchsecurity/definition/advanced-persistent-threat-APT">advanced persistent threats</a>. Behavior-based analytics, <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/whatis/definition/threat-intelligence-feed">threat intelligence feeds</a> and automated response mechanisms offer advanced threat detection capabilities.</li> <li>Compliance and governance. Compliance with regulatory requirements -- such as the <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/whatis/definition/General-Data-Protection-Regulation-GDPR">General Data Protection Regulation</a>, <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchhealthit/definition/HIPAA">Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act</a> and <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchsecurity/definition/PCI-DSS-Payment-Card-Industry-Data-Security-Standard">Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard</a> -- ensures organizations secure the data flowing from private centers through the open web to the CSP.</li> </ul> </section> <section class="section main-article-chapter" data-menu-title="Benefits of SD-WAN security"> <h2 class="section-title">Benefits of SD-WAN security</h2> There are several benefits to using SD-WAN security, many of which don't exist in an MPLS environment. They include the following: <ul class="default-list"> <li>Secure connectivity. SD-WAN supports several secure connectivity protocols to protect in-transit data, including <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchsecurity/definition/IPsec-Internet-Protocol-Security">Internet Protocol Security</a>, <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchnetworking/definition/virtual-private-network">virtual private networks</a> and <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchsecurity/definition/Transport-Layer-Security-TLS">Transport Layer Security</a> encryption. Meanwhile, CASBs offer cloud service connectivity protection.</li> <li>Centralized control. SD-WAN centralizes network management and security policies, providing administrators with a single interface to multiple networks, systems and clouds. Centralized control simplifies security management and distribution of fixes while reducing the risk of error.</li> <li>Load balancing. SD-WAN platforms offer dynamic traffic routing and steering based on security policies and threat intelligence. This enables organizations to segment traffic and direct sensitive data through known secure channels to minimize its exposure.</li> <li>Automated threat response. SD-WAN platforms can be configured for <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchsecurity/tip/Incident-response-automation-What-it-is-and-how-it-works">incident response automation</a>, blocking suspicious or malicious traffic, isolating compromised devices or redirecting traffic to security inspection services. Automation avoids waiting for human intervention and provides immediate response to threat detection.</li> <li>Third-party integration. SD-WAN vendors offer integration with third-party security services, such as <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchsecurity/definition/firewall">firewalls</a>, <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchsecurity/definition/intrusion-prevention">intrusion prevention systems</a> and <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchsecurity/buyershandbook/Assess-secure-web-gateways-to-suit-your-network-security-needs">secure web gateways</a>.</li> </ul> </section> <section class="section main-article-chapter" data-menu-title=""> <h2 class="section-title"></h2> <div class="youtube-iframe-container"> <iframe id="ytplayer-0" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/vShAb_niOvE?autoplay=0&modestbranding=1&rel=0&widget_referrer=null&enablejsapi=1&origin=https://www.techtarget.com" type="text/html" height="360" width="640" frameborder="0"></iframe> </div> </section> <section class="section main-article-chapter" data-menu-title="Features of SD-WAN security"> <h2 class="section-title">Features of SD-WAN security</h2> The benefits mentioned above result from SD-WAN security's unique features. Among its key aspects are the following: <ul class="default-list"> <li>Authentication. Only approved users can access the network. This means that not only passwords, but also <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchsecurity/definition/multifactor-authentication-MFA">multifactor authentication</a> and <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchsecurity/definition/digital-certificate">digital certificates</a> verify the identity of users and devices connecting to the SD-WAN network.</li> <li>Fine-grained access control. SD-WAN allows organizations to define policies based on user roles, applications and other parameters, affording more precise and detailed control over access. <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchsecurity/definition/next-generation-firewall-NGFW">Next-generation firewalls</a> and <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchnetworking/definition/access-control-list-ACL">access control lists</a> help enforce these policies and restrict unauthorized access to sensitive resources.</li> <li>Network segmentation. By dividing the SD-WAN infrastructure into zones based on factors such as user roles, departments or security requirements, <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchnetworking/definition/network-segmentation">network segmentation</a> isolates zones from each other and prevents the free movement of security intruders.</li> </ul> </section> <section class="section main-article-chapter" data-menu-title="SD-WAN security best practices"> <h2 class="section-title">SD-WAN security best practices</h2> With its features and benefits properly applied, SD-WAN security can meet the morphing challenges of data transmission and its interception. Here's how: <ul class="default-list"> <li>Threat protection. Start by deploying next-generation firewalls, intrusion prevention systems, antivirus/<a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchsecurity/definition/antimalware">antimalware</a> software, and other threat prevention technologies at strategic points within the SD-WAN architecture. Use predefined security policies and threat intelligence feeds when configuring them.</li> <li>Encryption. Encrypt traffic across the SD-WAN -- particularly data traveling from the network to the cloud. Use strong encryption protocols such as <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchsecurity/definition/Advanced-Encryption-Standard">Advanced Encryption Standard</a> and secure key management practices to protect data in transit.</li> <li>Continuous monitoring. Monitor and log all network activity to detect anomalies and identify potential security issues. Use one of the many <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchsecurity/definition/security-information-and-event-management-SIEM">security information and event management</a> tools to review and analyze security logs.</li> <li>Well-defined security policies. Set security policies that comport with your organization's regulatory requirements and risk tolerance. Establish rules for verification, threat detection and response, traffic segmentation, application control, encryption and access control.</li> <li>Segmentation. Use network segmentation to isolate more sensitive data and assets from less secure parts of the network, balancing encryption and security. Sensitive data receives maximum protection, while less vital data needs little or no encryption, freeing resources.</li> <li>Secure cloud connectivity. Offer secure connectivity from data centers, branch offices and other remote locations to cloud service providers through features such as direct internet access and cloud on-ramp services. Implement encryption, authentication and traffic management to maximize security and performance.</li> <li>Patch management. SD-WAN firmware, software and other components are constantly updated to address newly found vulnerabilities. Establishing a formal <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchenterprisedesktop/definition/patch-management">patch management</a> process to test, deploy and verify patches across your network without disrupting business operations is essential.</li> </ul> </section> SD-WAN security refers to the practices, protocols and technologies protecting data and resources transmitted across software-defined wide area network infrastructure. https://cdn.ttgtmedia.com/visuals/digdeeper/3.jpg https://www.techtarget.com/searchnetworking/definition/SD-WAN-security Fri, 10 May 2024 12:11:00 GMT SD-WAN security VMware has introduced orchestration software for its edge computing platform, as many enterprises run IoT, AI, 4G and 5G applications at the network's edge to boost overall performance. The company launched the VMware Edge Cloud Orchestrator (VECO) on Tuesday, the opening day of the VMware Explore conference in Las Vegas. VECO, formerly VMware SASE Orchestrator, manages VMware's secure access service edge and <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchitoperations/news/252524455/VMware-Tanzu-sets-up-edge-computing-showdown-with-OpenShift">edge compute stack</a> (ECS) within a single console. VMware's latest edge technology targets a computing market expected to reach $208 billion this year, a 13.1% increase from 2022, <a href="https://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prUS50386323" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according to IDC</a>. By 2026, spending on edge computing will reach nearly $317 billion. "VMware Edge Cloud Orchestrator is a critical new product," said Sanjay Uppal, senior vice president of VMware's edge and service provider business unit, in a pre-show media briefing. VMware built a version of ECS for applications on small-scale VMs or containers within a partner's hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) system. <a href="https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-SD-WAN/5.2/sd-wan-orchestrator-deployment-and-monitoring-guide/GUID-DB6DD35B-DEF6-42F6-B9B5-6D981B4E60DD.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">VMware SASE Orchestrator</a> is the central management platform for the company's software-defined WAN; VMware's SD-WAN is a cloud-delivered network service that <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchnetworking/tip/Review-the-components-of-VMware-SASE-Platform">includes security</a> and access to applications running on private and public clouds. The vendor combined the two technologies under one orchestration console, VECO, to attract edge-focused industries, including energy, healthcare, manufacturing and retail. "[VECO] allows for the ability to use a common set of management tools, reducing the need to learn a new set and potentially addressing the skill gap issues at the edge," said Paul Nashawaty, an analyst at TechTarget's Enterprise Strategy Group. German carmaker Audi plans to use VMware's ECS with VECO for its <a href="https://www.audi-mediacenter.com/en/press-releases/edge-cloud-4-production-it-based-factory-automation-enters-series-production-15464" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Edge Cloud 4 Production</a> (EC4P), an IT-based method for factory automation, Uppal said. Audi started using the system last month at its Böllinger Höfe plant in Germany. Audi's EC4P system uses <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchdatacenter/definition/Cisco-HyperFlex">Cisco's HyperFlex HCI</a> with VMware software. Eventually, EC4P will replace the industrial PCs used to run the software that powers Audi's factory robots and analytics, said Henning Löser, senior manager of the Audi Production Lab, in a recent interview. Audi launched EC4P in response to plans to upgrade from Windows 10 to Windows 11, which allowed for better security, Löser said. Also, Audi expects EC4P to simplify the factory floor changes needed for producing electric vehicles. "If this works, this opens a way to a really software-driven production," Löser said. "That means the minds of the people programming is the limit, [not the hardware]." <h3>Private mobile networks as a service</h3> Also at Explore, VMware launched an enterprise version of its private mobile network (PMN) software for 4G/5G connectivity for edge applications. Wireless service providers deploy PMN software on ECS to offer it as a managed service. The new enterprise version lets companies deploy PMN as a service that includes cloud-based management and a 4G/5G core, the central piece of a mobile network. Enterprises would have to license the <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchnetworking/definition/radio-access-network-RAN">radio access network</a> from a technology provider; RAN is the system that provides the radio link to connect mobile phones, computers or remotely controlled devices to the network. Antone Gonsalves is networking news director for TechTarget Editorial. He has deep and wide experience in tech journalism. Since the mid-1990s, he has worked for UBM's InformationWeek, TechWeb and Computer Reseller News. He has also written for Ziff Davis' PC Week, IDG's CSOonline and IBTMedia's CruxialCIO, and rounded all of that out by covering startups for Bloomberg News. He started his journalism career at United Press International, working as a reporter and editor in California, Texas, Kansas and Florida. Have a news tip? Please drop him an <a href="mailto:agonsalves@techtarget.com">email</a>. VMware's new Edge Cloud Orchestrator, formerly VMware SASE Orchestrator, manages VMware's edge compute and SD-WAN systems. Carmaker Audi plans to use the product in its factories. https://cdn.ttgtmedia.com/rms/onlineimages/cloud_g1265279914.jpg https://www.techtarget.com/searchnetworking/news/366549316/VMware-revamps-cloud-software-for-edge-management Tue, 22 Aug 2023 12:41:00 GMT VMware revamps cloud software for edge management <section class="section main-article-chapter" data-menu-title="What is Temporal Key Integrity Protocol (TKIP)?"> <h2 class="section-title">What is Temporal Key Integrity Protocol (TKIP)?</h2> Temporal Key Integrity Protocol (TKIP) is an <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchsecurity/definition/encryption">encryption</a> protocol included in the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (<a href="https://www.techtarget.com/whatis/definition/IEEE-Institute-of-Electrical-and-Electronics-Engineers">IEEE</a>) 802.11i standard for wireless local area networks (<a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchmobilecomputing/definition/wireless-LAN">WLANs</a>). It was designed and implemented to provide more secure encryption than the notoriously weak Wired Equivalent Privacy (<a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchsecurity/definition/Wired-Equivalent-Privacy">WEP</a>), the original WLAN security protocol. TKIP works on older or legacy WEP hardware. It is also the core component of Wi-Fi Protected Access (<a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchmobilecomputing/definition/Wi-Fi-Protected-Access">WPA</a>), which replaced WEP in WLAN products. </section> <section class="section main-article-chapter" data-menu-title="Anatomy of Temporal Key Integrity Protocol"> <h2 class="section-title">Anatomy of Temporal Key Integrity Protocol</h2> Like WEP, TKIP uses the Rivest Cipher 4 (RC4) stream encryption algorithm as its basis. However, unlike WEP, TKIP encrypts each data <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchnetworking/definition/packet">packet</a> with a unique encryption <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchsecurity/definition/key">key</a>. Also, TKIP's keys are much stronger than those of its predecessor. TKIP includes three parts: <ul class="default-list"> <li>64-bit message integrity check (MIC).</li> <li>Packet sequencing control.</li> <li>Per-packet key mixing function.</li> </ul> The mixing function is combined with the <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/whatis/definition/initialization-vector-IV">initialization vector</a> (IV) or starting variable and sent to the RC4 cipher. The MIC's protocol is called "Michael." It is designed to help with TKIP and provide higher reliability with relatively simple computations. Although Michael is not as cryptographically secure as WPA and WPA2, it is significantly better than WEP's 32-bit Cyclic Redundancy <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchsecurity/definition/checksum">Checksum</a> (CRC-32) and can therefore be used to build fairly secure networks. The 8-<a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchstorage/definition/byte">byte</a> MIC is placed at the end of the frame before it is sent for WEP encryption. Since it is based on the entire frame and not just individual fragments and the data of the packet, Michael avoids iterative guessing, bit flipping and some fragmentation attacks to which WEP is vulnerable. <figure class="main-article-image full-col" data-img-fullsize="https://www.techtarget.com/rms/onlineimages/networking-wireless_security_cheat_sheet-f.png"> <img data-src="https://www.techtarget.com/rms/onlineimages/networking-wireless_security_cheat_sheet-f_mobile.png" class="lazy" data-srcset="https://www.techtarget.com/rms/onlineimages/networking-wireless_security_cheat_sheet-f_mobile.png 960w,https://www.techtarget.com/rms/onlineimages/networking-wireless_security_cheat_sheet-f.png 1280w" alt="Wireless security cheat sheet." height="310" width="560"> <figcaption> TKIP is a WLAN encryption protocol designed to provide more secure encryption than WEP. </figcaption> <div class="main-article-image-enlarge"> </div> </figure> </section> <section class="section main-article-chapter" data-menu-title="Differences between WEP and TKIP"> <h2 class="section-title">Differences between WEP and TKIP</h2> One difference between WEP and TKIP is that TKIP expands the IV and key ID fields to 8 bytes. It gives a 6-byte IV called the TKIP sequence counter (TSC) that doesn't need to wrap. Even if it gets close to wrapping, the client must renegotiate a new pairwise transient key (PTK), which prevents key reuse. Another change in TKIP is that its per-frame key uses a new algorithm that takes into account the larger IV and PTK as well as the transmitter's address. There is a brand-new per-frame key for each frame. TKIP also uses an S-box cryptographic device to spread out the per-frame key in a random-looking pattern, which prevents the RC4 from leaking information -- a common issue with weak RC4 per-frame keys. </section> <section class="section main-article-chapter" data-menu-title="Temporal Key Integrity Protocol algorithms"> <h2 class="section-title">Temporal Key Integrity Protocol algorithms</h2> TKIP is not a single encryption <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/whatis/definition/algorithm">algorithm</a>. Rather, it is a suite of algorithms that works as a "wrapper" to WEP. It thus allows users of legacy WLAN equipment and WEP hardware to upgrade to TKIP without having to replace the hardware. TKIP uses the original WEP programming, but wraps additional code at the beginning and end to encapsulate and modify it. To increase key strength, TKIP includes four additional algorithms: <ul class="default-list"> <li>A cryptographic MIC to protect packets.</li> <li>An IV sequencing mechanism that includes <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchdatamanagement/definition/hashing">hashing</a>, as opposed to WEP's plaintext transmission.</li> <li>A per-packet key-mixing function to increase cryptographic strength.</li> <li>A re-keying mechanism to provide key generation every 10,000 packets.</li> </ul> <div class="youtube-iframe-container"> <iframe id="ytplayer-0" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/aOdxWtqibCI?autoplay=0&modestbranding=1&rel=0&widget_referrer=null&enablejsapi=1&origin=https://www.techtarget.com" type="text/html" height="360" width="640" frameborder="0"></iframe> </div> </section> <section class="section main-article-chapter" data-menu-title="Development and evolution of TKIP"> <h2 class="section-title">Development and evolution of TKIP</h2> The Wi-Fi Alliance and the IEEE 802.11i task group developed TKIP between 2002 and 2004 to run on WEP hardware without slowing it down significantly. It was approved as a part of the WPA protocol and adopted as a Wi-Fi security standard to improve confidentiality and integrity. To prevent slowdowns, TKIP includes a preprocessing step before WEP encryption. It still uses RC4 as the encryption algorithm. However, it adds features into the selection of the per-frame key, and also introduces a new MIC to sit beside the WEP CRC-32 error-detecting function to identify changes between source and target data. In 2012, TKIP was officially deprecated in the 802.11 standard. </section> <section class="section main-article-chapter" data-menu-title="Advantages of TKIP over WEP"> <h2 class="section-title">Advantages of TKIP over WEP</h2> WEP is the earliest Wi-Fi security protocol. It is vulnerable to many kinds of cyber attacks, such as replay attacks. TKIP has several security and integrity advantages over WEP. One reason for these advantages is that with TKIP, each data packet is encrypted using a different key, as opposed to simply concatenating the IV and the key. In addition, TKIP uses a sequence counter. If a replay attack is attempted, the counter is different, which results in the failure of the attempt. In TKIP, the TSC is required to increase by one for each message. During communications, each side keeps the current TSC that it is sending with as well as the last TSC received from the other side. If a frame is received with an old TSC, it is considered to be out of order, so the receiver will drop it. An attacker will not be able to replay valid but old frames. Also, unless the frame is decryptable, the receiver won't update the last good TSC. And the frame won't be decryptable because the attacker does not know the key. In this way, TKIP provides replay protection, which is missing in WEP. </section> <section class="section main-article-chapter" data-menu-title="Drawbacks of Temporal Key Integrity Protocol"> <h2 class="section-title">Drawbacks of Temporal Key Integrity Protocol</h2> TKIP is useful for upgrading security on devices originally equipped with WEP. It addresses the key reuse problems common in WEP. However, it does not address all the security issues facing WLANs. It is vulnerable to pre-shared key attacks and attacks originating in the same network, because the session secret doesn't change and remains the same for all users on the network. It is also vulnerable to <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchsecurity/definition/denial-of-service">denial-of-service</a> attacks and attacks where <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/whatis/definition/threat-actor">threat actors</a> try to guess at certain parts of a message and make some minor alterations to the packets. Thus, while TKIP is safer than WEP, it is not completely secure or hassle-free. Also, it might not be reliable or efficient enough for sensitive corporate and government data transmission. The 802.11i standard specifies the Advanced Encryption Standard (<a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchsecurity/definition/Advanced-Encryption-Standard">AES</a>) in addition to TKIP. The WPA standard uses TKIP, whereas WPA2 uses AES. AES offers higher security and stronger encryption services than RC4. For these reasons, it is more suitable for government and military use than TKIP. However, AES requires a hardware upgrade for implementation and to provide optimal wireless voice quality. As more organizations replace older wireless equipment, AES is expected to become the accepted encryption standard for WLAN security. Learn about the <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchnetworking/answer/Wireless-vs-Wi-Fi-What-is-the-difference-between-Wi-Fi-and-WLAN">differences between WLAN and Wi-Fi</a> and read about <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchnetworking/tip/Wireless-network-configuration-basics-5-steps-to-follow">wireless network configuration basics</a>. </section> Temporal Key Integrity Protocol (TKIP) is an encryption protocol included in the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11i standard for wireless local area networks (WLANs). https://cdn.ttgtmedia.com/visuals/digdeeper/6.jpg https://www.techtarget.com/searchmobilecomputing/definition/TKIP Mon, 03 Apr 2023 16:00:00 GMT Temporal Key Integrity Protocol (TKIP) <h3>What are IEEE 802 wireless standards?</h3> IEEE 802 is a collection of networking standards that cover the physical and data link layer specifications for technologies such as Ethernet and wireless. These specifications apply to local area networks (<a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchnetworking/definition/local-area-network-LAN">LANs</a>) and metropolitan area networks (<a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchnetworking/definition/metropolitan-area-network-MAN">MANs</a>). IEEE 802 also aids in ensuring multivendor interoperability by promoting standards for vendors to follow. Essentially, the IEEE 802 standards help make sure internet services and technologies follow a set of recommended practices so that network devices can all work together smoothly. IEEE 802 is divided into different parts that cover the physical and <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchnetworking/definition/Data-Link-layer">data link</a> aspects of networking. The family of standards is developed and maintained by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802 LAN/MAN Standards Committee, also called the LMSC. The set of standards started in 1979 with a proposed standard called Local Network for Computer Interconnection, which was approved a year later. The LMSC has made more than 70 standards for IEEE 802. Some commonly used standards include those for Ethernet, bridging and virtual bridged LANs, <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchnetworking/tip/The-4-different-types-of-wireless-networks">wireless LANs, wireless MANs, wireless personal area networks</a> (PANs) and radio access networks, as well as media independent handover services. Better-known specifications include <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchnetworking/definition/8023">802.3 Ethernet</a>, <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchmobilecomputing/definition/80211">802.11</a> Wi-Fi and 802.15 Bluetooth/Zigbee. However, some of these standards have been labeled as disbanded or hibernating, and are either superseded by newer standards or being reworked. Using an open process, the LMSC advocates for these standards globally. Individual working groups are decided on and assigned to each area so that each segment receives an acceptable amount of focus. IEEE 802 specifications also split the data link layer into two different layers -- a logical link control layer and a media access control (MAC) layer. LMSC provides a PDF of standards for up to six months after they have been published. All standards stay in place until they are replaced with another document or withdrawn. <h3>Why IEEE 802 standards are important</h3> LMSC was formed in 1980 to standardize <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchnetworking/definition/protocol">network protocols</a> and provide a path to make compatible devices across numerous industries. Without these standards, equipment suppliers could manufacture network hardware that would only connect to certain computers. It would be much more difficult to connect to systems not using the same set of networking equipment. Standardizing protocols helps ensure multiple types of devices can connect to multiple network types. It also helps make sure network management isn't the challenge it could be if standards weren't in place. IEEE 802 also coordinates with other international standards, such as the International Organization for Standardization or ISO, to help maintain international standards. The 802 in IEEE 802 does not stand for anything of significance; 802 was the next numbered project. <h3>Examples of IEEE 802 uses</h3> Commercial organizations can use the IEEE 802 specifications to ensure their products maintain any newly specified standards. So, for example, the 802.11 specification that applies to Wi-Fi could be used to make sure Wi-Fi devices work together under one standard. In the same way, IEEE 802 can help maintain LAN standards. These specifications also define what connectivity infrastructure will be used for -- individual networks or those at a larger organizational scale. The IEEE 802 specifications apply to hardware and software products. So that manufacturers don't have any input on the standards, there is a voting protocol in place. This ensures one organization does not influence the standards too much. <h3>Working groups</h3> The working groups are the different areas of focus within the 802 specifications. They are numbered from 802.1 onward. <table class="main-article-table"> <thead> <tr> <td>802</td> <td>Overview</td> <td>Basics of physical and logical networking concepts</td> </tr> </thead> <tbody> <tr> <td>802.1</td> <td>Bridging</td> <td> <ul class="default-list"> <li>LAN/MAN bridging and management.</li> <li>Covers management and the lower sublayers of OSI Layer 2, including MAC-based bridging, virtual LANs and port-based access control.</li> <li>Also contains the Time-Sensitive Networking Task Group.</li> </ul> </td> </tr> <tr> <td>802.2</td> <td>Logical link control</td> <td>Disbanded</td> </tr> <tr> <td>802.3</td> <td><a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchnetworking/definition/Ethernet">Ethernet</a></td> <td> <ul class="default-list"> <li>The grandfather of the 802 specifications.</li> <li>Provides asynchronous networking using carrier sense, multiple access with collision detect (CSMA/CD) over coax, twisted-pair copper and optical fiber media.</li> <li>Current speeds range from 10 Mbps to 10 Gbps.</li> </ul> </td> </tr> <tr> <td>802.4</td> <td>Token bus</td> <td>Disbanded</td> </tr> <tr> <td>802.5</td> <td>Token ring</td> <td>Disbanded</td> </tr> <tr> <td>802.6</td> <td>Distributed queue dual bus</td> <td> <ul class="default-list"> <li>Superseded.</li> <li>Revision of 802.1D, superseded by 802.1D-2004.</li> </ul> </td> </tr> <tr> <td>802.7</td> <td>Broadband LAN practices</td> <td>Disbanded</td> </tr> <tr> <td>802.8</td> <td>Fiber optic practices</td> <td>Disbanded</td> </tr> <tr> <td>802.9</td> <td>Integrated services LAN</td> <td>Disbanded</td> </tr> <tr> <td>802.10</td> <td>Interoperable LAN security</td> <td>Disbanded</td> </tr> <tr> <td>802.11</td> <td><a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchmobilecomputing/definition/Wi-Fi">Wi-Fi</a></td> <td>Wireless LAN MAC and physical layer specification. 802.11a, b, g, ax, etc., are amendments to the original 802.11 standard. Products that implement 802.11 standards must pass tests and are referred to as Wi-Fi certified.</td> </tr> <tr> <td>802.11a</td> <td></td> <td> <ul class="default-list"> <li>Specifies a physical layer that operates in the 5 GHz U-NII band in the U.S. -- initially 5.15 GHz to 5.35 GHz and 5.725 GHz to 5.85 GHz -- and since expanded to additional frequencies.</li> <li>Uses orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (<a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchnetworking/definition/orthogonal-frequency-division-multiplexing">OFDM</a>).</li> <li>Enhanced data speed to 54 Mbps.</li> <li>Ratified after 802.11b.</li> </ul> </td> </tr> <tr> <td>802.11b</td> <td></td> <td> <ul class="default-list"> <li>Enhancement to 802.11 that added higher data rate modes to direct-sequence spread spectrum already defined in the original 802.11 standard.</li> <li>Boosted data speed to 11 Mbps.</li> <li>22 MHz bandwidth yields three nonoverlapping channels within the frequency range of 2.400 GHz to 2.4835 GHz.</li> <li>Beacons at 1 Mbps fall back to 5.5, 2 or 1 Mbps from 11 Mbps max.</li> </ul> </td> </tr> <tr> <td>802.11d</td> <td></td> <td> <ul class="default-list"> <li>Enhancement to 802.11a and 802.11b that enables global roaming.</li> <li>Particulars can be set at the MAC layer.</li> </ul> </td> </tr> <tr> <td>802.11e</td> <td></td> <td> <ul class="default-list"> <li>Enhancement to 802.11 that includes quality of service features.</li> <li>Facilitates prioritization of data, voice and video transmissions.</li> </ul> </td> </tr> <tr> <td>802.11g</td> <td></td> <td> <ul class="default-list"> <li>Extends the maximum data rate of wireless LAN devices that operate in the 2.4 GHz band, in a fashion that permits interoperation with 802.11b devices.</li> <li>Uses OFDM modulation.</li> <li>Operates at up to 54 Mbps, with fallback speeds that include the b speeds.</li> </ul> </td> </tr> <tr> <td>802.11h</td> <td></td> <td> <ul class="default-list"> <li>Enhancement to 802.11a that resolves interference issues.</li> <li>Dynamic frequency selection.</li> <li>Transmit power control.</li> </ul> </td> </tr> <tr> <td>802.11i</td> <td></td> <td> <ul class="default-list"> <li>Enhancement to 802.11 that offers additional security for wireless LAN applications.</li> <li>Defines stronger encryption, authentication and key exchange, as well as options for key caching and pre-authentication.</li> </ul> </td> </tr> <tr> <td>802.11j</td> <td></td> <td> <ul class="default-list"> <li>Japanese regulatory extensions to 802.11a specification.</li> <li>Frequency range of 4.9 GHz to 5 GHz.</li> </ul> </td> </tr> <tr> <td>802.11k</td> <td></td> <td>Radio resource measurements for networks using 802.11 family specifications</td> </tr> <tr> <td>802.11m</td> <td></td> <td> <ul class="default-list"> <li>Maintenance of 802.11 family specifications.</li> <li>Corrections and amendments to existing documentation.</li> </ul> </td> </tr> <tr> <td>802.11n</td> <td></td> <td> <ul class="default-list"> <li>Higher-speed standards.</li> <li>Several competing and noncompatible technologies; often called pre-n.</li> <li>Top speeds claimed of 108 MHz, 240 MHz and 350+ MHz.</li> <li>Competing proposals come from the groups Enhanced Wireless Consortium, TGn Sync and WWiSE, and are all variations based on multiple input, multiple output, or <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchmobilecomputing/definition/MIMO">MIMO</a>.</li> </ul> </td> </tr> <tr> <td>802.11x</td> <td></td> <td>Misused generic term for 802.11 family specifications</td> </tr> <tr> <td>802.12</td> <td>Demand priority</td> <td>Disbanded</td> </tr> <tr> <td>802.13</td> <td>Not used</td> <td>Not used</td> </tr> <tr> <td>802.14</td> <td>Cable modems</td> <td>Disbanded</td> </tr> <tr> <td>802.15</td> <td>Wireless PANs</td> <td>Communications specification for wireless PANs that IEEE approved in early 2002</td> </tr> <tr> <td>802.15.1</td> <td><a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchmobilecomputing/definition/Bluetooth">Bluetooth</a></td> <td>Short-range (10 meters) wireless technology used for cordless mouse, keyboard and wireless headphones at 2.4 GHz</td> </tr> <tr> <td>802.15.3a</td> <td>Ultra wideband</td> <td>Short-range, high-bandwidth ultra wideband link</td> </tr> <tr> <td>802.15.4</td> <td><a href="https://www.techtarget.com/iotagenda/definition/ZigBee">Zigbee</a></td> <td>Short-range wireless sensor networks</td> </tr> <tr> <td>802.15.5</td> <td><a href="https://www.techtarget.com/iotagenda/definition/mesh-network-topology-mesh-network">Mesh network</a></td> <td> <ul class="default-list"> <li>Extension of network coverage without increasing the transmit power or the receiver sensitivity.</li> <li>Enhanced reliability via route redundancy.</li> <li>Easier network configuration.</li> <li>Better device battery life.</li> </ul> </td> </tr> <tr> <td>802.16</td> <td>Wireless MANs</td> <td> <ul class="default-list"> <li>Hibernating.</li> <li>Covers fixed and mobile broadband wireless access methods used to create wireless MANs.</li> <li>Connects base stations to the internet using OFDM in unlicensed (900 MHz, 2.4 GHz, 5.8 GHz) or licensed (700 MHz, 2.5 GHz to 3.6 GHz) frequency bands.</li> <li>Products that implement 802.16 standards can undergo <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchnetworking/answer/Differences-between-WLANs-Wi-Fi-and-WiMax">WiMax</a> certification testing.</li> </ul> </td> </tr> <tr> <td>802.17</td> <td>Resilient packet ring</td> <td>Disbanded</td> </tr> <tr> <td>802.18</td> <td>Radio Regulatory Technical Advisory Group</td> <td>Supports IEEE 802 LMSC and IEEE 802 wireless working groups. Actively participates in and monitors radio regulatory matters.</td> </tr> <tr> <td>802.19</td> <td>Wireless coexistence</td> <td>Makes standards for coexistence between different wireless standards for unlicensed devices</td> </tr> <tr> <td>802.20</td> <td>Mobile broadband wireless access</td> <td>Disbanded</td> </tr> <tr> <td>802.21</td> <td>Media independent handover</td> <td> <ul class="default-list"> <li>Hibernating.</li> <li>Enables optimization of higher-layer services, including internet of things and handover services specifically between IEEE 802 networks.</li> </ul> </td> </tr> <tr> <td>802.22</td> <td>Wireless regional area network</td> <td> <ul class="default-list"> <li>Hibernating.</li> <li>Creates a standard to enable spectrum sharing.</li> </ul> </td> </tr> <tr> <td>802.23</td> <td>Emergency Services Working Group</td> <td>Disbanded</td> </tr> <tr> <td>802.24</td> <td>Vertical Applications Technical Advisory Group</td> <td>Focused on application categories that use IEEE 802 standards or multiple working groups. For these, 802.24 acts as a point of contact with other organizations focused on other IEEE 802 standards. 802.24 can also serve as a resource for understanding the IEEE 802 standards by providing white papers and other documents.</td> </tr> </tbody> </table> Check <a href="https://www.ieee802.org/NADots.shtml" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a> for a list of disbanded and hibernating standards. IEEE 802 is a collection of networking standards that cover the physical and data link layer specifications for technologies such as Ethernet and wireless. https://cdn.ttgtmedia.com/visuals/digdeeper/4.jpg https://www.techtarget.com/searchnetworking/reference/IEEE-802-Wireless-Standards-Fast-Reference Mon, 27 Feb 2023 12:00:00 GMT IEEE 802 wireless standards Cisco's recent software-defined WAN upgrade aspires to bring Viptela, its SD-WAN product for large enterprises with complex networking requirements, closer to the full SASE experience, highlighting a trend toward SASE as the future of SD-WAN. The upgrade features integration between Viptela SD-WAN and Cisco's unified <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchnetworking/definition/Secure-Access-Service-Edge-SASE">SASE</a> product, Cisco+ Secure Connect. This integration gives Viptela customers access to SASE cloud-based network security tools, which have many benefits for protecting enterprise data in the <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchnetworking/tip/How-SASE-architecture-integrates-with-network-infrastructure">remote work environment</a>. SASE decreases security inspection latency by eliminating the need for data to pass through inspection engines in the faraway data center. Instead, it moves inspection engines to a close <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchnetworking/definition/point-of-presence-POP">point-of-presence</a>. SASE also simplifies security by connecting multiple threat detection tools into a single fabric. Gartner analyst Andrew Lerner called 2023 "<a href="https://blogs.gartner.com/andrew-lerner/2022/12/20/networking-investments-for-2023-and-beyond/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the year of SASE</a>." Gartner predicts that by 2025, 50% of SD-WAN purchases will be part of a single-vendor SASE offering, up from less than 10% in 2021. Cisco's integration between its SD-WAN and SASE bolsters Cisco+ Secure Connect as a SASE product that offers an SD-WAN that gives remote workers cloud-delivered security. Over the last couple of years, numerous security vendors have bought SD-WAN businesses to create similar offerings, said Shamus McGillicuddy, a vice president of research at Enterprise Management Associates. "For most of them, integration of SD-WAN with cloud-based security solutions is still a work in progress," he said. "I've heard anecdotally that large enterprises struggle to evolve from SD-WAN to SASE, so strong integration between something like Viptela and Cisco's cloud security solutions is essential." McGillicuddy's upcoming research shows that more than 30% of IT organizations consider it challenging to go from an SD-WAN to a fully integrated SASE solution. For IT personnel, Cisco's Viptela SD-WAN and SASE integration will ease collaboration between enterprise security and networking teams, McGillicuddy said. Cisco recently integrated the CG113, a remote work device enabling enterprise Wi-Fi access without a VPN, with SD-WAN Remote Access, which brings the quality of office Wi-Fi to the home office. The CG113 also has a 4G/LTE radio that can serve as a failover option in case the ISP goes down, according to McGillicuddy. "My research has shown strong interest in SD-WAN solutions that can cover home-office scenarios," he said. "This would be really helpful for companies with lots of customer-facing employees who need reliable connections, doctors doing telepresence, and call center agents interfacing with customers." Other <a href="https://blogs.cisco.com/networking/experience-the-power-of-simplicity-with-these-cisco-sd-wan-upgrades" target="_blank" rel="noopener">recent SD-WAN upgrades</a> include changes in vManage, Viptela's overlay network management console. There is also a new model in the Catalyst 8500 modular networking device series, the Catalyst 8500-20X6C, and increased vertical scaling to the Catalyst 8000V edge software. Both integrations are available now. Cisco plans to make the rest of the upgrades generally available by April. Mary Reines joined TechTarget Editorial in October 2022 as a news writer covering networking. Prior to TechTarget, Reines worked for five years as arts editor at the Marblehead Reporter, her hometown newspaper. <figure class="main-article-image full-col" data-img-fullsize="https://www.techtarget.com/rms/onlineimages/networking-sase_architecture-f.png"> <img data-src="https://www.techtarget.com/rms/onlineimages/networking-sase_architecture-f_mobile.png" class="lazy" data-srcset="https://www.techtarget.com/rms/onlineimages/networking-sase_architecture-f_mobile.png 960w,https://www.techtarget.com/rms/onlineimages/networking-sase_architecture-f.png 1280w" alt="Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) architecture" data-credit="TechTarget" height="668" width="559"> <figcaption> SASE architecture converges network and security services into a cloud-based platform, centering on the identity of users, devices and applications. </figcaption> <div class="main-article-image-enlarge"> </div> </figure> Cisco Viptela SD-WAN integration with Cisco+ Secure Connect brings cloud-based security to remote workers and easier collaboration between IT security and networking teams. https://cdn.ttgtmedia.com/rms/onlineimages/cloud_g1265279914.jpg https://www.techtarget.com/searchnetworking/news/365531279/Cisco-Viptela-SD-WAN-integrates-with-SASE-for-better-security Wed, 15 Feb 2023 17:41:00 GMT Cisco Viptela SD-WAN integrates with SASE for better security Extreme Networks recently announced it has woven its software-defined WAN into a single fabric that extends to an organization's branches, simplifying deployments to remote sites. The SD-WAN extended fabric connects enterprises' data centers to their branch locations by automating connections to switches, access points and SaaS app discovery. Through Extreme's cloud-based management portal, ExtremeCloud IQ, the extended fabric unifies wired, wireless and WAN networking for simpler network control. "It's making it much easier for customers to deploy a fully integrated solution amongst the three," said Dan Debacker, product management director at Extreme Networks. In one physical infrastructure, the SD-WAN extended fabric creates virtualized, hypersegmented networks. Within these hypersegmented networks, administrators can assign policies, applications and other components in that same physical infrastructure, according to Debacker. This hypersegmentation allows enterprises to run these applications and policies across various locations in the network, supporting the same user experience for all employees, regardless of their location. "What we want to make sure of is that the end-user experience is very simple, very consistent," Debacker said. As the SD-WAN fabric extends to the branches, so, too, do the <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchenterprisedesktop/definition/Application-monitoring-app-monitoring">application performance monitoring</a> capabilities. This helps personnel troubleshoot problems from the user's perspective, whether it be related to storage, servers or end devices. "There's some visibility into what's happening at that specific branch," Debacker said. <figure class="main-article-image full-col" data-img-fullsize="https://www.techtarget.com/rms/onlineimages/sdn-sdwan_evolving_needs.png"> <img data-src="https://www.techtarget.com/rms/onlineimages/sdn-sdwan_evolving_needs_mobile.png" class="lazy" data-srcset="https://www.techtarget.com/rms/onlineimages/sdn-sdwan_evolving_needs_mobile.png 960w,https://www.techtarget.com/rms/onlineimages/sdn-sdwan_evolving_needs.png 1280w" alt="How SD-WAN meets the evolving needs of branch and remote sites." height="380" width="520"> <figcaption> Five ways software-defined WAN enables users at branch and remote sites. </figcaption> <div class="main-article-image-enlarge"> </div> </figure> The SD-WAN extended fabric unveiling comes on the heels of Extreme <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/252505149/Extreme-Networks-aims-to-enhance-SD-WAN-offer-with-Ipanema-acquisition">acquiring Ipanema</a> for $73 million in 2021. Extreme integrated Ipanema, the SD-WAN division of Infovista, to make ExtremeCloud SD-WAN. ExtremeCloud is the company's first SD-WAN offering. "Ipanema was previously a WAN optimization; they refactored and went to build out a totally cloud-native SD-WAN capability," said Bob Laliberte, principal analyst at TechTarget's Enterprise Strategy Group. Now, a year and a half later, Extreme is leveraging its SD-WAN to give organizations better remote control of the network. "They've been able to integrate it in a fairly short order," Laliberte said. The Ipanema acquisition was the latest in a <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchnetworking/news/252521022/Extreme-Networks-integrates-acquisitions-with-SD-WAN-switch">string of Extreme's big purchases</a> over the last several years. In 2019, Extreme bought the <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchitchannel/blog/Channel-Marker/Extreme-boosts-channel-focus-following-Aerohive-acquisition">cloud-managed products of Aerohive Networks</a>. In 2017, Extreme acquired <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchnetworking/news/450423119/Extreme-to-unify-wired-wireless-campus-with-Avaya-fabric-software">campus networking products from Avaya</a> and a data center business from Brocade. In 2016, the vendor acquired wireless LAN business from Zebra Technologies. "This is a great proof point of their ability to acquire and integrate technology at a faster pace," Laliberte said. Extreme has taken many steps to get to SD-WAN fabric as a single platform, but Meraki, Cisco's cloud-managed network offering, still looms large. "Meraki has been the recognized leader in this space," Laliberte said. "What you're seeing now is a lot of very good competition from the other players." Other competitors include Aruba and Juniper, Laliberte said. Extreme Networks also unveiled a 10 Gbps software-defined networking hardware appliance, the IPE2200, to support high-bandwidth environments with larger traffic volumes. Expected availability for the IPE2200 is June 2023. The SD-WAN extended fabric's <a href="https://investor.extremenetworks.com/news-releases/news-release-details/extreme-extends-fabric-edge-simplifies-operations-and-improves" target="_blank" rel="noopener">expected</a> availability is March 2023. Mary Reines joined TechTarget Editorial in October 2022 as a news writer covering networking. Prior to TechTarget, Reines worked for five years as arts editor at the Marblehead Reporter, her hometown newspaper. She received her bachelor's in journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where she served as an assistant news editor for the student newspaper, The Daily Collegian. Extreme Networks extends its SD-WAN network fabric to the edge to unify wired, wireless and WAN networking for simpler network control and more application performance monitoring. https://cdn.ttgtmedia.com/rms/onlineimages/cloud_g1135435124.jpg https://www.techtarget.com/searchnetworking/news/365531273/Extreme-Networks-extends-network-fabric-to-the-edge Tue, 14 Feb 2023 16:56:00 GMT Extreme Networks extends network fabric to the edge Cisco plans to release an update this month to its software-defined WAN that will make the product more conducive to multi-cloud networking and SaaS applications. Cisco SD-WAN release 17.10, expected by mid-month, will simplify connecting to multiple infrastructure or SaaS providers, said Shamus McGillicuddy, vice president of research, network management at Enterprise Management Associates (EMA). "EMA expects multi-cloud networking to be a major focus for enterprises in 2023, and SD-WAN is one technology that can enable this," he said. One of the latest enhancements is in the SD-WAN extension Cloud OnRamp for SaaS, which uses real-time analytics to give users the best path for application performance. The product will ingest additional telemetry to provide advanced insights into network performance affecting Cisco's <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchnetworking/news/252512647/Cisco-adds-Webex-support-to-SD-WAN-Cloud-OnRamp">Webex collaboration platform</a>. Pairing an SD-WAN with a public cloud for site-to-site connectivity is another growing trend, according to Brandon Butler, a research manager at IDC. Cisco has a cloud networking partnership, Cloud Hub with <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchcloudcomputing/news/252445006/Microsoft-bills-Azure-network-as-the-hub-for-remote-offices">Azure Virtual WAN</a>. This partnership provides site-to-site connectivity using Microsoft's global cloud infrastructure, Azure Virtual WAN, as the middle-mile WAN. In this case, Cisco is the SD-WAN provider and Microsoft is the public cloud provider with Azure Virtual WAN. "Cisco has embraced this trend by enabling SD-WAN to act as an overlay to manage network architectures that leverage the cloud provider's backbone," Butler said. "This will be particularly useful for customers who have or are planning to migrate significant workloads to the cloud and need to make them globally available." Another trend highlighted by the SD-WAN update is secure access service edge (<a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchnetworking/tip/Why-Secure-Access-Service-Edge-is-the-future-of-SD-WAN">SASE</a>) openness, according to McGillicuddy. With Cisco's 17.9 release, the company started offering third-party vendor integration with secure service edge (SSE) provider Zscaler security. With the 17.10 release, Cisco will expand its offerings through integration with SSE providers Cloudflare and Netskope. <blockquote class="main-article-pullquote"> <div class="main-article-pullquote-inner"> <figure> Vendors like Cisco are bucking [trends] by integrating its SD-WAN solution with third-party SSE solutions. </figure> <figcaption> Shamus McGillicuddyVice president of research, network management, Enterprise Management Associates </figcaption> </div> </blockquote> Customers that prefer to work with only Cisco can deploy its SD-WAN with Umbrella, Cisco's cloud-based <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchsecurity/buyershandbook/Assess-secure-web-gateways-to-suit-your-network-security-needs">secure web gateway</a> (SWG) platform. "Gartner has preached that SASE should be single architecture that combines SSE and SD-WAN into one platform," McGillicuddy said. "But vendors like Cisco are bucking that trend by integrating its SD-WAN solution with third-party SSE solutions like NetSkope and Zscaler." Netskope <a href="https://www.netskope.com/press-releases/netskope-acquires-infiot-will-deliver-fully-integrated-single-vendor-sase-platform" target="_blank" rel="noopener">recently purchased</a> Infiot, which provides zero trust network access and SD-WAN capabilities, according to McGillicuddy. "So technically, NetSkope has moved toward having a full SASE stack, but it remains open to integrating with Cisco," he said. "All this points to the fact that many enterprises don't necessarily want a single-vendor SASE solution. They want their incumbent vendors to work together to deliver a combined solution." Butler agreed, saying, "It behooves SD-WAN vendors to enable choice for their customers in whatever security architectures they'd like to support." Cisco SD-WAN 17.10 enhancements give enterprises the option of using security service edge providers Cloudflare and Netskope in secure access service edge deployments. https://cdn.ttgtmedia.com/rms/onlineimages/cloud_g1265279914.jpg https://www.techtarget.com/searchnetworking/news/252528076/Cisco-teases-new-capabilities-with-SD-WAN-update Tue, 06 Dec 2022 15:19:00 GMT Cisco teases new capabilities with SD-WAN update Even though some old-school IT folks don't fully accept it yet, it's a fact: All-wireless connectivity for office staff is possible and practical for most offices and use cases. Especially with the availability of Wi-Fi 6 or private 5G, performance, security and reliability are all sufficient for nearly all modern office work. Most organizations can adopt a wireless-by-default standard with wired connectivity on an as-needed basis. <h3>Why go all wireless? Demand and savings</h3> Staff expect and increasingly demand a ubiquitous and high-performing wireless LAN (WLAN). New work patterns -- conceived around dynamic, spontaneous collaboration and a work-where-you-are philosophy -- require a <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchnetworking/feature/6-Wi-Fi-design-best-practices-for-enterprise-networks">reliable wireless network</a>. With the assumption of an ongoing buildout of ubiquitous, up-to-date Wi-Fi in most organizations, IT can flip its perspective: Wi-Fi as main connectivity mode, wired as secondary and provided only as required. This leads logically to the savings question, "If the wired network exists mainly to power the WLAN, how much less can IT spend on it?" The answer is a lot. Most switch ports connect to user endpoints. In a wireless world, most of those switch ports would vanish. In this case, fewer switch ports means fewer switches to buy, power up, cool down, maintain, manage and secure. Additionally, organizations can reap substantial per-drop savings on cabling and re-cabling endpoint connections in <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchunifiedcommunications/definition/greenfield-deployment">greenfield</a> office buildouts as well as remodels and reconfigurations. <h3>How to go all wireless</h3> With current WLAN technology and devices -- and the advent of Wi-Fi 6 -- Wi-Fi capabilities have surpassed the baseline needs of most knowledge workers and shared office equipment, such as multifunction devices, smartboards and conferencing gear. Wi-Fi 6 aims to address certain office challenges and demands, including wider reach, higher device density, more simultaneous uses and broad ranges of demand patterns. For example, some of the key Wi-Fi 6 features include the following: <ul class="default-list"> <li>Multi-user multiple input, multiple output (<a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchnetworking/feature/5-things-to-know-about-MU-MIMO-technology-in-Wi-Fi-networks">MU-MIMO</a>) enables an access point (AP) to serve multiple devices simultaneously by sending physically separated, or beamformed, signals at them.</li> <li>Multi-user orthogonal frequency division multiple access (MU-OFDMA) enables an AP to carve each primary frequency channel into 256 subcarriers and bundle them into different-sized resource units based on each client's needs.</li> <li>Renewed incorporation of the 2.4 GHz channels, which the previous standard -- 802.11ac -- did not use, serves the needs of lower-power, long-distance or interference use cases that are common in IoT systems.</li> <li>Compared to earlier standards, Wi-Fi 6 employs a different method to identify potential collisions on a data channel. This should improve overall efficiency from 70% of <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchnetworking/tip/Wireless-capacity-more-important-than-fast-Wi-Fi-6-speed">theoretical maximum capacity</a> at best to 90% or more.</li> </ul> Despite these promising features, the big catch is organizations need both clients and infrastructure to support Wi-Fi 6. For previous Wi-Fi generations, the general design guideline was about 30 clients per AP -- roughly one AP per 800 to 1,600 square feet. Wi-Fi 6 networks are designed for 50 or 60 laptop/mobile clients per AP, plus a larger number of low-load IoT devices, and one AP per 2,000 to 3,000 square feet. Of course, these are rough guidelines. Much of this varies by product. And, in the end, the physics of the space drive every <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchnetworking/tip/6-steps-to-troubleshoot-Wi-Fi-network-issues">Wi-Fi design problem</a>. Wi-Fi engineers need to consider the office size, shape, construction materials used, furnishings and surroundings -- as well as the needs and usage patterns of the population served. <h3>Improved WLAN security</h3> Wi-Fi 6 drives some significant security enhancements in the WLAN by requiring Wi-Fi Protected Access 3 instead of WPA2 or older. WPA3 has higher encryption levels, beefed-up client authentication and resistance to brute-force attacks. In the long term, the key is to make the WLAN part of a comprehensive <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchsecurity/definition/zero-trust-model-zero-trust-network">zero-trust architecture</a>. WLAN use should just be another aspect of zero-trust network access and ideally supported by the same platform as wired systems and users off premises -- for example, those using a software-defined perimeter (SDP) system. SDP services provide session-level encryption of data independent of network medium and location, supplementing the improved encryption protections in Wi-Fi 6. <h3>The rise of WWAN and fall of WLAN</h3> In recent years, several factors have converged to <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchnetworking/tip/As-wireless-WAN-matures-benefits-and-challenges-emerge">increase the use of wireless WAN</a> (WWAN) connectivity, including the following trends: <ul class="default-list"> <li>Software-defined WAN (SD-WAN) emerged to help manage the integration of multiple connection media at single-location organizations and provide policy-based control.</li> <li>4G became ubiquitous and 5G is spreading rapidly.</li> <li>Many organizations shifted to cloud applications.</li> <li>More people work from home, and many organizations have replaced larger, centralized offices with smaller, more dispersed offices.</li> <li>Wireless pricing plans have become like wired pricing plans, with fixed rates for a given capacity and no rate-capping or overage costs based on the volume of data transferred.</li> </ul> With or without SD-WAN, organizations of all sizes are increasingly <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchnetworking/feature/Customers-discuss-the-potential-of-WWAN-use-cases">folding WWAN into their branch connectivity strategies</a>, whether as backup, overflow or primary connectivity. The next logical step is to explore a no-WLAN environment in which end-user devices are connected with 4G or 5G in either a private or public carrier service. Keep in mind, 5G offers some distinct advantages over 4G, in much the same way Wi-Fi 6 offers advantages over older Wi-Fi standards. 5G offers higher speeds, better security, better performance management and the ability to support higher densities of devices. In fact, <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchnetworking/feature/Its-not-Wi-Fi-6-vs-5G-its-Wi-Fi-6-and-5G">5G and Wi-Fi 6</a> use many of the same technologies and strategies. Private 5G, thanks to the added control an organization would have over the infrastructure, could provide better security than public carrier services, whether an organization manages it or contracts for it as a service. <h3>The challenges of going all wireless</h3> Wi-Fi 6 APs require more power than previous generations of APs because of increased numbers of radios and processing power, despite power-conserving technologies that optimize radio use. Older 802.3af standard Power over Ethernet needs to be <a href="https://blog.twinstate.com/poe-vs-poe-plus" target="_blank" rel="noopener">bumped up to 802.3at</a>, which can be costly if it means replacing PoE switches or their power feeds. With the increasing density of service via each AP, uplinks to campus aggregation or backbone switches need to bear higher loads. Organizations may find a single Gigabit Ethernet link may not suffice and may need to plan for higher capacity links or -- if the APs enable it -- bonded sets of GbE connections. Additionally, specific locations will continue to have issues, such as poor reception in some areas due to space geometries or construction materials. Remediations, such as deploying extra APs or different kinds of antennas, are well understood. Interference from a variety of devices, ranging from wireless subwoofers to microwave ovens, can still be an issue as well. And, even with Wi-Fi 6, wireless networks can be swamped more easily than wired ones -- for example, by a broad simultaneous software download, like a Patch Tuesday. To minimize such issues, a proper WLAN design requires <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchnetworking/tip/3-types-of-wireless-site-surveys-and-how-to-conduct-them">site mapping with the right tools</a> to test radio reception and then mapping APs to cover the space, users and device populations properly. Likewise, troubleshooting requires Wi-Fi-specific equipment and software. <h3>Wireless first, wired only as needed</h3> In just a few situations, wireless cannot yet cover all enterprise office needs. Some problematic scenarios might include business operations that generate huge amounts of radio frequency interference or building construction that's unkind to Wi-Fi, such as walls packed with pipes or plastered walls over chicken wire. In reality, most organizations only have to worry about use cases that require high-speed transfers of large volumes of data; one example of this is if sustained transfer speeds exceed 1 Gbps. This might involve moving high-resolution imaging data from an MRI machine to a workstation for analysis, or transferring large video files around special effects labs. However, such situations tend to be edge cases, even for media-intense companies. These are the exceptions, not the rule. In these edge cases, any branch office strategy that's primarily focused on wireless should dictate that the branch has one or more wired workstations to support the required work. Alternatively, the branch could have places where a normally wireless workstation can connect to a network cable for as long as needed -- basically, connectivity-dictated <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/de/definition/Hoteling">hoteling</a>. The wired infrastructure supporting the APs can probably accommodate these edge cases, often without added cost given their paucity. Going forward, given the capabilities of Wi-Fi 6 and 5G, most organizations can -- and should -- adopt a wireless-by-default standard with wired connectivity pulled only when needed. Wireless technology has evolved extensively in recent years to support end-user demands and the possibility of wireless-first network connectivity for business offices. https://cdn.ttgtmedia.com/rms/onlineimages/iot_a384375531.jpg https://www.techtarget.com/searchnetworking/tip/How-Wi-Fi-6-WWAN-and-5G-make-all-wireless-offices-possible Fri, 04 Nov 2022 00:00:00 GMT How Wi-Fi 6, WWAN and 5G make all-wireless offices possible Valmont Industries is fed up with having a WAN that it can't modify quickly to accommodate sudden changes in its business operations. The global manufacturer of custom infrastructure gear for cities, utilities and farmers wants an alternative. How it will overhaul its <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchnetworking/definition/WAN-wide-area-network">WAN</a> is a work in progress. Re-architecting a network connects hundreds of engineers and 85 manufacturing facilities across 22 countries could take a couple of years. Nevertheless, Dixon Greenfield, Valmont's director of network operations, knows his promised land: a <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchnetworking/news/252522373/Evernote-Home-Depot-outsource-network-management">WAN that runs like a utility</a>. That would allow the company to relocate an edge data center serving 24 to 30 locations in Australia, for example, by unplugging the system, moving it and plugging it in again. The network provider would handle security and ensure the internet traffic reached its destination in compliance with latency requirements set in a service-level agreement. Greenfield also wouldn't have to contend with multiple carriers when, for example, a <a href="https://www.techopedia.com/definition/8560/network-to-network-interface-nni" target="_blank" rel="noopener">network-to-network interface</a> (NNI) fails between a manufacturing facility in Uberaba, Brazil, and the company's headquarters in Omaha, Neb. An NNI hands off traffic from one ISP to another; carriers won't talk to you if you're not a customer, so international companies like Valmont must wait for their internet provider to negotiate a fix for an NNI problem. "Dealing with carriers is like poking yourself with a sharp object over and over again," Greenfield said. Hoping to eliminate those carrier problems led Greenfield to test startup Graphiant's <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchnetworking/answer/How-do-SD-WAN-as-a-service-and-managed-SD-WAN-differ">network as a service</a>. The company, based in San Jose, Calif., debuted last week with $33.5 million in series A funding from Sequoia Capital, Two Bear Capital and Atlantic Bridge. <figure class="main-article-image full-col" data-img-fullsize="https://www.techtarget.com/rms/onlineimages/Graphiant_Architecture_Slide-f.jpg"> <img data-src="https://www.techtarget.com/rms/onlineimages/Graphiant_Architecture_Slide-f_mobile.jpg" class="lazy" data-srcset="https://www.techtarget.com/rms/onlineimages/Graphiant_Architecture_Slide-f_mobile.jpg 960w,https://www.techtarget.com/rms/onlineimages/Graphiant_Architecture_Slide-f.jpg 1280w" alt="Graphiant's network-as-a-service architecture" data-credit="Graphiant" height="324" width="559"> <figcaption> Graphiant provides a network-as-a-service architecture that separates the control and data planes. </figcaption> <div class="main-article-image-enlarge"> </div> </figure> Graphiant has built a network control plane that sits on top of the company's cloud-based data plane. The latter is a global multi-tenant transit network that's programmable, according to a <a href="https://graphiant.com/resource/ema-vendor-to-watch/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> from Enterprise Management Associates (EMA). The <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/whatis/definition/stateless">stateless</a> transit core uses proprietary protocols to establish a <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchnetworking/tip/MPLS-Label-Switched-Paths">label-switched network</a> that routes internet traffic at the data layer instead of the traditional network layer, EMA said. Application-based metadata can dictate routing, or customers can manage traffic through a portal that provides access to the control plane. To connect to the Graphiant network, companies install a lightweight software component called Graphiant Edge on a commodity server in the data center, branch or cloud. Graphiant targets companies that need a multi-cloud network and organizations like Valmont that require a more agile private enterprise WAN. Greenfield is ready to look at any innovative network provider to help him avoid the nightmare of a recent data center move from Amsterdam to Paris. He asked not to use the name of Valmont's provider. Valmont had leased an Amsterdam colocation facility before AT&T sold it with the rest of its colo business to Brookfield Infrastructure and its institutional partners in 2019. Brookfield later turned the business into a wholly owned Dallas company called Evoque Data Center Solutions. Evoque decided to wind down the European operation, so Valmont switched to Equinox in Paris. It took 18 months to reestablish all the network services. At around the same time, Greenfield had to move three much smaller edge data centers in other parts of the world. Getting them fully operational on the network took almost a year. "That makes you want to choke somebody," he said. Despite the misery, Greenfield doesn't expect Valmont to go beyond testing Graphiant. Without a track record for operating a secure global network, Graphiant is unlikely to convince executives of the publicly traded company with $3.5 billion in sales last year to take a chance on a two-year-old startup. "It's so bleeding-edge that I don't think my company would allow me to get that far out there," he said. Nevertheless, Greenfield plans to keep an eye on Graphiant because he's familiar with CEO Khalid Raza. Raza co-founded the software-defined WAN vendor Viptela, which <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchnetworking/blog/The-Network-Hub/Cisco-to-acquire-Viptela">Cisco acquired in 2017</a> for $610 million; Valmont licensed the original Viptela SD-WAN and uses the product today under Cisco. Cisco and Juniper Networks are examples of longtime networking vendors that would compete with Graphiant. Younger competitors include <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchnetworking/news/252456494/Arrcus-chasing-larger-rivals-with-400-GbE-NOS">Arrcus</a>, which also focuses on network routing to distinguish itself in the market. Greenfield plans to watch many network providers for an alternative to what he has now. Valmont wants a better WAN, and it intends to get one. Antone Gonsalves is the news director for the Networking Media Group. He has deep and wide experience in tech journalism. Since the mid-1990s, he has worked for UBM's InformationWeek, TechWeb and Computer Reseller News. He has also written for Ziff Davis' PC Week, IDG's CSOonline and IBTMedia's CruxialCIO, and rounded all of that out by covering startups for Bloomberg News. He started his journalism career at United Press International, working as a reporter and editor in California, Texas, Kansas and Florida. Have a news tip? Please drop him an <a href="mailto:agonsalves@techtarget.com">email</a>. Valmont Industries wants an agile WAN that the company can modify in days instead of months. The global manufacturer is testing network-as-a-service provider Graphiant. https://cdn.ttgtmedia.com/rms/onlineimages/iot_a384375531.jpg https://www.techtarget.com/searchnetworking/news/252525026/Valmont-Industries-tests-network-as-a-service-to-improve-WAN Thu, 15 Sep 2022 19:36:00 GMT Valmont Industries tests network as a service to improve WAN Cisco's goal for its ThousandEyes internet monitoring platform is to spot problems and make changes before something on the network breaks. But before network managers hand control to Cisco, the company will have to win their trust. Winning customers over is the job of ThousandEyes general manager Mohit Lad, who co-founded the namesake company that <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchnetworking/news/252483959/Cisco-acquisition-of-ThousandEyes-has-many-user-benefits">Cisco acquired in 2020</a>. His strategy is to convince IT administrators that the product's recommendations for fixing problems are highly reliable. "[It] is really necessary to build trust with the customer that the recommendations are actually working, [that] they're effective," Lad said in a recent interview. IT managers recognize that <a href="https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/collateral/cloud-systems-management/crosswork-network-automation/solution-overview-c22-739633.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">automation</a> will become necessary to keep up with growing complexity as networks extend from the data center to multiple cloud computing providers. In that scenario, many dependencies outside a manager's network affect application performance, Lad said. For example, a SaaS application provider could change where the application is hosted or start using a <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchnetworking/definition/CDN-content-delivery-network">content delivery network</a>. When potentially disruptive changes occur, Lad wants ThousandEyes to notice and react without human intervention. <div class="imagecaption alignLeft"> <img src="https://cdn.ttgtmedia.com/rms/onlineimages/lad_mohit.jpg" alt="Mohit Lad, co-founder and general manager, ThousandEyes">Mohit Lad </div> "You can't take the approach of just what's going through a device," Lad said. "You have to figure out what the application experience is; you have to figure out what dependencies are. You need to map it constantly." ThousandEyes competes with LogicMonitor, SolarWinds and Splunk in monitoring WAN and web app health. A key ThousandEyes differentiator is its integration with other products in Cisco's massive portfolio, including the software-defined WAN, <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchnetworking/news/252498774/Cisco-integrates-ThousandEyes-with-AppDynamics-Catalyst">AppDynamics application performance monitor</a> and Catalyst campus switches. Eventually, ThousandEyes will play a role in all of the company's networking portfolio, including switches, routers, firewalls and wireless controllers. At the <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchnetworking/conference/Cisco-Live-conference-coverage-news-and-analysis">Cisco Live conference</a> last month, Todd Nightingale, executive vice president of Cisco's enterprise networking and cloud business, said the company would complete the integrations as rapidly as possible. "Right in the beginning of that project ... it became very obvious to us that ThousandEyes was going to be our network intelligence platform across all of Cisco's products," Nightingale said. "You're starting to see that more and more." Before the end of the year, Cisco plans to integrate ThousandEyes with its <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchnetworking/news/252521774/Cisco-customers-eager-for-Merakis-Catalyst-management">Meraki wireless LAN portfolio</a>. The portfolio includes switches, gateways, access points and routers -- all managed through the Meraki dashboard. IT administrators will access ThousandEyes data through the cloud-based software console. "We want to make it super simple for [customers] with the Meraki implementations just like we've done with the Catalyst 9000s and ISRs [Integrated Services Routers]," Lad said. "When we provide that intelligence on what's happening across the internet, it is something that can be used by every Cisco product." Madelaine Millar is a news writer covering network technology at TechTarget. She has previously written about science and technology for MIT's Lincoln Laboratory and the Khoury College of Computer Sciences, as well as covering community news for Boston Globe Media. Cisco ThousandEyes general manager Mohit Lad aims to have the internet monitor adapt to changes in the WAN without human intervention. https://cdn.ttgtmedia.com/rms/onlineimages/iot_g1251263531.jpg https://www.techtarget.com/searchnetworking/news/252523052/Cisco-prioritizes-ThousandEyes-automation-integrations Fri, 22 Jul 2022 13:31:00 GMT Cisco prioritizes ThousandEyes automation, integrations Wi-Fi networks are essential, but difficult and expensive to deploy and manage. Therefore, many companies are handing off the tasks to others. Note-taking app developer Evernote outsourced its wireless network to startup Meter, and home improvement retailer Home Depot to Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company. Both tech buyers determined that the loss of network control was worth eliminating IT work that wasn't core to their businesses. "I can essentially get the same services from a vendor for less without the headache, and I can reallocate my people to work on other projects," said Gabe Raffaelli, IT director at Evernote. Home Depot and Evernote found that a subscription-based consumption model for hardware, software, maintenance and network management was cheaper than doing it themselves. Also, Aruba and Meter were faster at modifying the networks to meet changing business operations. According to Brandon Butler, analyst at IDC, most enterprises are not ready to follow Evernote's and Home Depot's lead, but 27% of those surveyed by IDC are considering some form of a network as a service (<a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchnetworking/definition/Network-as-a-Service-NaaS">NaaS</a>) model. "We're not quite at the point where we have mainstream adoption of NaaS ... but we expect this to be a significant part of the networking market in the years to come," Butler said. Outsourcing its in-house Wi-Fi to Meter made sense for Evernote's 500-employee SaaS business. Meter begins by partnering with internet service providers for connectivity, and installing its switching and routing hardware in the customer's offices. Then, it layers on services like software-defined WAN (SD-WAN), VPN and device encryption. Starting at <a href="https://www.meter.com/pricing" target="_blank" rel="noopener">$0.15</a> per square foot of coverage, per month, Meter costs the same as buying and maintaining a Wi-Fi network for a new office over five years, Raffaelli said. But Meter frees him from getting into the weeds of RAID architectures or power redundancy. <div class="imagecaption alignLeft"> <img src="https://cdn.ttgtmedia.com/rms/onlineimages/raffaelli_gabe.jpg" alt="Gabe Raffaelli, IT director, Evernote">Gabe Raffaelli </div> When a new printer needs to be configured or Wi-Fi coverage degrades, Raffaelli sends Meter a Slack message. The company can complete remote-friendly tasks like printer configuration within hours. For tasks that require on-site work, such as a wireless survey to adjust Wi-Fi coverage, Meter handles the entire process, including hiring a third party to conduct the study. "What was nice about that is, I didn't have to deal with scheduling that [survey] person, communicating with them and getting the report back," Raffaelli said. About five years ago, Home Depot started outsourcing portions of its switching and wireless hardware to Aruba. Today, <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchstorage/news/252514971/HPE-GreenLake-rolls-in-Aruba-adds-block-STaaS">Aruba manages</a> location-aware access points and the guest Wi-Fi network at Home Depot's 2,100 stores. It's also responsible for the Zebra Technologies hand-held devices employees use to track inventory. <div class="imagecaption alignRight"> <img src="https://cdn.ttgtmedia.com/rms/onlineimages/grider_daniel.jpg" alt="Daniel Grider, vice president of technology, Home Depot">Daniel Grider </div> When demand for curbside pickup exploded at the start of the pandemic, Home Depot leaned on Aruba to quickly extend the company's indoor Wi-Fi, said Daniel Grider, vice president of technology at Home Depot. Aruba deployed new access points and adjusted the strength of outdoor antennas. Outdoor connectivity had been on Grider's roadmap for some time, but letting someone else handle that task helped him spin it up quickly without dropping the ball on other pandemic-related changes to the network. One of those changes included deploying an SD-WAN. The project was successful "because the engineers had the time to focus on doing that and doing it right," Grider said. IT vendors have leased hardware for some time, but managing network operations' entire lifecycle too is a recent offering, Butler said. Customers benefit by having someone focused exclusively on network optimization so that IT teams can turn to other priorities. Aruba plans to grow its network management business significantly, according to Ulf Vinneras, vice president of service product management. Within four years, the company expects nearly half of IT infrastructure purchases to be as-a-service. Other networking vendors also offer their flavor of an as-a-service offering. Last year, <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchnetworking/news/252498627/Cisco-network-as-a-service-for-hybrid-clouds-on-the-horizon">Cisco introduced Cisco Plus</a> for customers that want to order computing, storage and networking for a specific scenario, and pay for it by the month based on usage. Madelaine Millar is a news writer covering network technology at TechTarget. She has previously written about science and technology for MIT's Lincoln Laboratory and the Khoury College of Computer Sciences, as well as covering community news for Boston Globe Media. Offloading daily network management to networking vendors allowed Home Depot and Evernote to direct in-house IT staff to business-critical projects. https://cdn.ttgtmedia.com/rms/onlineimages/mobile_g1022892890.jpg https://www.techtarget.com/searchnetworking/news/252522373/Evernote-Home-Depot-outsource-network-management Wed, 06 Jul 2022 08:00:00 GMT Evernote, Home Depot outsource network management Extreme Networks announced three products -- a general-purpose SD-WAN, a 5720 switch and a digital twin product -- to integrate the vendor's various recent acquisitions more tightly. The announcements made at Extreme Connect this week will ensure customers who joined Extreme through one of its acquisitions will have the same cloud-managed wired, wireless and WAN experience as longtime customers. ExtremeCloud SD-WAN is Extreme Networks' first SD-WAN offering. It was developed from the tech the vendor acquired when it <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/252505149/Extreme-Networks-aims-to-enhance-SD-WAN-offer-with-Ipanema-acquisition">purchased Ipanema</a>, the SD-WAN division of Infovista, for $73 million in 2021. ExtremeCloud SD-WAN can be purchased as a subscription, and offers security services including <a href="https://content.extremenetworks.com/ipanema-sd-wan/sdwan-edge-sentry" target="_blank" rel="noopener">advanced threat prevention powered by Check Point</a> and built-in firewalls. The general-purpose SD-WAN's value-add over a third-party option is its ability to tightly integrate with the rest of the vendor's portfolio. As a result, ExtremeCloud SD-WAN will most interest customers who already have an end-to-end Extreme networking environment, said Bob Laliberte, an analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group. <h3>Unifying the hardware environment</h3> Because Extreme Networks has been on a buying spree in recent years, even end-to-end Extreme customers may have very different legacy hardware. The vendor acquired Zebra Technologies' wireless LAN business in 2016, <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchnetworking/news/450423119/Extreme-to-unify-wired-wireless-campus-with-Avaya-fabric-software">Avaya's campus networking business</a> and Brocade's data center business in 2017 and <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchitchannel/blog/Channel-Marker/Extreme-boosts-channel-focus-following-Aerohive-acquisition">Aerohive Networks' cloud-managed portfolio in 2019</a>, in addition to Infovista's Ipanema SD-WAN business in 2021. Extreme's second product announcement, the 5720 Universal Switch, is meant to address that problem. Whether a customer has legacy hardware from one of the acquired companies or brand-new Extreme environment, the wired and wireless 5720 Universal switches will operate identically. "We talk about Juniper 'Mist-ifying,' right? It's the opposite of that -- they bought a bunch of different companies and they're 'Extreme-ifying,'" Laliberte said about the increased interoperability the new switch offers. Like the rest of the 5000-series switches, the 5720 is managed using <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchitchannel/news/252472916/Rackspace-security-alliance-with-Armor-aims-for-hybrid-cloud">ExtremeCloud IQ</a>, the cloud-based network management platform built with technologies from the 2019 Aerohive acquisition. The new switches are aimed at midsize to large enterprises, and they offer 1, 2.5, 5 and 10 Gb connections in all ports. <h3>Modeling the Extreme network</h3> Finally, Extreme announced ExtremeCloud IQ CoPilot AIOps, a digital twin that allows customers to create digital models of their network environments. CoPilot also lets network managers test new configurations or automations on the digital twin before deploying it to the real network, giving them a chance to spot problems before they affect users. When Enterprise Management Associates analyst Shamus McGillicuddy surveyed 359 IT professionals in December 2021 on network automation, he found that 87% believed a digital twin would help them. "The biggest use cases they saw for this were capacity planning -- being able to understand how, as traffic grows on your network, the capacity of that network can be managed through automated changes -- and network design. As they're designing their network, they can design it first in digital twin to see if the design they're using is going to work,” he said. The biggest differentiators in a digital twin would be the ability to model a multi-vendor environment and tight integration with automation capabilities, McGillicuddy said. CoPilot can deploy configurations with the push of a button, but for the moment, it only automatically generates twins of Extreme's own network elements. Extreme Networks CTO Nabil Bukhari said the company does plan to eventually support digital twins of Zebra handheld devices. In keeping with the theme of cloud-based consolidation, CoPilot is managed using ExtremeCloud IQ. Consolidating and improving the interoperability among Extreme's portfolio of acquired technologies will better position Extreme to compete with end-to-end vendors like Cisco's Meraki, Aruba and Juniper, Laliberte said. "If you're [already] an Extreme customer, you'll kind of welcome these additions," he said. "From a competitive differentiation [standpoint], those are also things that will make people sit up and take more notice of Extreme, now that they've got that full, unified, end-to-end environment." ExtremeCloud SD-WAN is available now. The 5720 Universal switches can be ordered now and will start shipping in July. CoPilot has been in public beta for a year and is now entering general availability. Enterprise Strategy Group is a division of TechTarget. Madelaine Millar is a news writer covering network technology at TechTarget. She has previously written about science and technology for MIT's Lincoln Laboratory and the Khoury College of Computer Sciences, as well as covering community news for Boston Globe Media. After five major acquisitions in six years, Extreme Networks is prioritizing a unified, cloud-managed environment with SD-WAN, switches and a digital twin. https://cdn.ttgtmedia.com/rms/onlineimages/collab_a362306286.jpg https://www.techtarget.com/searchnetworking/news/252521022/Extreme-Networks-integrates-acquisitions-with-SD-WAN-switch Tue, 07 Jun 2022 16:02:00 GMT Extreme Networks integrates acquisitions with SD-WAN, switch Cradlepoint and Extreme Networks have introduced a joint 5G wireless WAN for remote deployments. The offering comprises Cradlepoint's 5G/LTE routers and Extreme's network fabric. The partners claim the integrated technologies simplify launching a wireless WAN, or WWAN, in a hospital's mobile clinic or a branch location. Motor City Wash Works in Michigan has deployed the joint offering in an automated car wash, the companies said. The partnership, announced this week, will offer <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchnetworking/news/252474438/Extreme-makes-Fabric-Automation-friendlier-to-developers">Extreme's network fabric</a> to build a LAN in a remote location. Extreme will also provide the tools for managing the network and automatically configuring new devices. <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchnetworking/tip/As-wireless-WAN-matures-benefits-and-challenges-emerge">Cradlepoint's 5G router</a> will handle traffic moving between the LAN and an outside cellular network. "The goal of this partnership is a joint go-to-market with an integrated solution," said Roy Chua, founder and principal analyst at AvidThink. For Cradlepoint, the partnership offers a toehold in new markets. Cradlepoint provides gear used by ambulances and firetrucks to stay connected on the road. Extreme is in healthcare, education and the public sector. "Partnering very tightly with Extreme was just a natural steppingstone," said Robin Manke-Cassidy, Cradlepoint's director of solution marketing. "Many of our channel partners for both Extreme and Cradlepoint are joint partners, so they already sell both of us -- this just streamlines how they can take us into an opportunity together." Another factor is that Cradlepoint's parent company, mobile networking giant Ericsson, has not traditionally sold networking technology for the data center and campus, according to Chua. "Ericsson historically has been going after the carrier market," Chua said. "The desire here is that this could be a bridge for Ericsson to expand their reach into the enterprise market, especially with the rise of private 5G." There are direct competitors for a fully functioned, enterprise-grade Wi-Fi/cellular network product. They include Digi, Inseego and Peplink. The partnership will also compete with vendors providing less functional but easier to use 5G technology. Chua gave the example of Cisco Meraki's 5G-enabled remote access point, which has fewer features than the Cradlepoint-Extreme collaboration, but has an edge for simplicity. The combined network fabric and WWAN from Cradlepoint and Extreme is available now through the companies' channel partners. Madelaine Millar is a news writer covering network technology at TechTarget. She has previously written about science and technology for MIT's Lincoln Laboratory and the Khoury College of Computer Sciences, as well as covering community news for Boston Globe Media. Cradlepoint and Extreme Networks will combine the former's 5G routers with the latter's network fabric to build a 5G wireless WAN for remote deployments. https://cdn.ttgtmedia.com/rms/onlineimages/mobile_g1267081443.jpg https://www.techtarget.com/searchnetworking/news/252514837/Cradlepoint-Extreme-Networks-partner-on-5G-WWAN Fri, 18 Mar 2022 20:15:00 GMT Cradlepoint, Extreme Networks partner on 5G WWAN Cato Networks has launched a cloud access security broker for its growing Secure Access Service Edge portfolio, allowing enterprises more granular visibility and control over SaaS, IaaS and WAN applications. With this week's cloud access security broker (CASB) update, Cato added a dashboard for an aggregate view of SaaS, IaaS and WAN app usage in an organization, including <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchcloudcomputing/definition/shadow-IT-shadow-information-technology">shadow IT</a> cloud apps. As much as 97% of the cloud apps used by enterprises are unsanctioned, which pose a more significant security threat than those managed by central IT, according to a <a href="https://www.netskope.com/blog/cloud-and-threat-report-shadow-it-in-the-cloud" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2021 Netskope report</a>. Cato's CASB dashboard also allows enterprises to set and enforce policy rules for those apps, such as blocking access entirely or allowing it for only specific users or functions. The new CASB capabilities are accessible through a redesigned console Cato released in December. The latest advancement provides data to assess the riskiness and compliance posture of the apps in an enterprise's network and to monitor how people are using them. Existing security capabilities, including a secure web gateway, a next-generation firewall and an intrusion prevention system supplement the new CASB capabilities. Cato Networks plans to build out its Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) offering by adding data loss prevention in the coming months. <figure class="main-article-image half-col" data-img-fullsize="https://www.techtarget.com/rms/onlineimages/Cato_Networks_Shadow_IT_dashboard.jpg"> <img data-src="https://www.techtarget.com/rms/onlineimages/Cato_Networks_Shadow_IT_dashboard_half_column_mobile.jpg" class="lazy" data-srcset="https://www.techtarget.com/rms/onlineimages/Cato_Networks_Shadow_IT_dashboard_half_column_mobile.jpg 960w,https://www.techtarget.com/rms/onlineimages/Cato_Networks_Shadow_IT_dashboard.jpg 1280w" alt="Cato Networks' Shadow IT dashboard" data-credit="Cato Networks" height="145" width="279"> <figcaption> Cato Networks' Shadow IT dashboard </figcaption> <div class="main-article-image-enlarge"> </div> </figure> Accessing CASB will be a simple matter of customers turning on the cloud-based service. New customers will need to establish a way to route their traffic through the Cato cloud to access CASB. Cato Networks is far from the only vendor offering CASB as part of its SASE -- <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchnetworking/tip/The-pros-and-cons-of-Palo-Alto-Networks-SASE-platform">Palo Alto Networks' Prisma</a>, Zscaler's Zero Trust Exchange, <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchnetworking/tip/Evaluate-the-components-of-Cisco-SASE">Cisco's Umbrella</a> and the startup Perimeter 81 are all competitors. But Cato's built-from-the-ground-up approach makes it uniquely positioned, according to Roy Chua, an analyst at AvidThink. "The unique thing that Cato's demonstrating is that a ground-up SASE platform can add a lot of features relatively quickly, and those features can work in harmony together," Chua said. "[Also,] there are synergies with existing capabilities." For example, Chua identified Cato's ability to unencrypt a packet, perform all necessary security checks, and re-encrypt it once, rather than unencrypt and re-encrypt each service along a security "conga line." Cato did not release pricing for CASB but said it would be in line with the company's per bandwidth/per-user pricing model for other security services. Cato Networks CASB is available now. Madelaine Millar is a news writer covering network technology at TechTarget. She has previously written about science and technology for MIT's Lincoln Laboratory and the Khoury College of Computer Science, as well as covering community news for Boston Globe Media. Cato Networks has added CASB app visibility and enforcement capabilities to its growing SASE portfolio, and plans to add data loss prevention in the coming months. https://cdn.ttgtmedia.com/rms/onlineimages/cloud_g1265279914.jpg https://www.techtarget.com/searchnetworking/news/252512803/Cato-Networks-adds-CASB-to-growing-SASE-portfolio Tue, 01 Feb 2022 17:15:00 GMT Cato Networks adds CASB to growing SASE portfolio Cisco has introduced Webex support to the SD-WAN Cloud OnRamp to let customers prioritize and secure traffic from the collaboration software. Cisco <a href="https://blogs.cisco.com/networking/boost-hybrid-workforce-productivity-with-cisco-sd-wan-and-webex" target="_blank" rel="noopener">introduced the integration</a> this week, saying it would allow IT departments to automatically segment the SaaS application's traffic away from general internet traffic and route it through more secure, higher-quality connection paths. Cloud OnRamp is an extension of Cisco's SD-WAN designed to simplify and automate how customers can use it to connect their on-premises environments to the cloud. It also includes security features such as intrusion detection/prevention, application-aware firewalls, URL-filtering, AMP Threat Grid and network services like load balancing. The Webex integration with Cloud OnRamp assists IT by unifying management for all its supported apps. IT departments can manage Webex or any other supported app as if it resided in their data center. Including <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchunifiedcommunications/definition/Cisco-Webex">Webex</a>, Cloud OnRamp supports 14 cloud platforms and SaaS applications: Microsoft 365, Amazon Web Services, Google apps, Salesforce, Dropbox, SAP Concur, Intuit, Box, Oracle, Zendesk, Zoho, SugarCRM, GoToMeeting and Webex. What makes Webex unique from the other supported platforms is that it's the first Cisco SaaS app added to Cloud OnRamp. Raj Gulani, Cisco's senior director of product management for SD-WAN, said the timing was part of a natural progression for Cloud OnRamp. When Cisco launched the service, the company focused on enabling SD-WAN connectivity for cloud environments. Once Cisco accomplished that, the company moved on to a security focus, then a multicloud one. Now that Cloud OnRamp can manage a multicloud environment, it's time to focus on application performance and SaaS optimization, Gulani said. The next phase for Cloud OnRamp is automation and observability, he said. "[After that,] I can give you a line of sight, observability for the different aspects of the stack." Having ownership of most of the stack -- hardware, SD-WAN and cloud connectivity -- will make it easier for Cisco to develop SD-WAN automation that keeps pace with the agile, flexible cloud apps it supports, said IDC analyst Brad Casemore. "[Cisco is] moving to a greater degree of automation across their portfolio," he said. "It took a while for network operators, the actual network users, to get comfortable with automation, but we've reached a point where it's absolutely essential." Customers using SD-WAN Cloud OnRamp can use WebEx support at no additional cost. Madelaine Millar is a news writer covering network technology at TechTarget. She has previously written about science and technology for MIT's Lincoln Laboratory and the Khoury College of Computer Science, as well as covering community news for Boston Globe Media. Cisco's SD-WAN Cloud OnRamp integration with Webex brings the number of supported cloud platforms and SaaS applications to 14. Cisco plans to add automation to Cloud OnRamp next. https://cdn.ttgtmedia.com/rms/onlineimages/code_g1297696209.jpg https://www.techtarget.com/searchnetworking/news/252512647/Cisco-adds-Webex-support-to-SD-WAN-Cloud-OnRamp Fri, 28 Jan 2022 16:20:00 GMT Cisco adds Webex support to SD-WAN Cloud OnRamp Search Networking Resources and Information from TechTarget 60 webmaster@techtarget.com