Microsoft Azure cloud adoption is no longer a question of “how” but a question of “how fast” can organizations shift their workload. A major catalyst to accelerate this journey is simplifying the WAN access to speed up the on-ramp to Azure. Azure Virtual WAN is a networking service that enables branch connectivity to applications on Azure. VMware SD-WAN™ by VeloCloud® connects branch, remote site or home office locations to applications in the cloud and on-premises without the need to redesign the underlying infrastructure. VMware is an Azure Virtual WAN partner listed on the Azure partner portal.
The Best of Both Worlds
This collaboration helps Microsoft customers accelerate adoption of Azure cloud services. Organizations can take advantage of Microsoft’s dominant position in the enterprise marketplace and leverage VMware as the leading SD-WAN solution to expedite their move to Azure cloud. This joint solution removes barriers to adoption by offering many choices to connect to Azure. Anywhere always-on connectivity requires reliable, secure and efficient access to applications. VMware SD-WAN offers simplified and automated access and opens up a wide range of security services from the branch to the cloud.
Traditional WAN networks tend to be slow, prone to human error and complex to operate, making it difficult for IT staff to stay in lockstep with business goals. As organizations move their applications to Azure and adopt SaaS applications like Office 365, the need to backhaul traffic to the data center before reaching the cloud results in wasted bandwidth, sub-optimal performance and increased operational complexity. With increasing business demands, more locations getting connected and more applications getting added to the cloud, the WAN infrastructure needs to scale automatically. Organizations need a turnkey networking solution that is easy to deploy and manage, offers high availability and secure access, and can scale automatically to expedite access to Azure. Through this collaboration, Microsoft and VMware offer large-scale branch connectivity in a simple, secure, and unified manner to Microsoft customers.
Benefits of VMware SD-WAN
VMware SD-WAN simplifies deployment with a fully automated and intuitive GUI based approach. The solution offers centralized automation of business policy to help scale connectivity for any number of sites, eliminating policy mismatch between sites. Organizations benefit from VMware SD-WAN zero-touch provisioning (ZTP) without the need for IT visits from the moment the VMware SD-WAN Edge is powered on. With a few mouse clicks, any branch connectivity to Azure Virtual WAN can be provisioned for agile transformation to cloud.
VMware SD-WAN has been built from the ground up as a multitenant solution. This helps service providers (SP) and managed service providers (MSP) easily add SD-WAN to their existing portfolio of services. This solution supports Direct Interconnect, Indirect Interconnect and Managed Hybrid WAN models called out in the Virtual WAN connectivity architectures.
Based on the deployment choice, organizations can take advantage of key capabilities of the solution.
VMware SD-WAN can aggregate all types of WAN connections—including Internet broadband, Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) private lines, and wireless LTE—from branch offices and remote locations. By utilizing all available links, the solution optimizes bandwidth efficiency at each branch location providing the best user experience.
VMware SD-WAN performs dynamic application aware per-packet link steering based on the condition of the WAN links. These self-healing properties mitigate application downtime. The VMware SD-WAN Dynamic Multipath Optimization™ (DMPO) technology delivers enterprise-class network quality expected by most demanding applications, such as real time collaboration tools and latency sensitive applications that are common in myriad industries, such as healthcare, retail and finance.
Organizations exercise many choices in extending their security perimeter. VMware SD-WAN solution offers flexibility of security services with a built-in firewall or the option to deploy third party firewall services, such as a cloud web security (CWS) or virtual network function (VNF). The solution offers visibility and insight into application connectivity at any branch.
“Azure Virtual WAN is a networking service that brings multiple networking, security and routing functionality in a single operational interface. We are pleased to see VeloCloud, now part of VMware automate branch connectivity to Azure Virtual WAN, simplifying scenarios across thousands of branches that require fast access to Azure resources.” – Dr. Reshmi Yandapalli, Principal Program Manager at Microsoft Corp.
VMware SD-WAN enables organizations to rapidly and cost-effectively leverage world-class SD-WAN capabilities when connecting to Microsoft Azure Virtual WAN, including simplified operations, traffic optimization, link remediation and security service insertions. This ensures better application performance and an improved user experience with faster on-ramp to Azure.
Microsoft Azure cloud adoption is no longer a question of “how” but a question of “how fast” can organizations shift their workload. A major catalyst to accelerate this journey is simplifying the WAN access to speed up the on-ramp to Azure. Azure Virtual WAN is a networking service that enables branch connectivity to applications on Azure. VMware SD-WAN™ by VeloCloud® connects branch, remote site or home office locations to applications in the cloud and on-premises without the need to redesign the underlying infrastructure. VMware is an Azure Virtual WAN partner listed on the Azure partner portal.
