Network Edge is changing the playing field in 5G, enabling new business models, and allowing full stack relocations that bring the cloud within easy reach.
That’s good news, because the increased deployment of cloud applications, storage, mobile applications, and the emergence of IoT has posed a serious challenge to IT, and business managers tasked with providing high-quality wide area network (WAN) services to the branch.
Software-defined wide area networks (SD-WAN) are spurring the current wave of transformation, offering the most compelling advantages to distributed organizations with critical branch operations like optimized application performance, business agility, and increased bandwidth efficiencies.
What is Network Edge?
The Network Edge, defined simply, is a network overlay platform connecting and enabling all network components and functions (cloud, branches, data centers, edge devices, people, etc.). Network Edge optimizes and secures application traffic across the network from distributed enterprise locations to the private and public cloud data center and provides a flexible infrastructure so that the entire network continues to evolve to add more and more capabilities. It becomes a “network without limits.”
It also serves as a platform for deploying network services that integrate with local edge compute to manage and control application traffic from users and things. SD-WAN and Virtual Network Functions (VNF) are the primary enablement functions to support application traffic at the branch, in the cloud, and in the data center.
Let’s take a look into how Network Edge supports various network-necessary activities and platforms.
Edge Compute
Edge computing can be thought of as a network of micro data centers that process and store critical data locally and push all received data to a central data center or cloud storage repository. At its core, edge computing is about creating efficiencies by bringing data and services closer to the end user.
By decentralizing data, through either the public cloud or geographically disparate data centers, organizations are able to address bandwidth and throughput concerns head-on. The Network Edge then can acts as a fabric tying all edges of the network together, whether those edges are in the cloud, at branches, or in data centers.
Enhancing the Value of 5G Networks
5G technology is still extremely new and deployed in only a few highly controlled markets. Playing a major role in enhancing the value of 5G networks, Network Edge enables businesses to process, filter, and even protect data locally.
Network Edge supports the deployment of 5G and delivers enhanced value by reducing the cost of cloud storage and processing and empowering businesses to:
Run more applications at the edge
Remotely control and manage edge assets
Improve cybersecurity by reducing the amount of data susceptible to threat
To boost confidence in new networking capabilities, 5G providers also incorporate data protection and cybersecurity capabilities at the edge.
Multiple Paths to Internet of Things (IoT)
In terms of internet of things (IoT) use cases, edge devices collect data and send it all to a data center or cloud for processing, with some data processed locally to reduce backhaul traffic to the central repository. This is typically done by a data transfer from IoT devices to a local device that includes compute, storage and network connectivity in a small form factor. Data is processed at the edge, then sent to the central processing or storage repository in a corporate data center, co-location facility, or the cloud.
Ideally, the model for Network Edge connects all users of IoT and mobile devices together regardless of their location anywhere in the network or the world¾increasing the multimedia experience for everyone and helping businesses solve their automation and data monitoring challenges for warehouse, workflow, and industrial equipment.
Network Edge also provides solution opportunities for the connected smart home. It promises both high bandwidth and low latency¾ great for smart home equipment like temperature sensors that work in the kbps speed range and aren’t largely latency dependent.
The Future is Bright with Network Edge
Network Edge is the new frontier in the SD-WAN evolution, providing a flexible and sustainable path for the evolution of business today and into tomorrow. The ability for the traditional WAN to support the new technological trends and current business requirements is extremely limited. The pain points that we hear most often are around the rigidity and limitations imposed by this traditional network. Network Edge offers a different perspective, reimagining the network as more fluid, stable, and without limits.
You can learn more about how Network Edge and the SD-WAN platform during a presentation at VMworld 2019 US. Join us on Monday, August 26 at 4:00pm PT when our VP and GM (and VeloCloud co-founder) Sanjay Uppal presents “Network Edge: The New Frontier for EUC, IoT, 5G and Beyond.”
Network Edge is changing the playing field in 5G, enabling new business models, and allowing full stack relocations that bring the cloud within easy reach.
