Aerohive Networks,†a Cloud†Networking leader, announced an industry first for unified SD-WAN & SD-LAN access networks, adding end-to-end granular user and application policy enforcement, and new WAN and VPN link-performance analytics for greater insight into the overall operations of distributed networks.
As IT departments struggle with distributed network complexity, high MPLS costs, and reduced resources, SD-WAN has become a highly popular solution for reliable, cost-efficient, and centrally orchestrated networks. To further simplify remote network management and policy enforcement, Aerohive’s unified SD-LAN and SD-WAN platform has been enhanced with an industry-first single policy user-and-application-based traffic forwarding engine, and a new analytics dashboard detailing WAN utilization, performance, and reliability metrics so that administrators can have a clear view of their network operations.
Building on its link-state monitoring and dynamic-path selection capabilities, Aerohive is now able to further optimize traffic forwarding decisions under a single unified policy for both the LAN and WAN infrastructure, based on a combination of user and application factors. From a single workflow, administrators can create granular rules that look deeper into the context of traffic flowing in and out of a remote site from access points to routers and beyond. Administrators can, for example, create a policy that treats a corporate user using Skype very differently to a BYO or guest device using Skype, dictating which WAN links are used, with what bandwidth, etc. Once configured, all forwarding decisions are made in real-time, based on current link metrics. The end result is that WAN and VPN performance is increased, and stability and uptime are improved.
Complementing the new user and application profiling techniques, Aerohive has also introduced a large set of monitoring and analytics tools to HiveManagerÆ, enabling administrators to view the effectiveness of their routing policies and WAN link states. With this recent update, a customer can now see real-time and historical analytics that illustrate VPN latency, packet loss, throughput statistics and overall link quality using a variety of key performance indicators. Administrators can also view which applications are constraining bandwidth and make policy changes in minutes for thousands of sites. SD-WAN analytics help a customer understand how its WAN and VPN connections are performing along with the dynamic path-selection decisions that are being made. With this new insight, a level of assurance is offered to the customer as it witnesses first-hand the automatic optimization of the Aerohive SD-WAN solution, delivering continued network operation and performance.
Aerohive’s SD-WAN solution addresses pitfalls of legacy WAN products by providing a software-defined solution that adapts to changing environments, reduces the dependency on expensive MPLS connections, and addresses the most common scalability concerns for WAN and VPN deployments. When combined with Aerohive’s SD-LAN access points and switches, administrators with large distributed access networks can radically simplify deployment, management, and ongoing support from a single, unified console.
