It’s no secret that CIOs wish their networks to be more agile, better ready to accommodate new requirements of the digital business. SD-WAN has created vital advancements in this regard. And, yet, it’s also equally clear that SD-WAN alone cannot futureproof enterprise networks.
Mobile users, cloud resources, security services — all are crucial to the digital business and however, none are native to SD-WAN. companies should invest in further infrastructure for those capabilities. skilled security and networking talent are still required to run those networks, expertise that’s usually in brief supply. Operational costs, headaches, and delays are incurred when upgrading and maintaining security and networking appliances.
Outsourcing networking to a telco-managed network service doesn’t solve the matter. Capital, staffing, and operational costs still exist, solely now marked-up and charged back to the customer. And, to create matters worse, enterprises lose visibility into and control the traffic traversing the managed network services.
How then are you able to prepare your network for the digital business of these days — and tomorrow? Cloud-native networks provide some way forward.
Like cloud-native application development, cloud-native networks run the majority of their route calculation, policy-enforcement, and security inspections — the guts of the network — on a purposeful software platform designed to take advantage of the cloud’s attributes. The software platform is multitenant by design operating on off-the-rack servers capable of breakthrough performance antecedently solely possible with custom hardware. Eliminating proprietary appliances changes the technical, operational, and fiscal characteristics of enterprise networks.
5 Attributes of Cloud-Native Network Services
To better understand their impact, consider the five attributes a provider’s software and networking platform must meet to be considered cloud-native: multitenancy, scalability, velocity, efficiency, and ubiquity.
- Multitenancy
With cloud-native networks, customers share the underlying infrastructure with the required abstraction to supply every with private network experience. The provider is liable for maintaining and scaling the underlying infrastructure. Like cloud compute and storage, cloud-native networks don’t have any idle appliances; multitenancy permits providers to maximize their underlying infrastructure. - Scalability
As cloud services, cloud-native networks carry no sensible scaling limitation. The platform accommodates new traffic masses or new requirements. The software stack will instantly make the most of additional compute, storage, memory, or networking resources. As such, sanctioning compute-intensive features, like SSL decryption, doesn’t impact service functionality. - Velocity
By developing their own software platforms, cloud-native network providers will quickly innovate, creating new features and capabilities instantly available. All customers across all regions benefit from the foremost current feature set. Troubleshooting takes less time since support and platform development groups are bound together. And because the core functionality is in software, cloud-native networks will expand to new regions in hours and days not months. - Efficiency
Cloud-native network design promotes efficiency that causes higher network quality at lower costs. Platform ownership reduces third-party license fees and nominal support costs. leveraging the huge build-out of IP infrastructure avoids the costs telcos incurred constructing and maintaining physical transmission networks. A smart, software overlay, monitors the underlying network providers and selects the optimum one for every packet. The result: carrier-grade network at an unmatched price/performance. - Ubiquity
Like today’s digital business, the enterprise network should be available all over, accessible from several edges supporting physical, cloud, and mobile resources. features parity across regions is important for max efficiency. Access to the cloud-native network ought to be using physical and virtual appliances, mobile clients, and third-party IPsec compatible edges. This way, truly one network will connect any resource, anywhere.
A Revolutionary, Not Evolutionary, Shift in Networking
By meeting all 5 criteria, cloud-native networks avoid the cost overhead and stagnant process of traditional service providers. Such advantages cannot be gained by just porting software or hosting an appliance within the cloud. It’s a network that has to be engineered with the DNA of cloud service from scratch. In this, cloud-native networks are a revolution in network architecture and design.
