SD-WANs and Branch Networking

New architecture discussed at this year’s HUG offers an evolutionary path for Next Generation WAN, including efficient and secure access to Cloud services and high application availability.

For distributed enterprises, the branch is where 80% of employees work and where most of the business is conducted. Not surprisingly, many are moving to a new IT architecture where cloud and Internet-based applications play an increasingly critical role and are seeking a Next Generation WAN architecture that will enable this transformation. Achieving high capacity and efficient application performance that is both secure and cloud-friendly is the primary challenge—with the right economics for large branch network deployments. An emerging solution which promises to meet these requirements was discussed at the recent Hughes User Group (HUG), namely Software-Defined WAN, or SD-WAN, with the following capabilities:

• Neutral to WAN transport technologies, including broadband, MPLS, LTE, satellite and others
• Secure VPN connections
• Intelligent use of multiple WAN connections at a branch site, sometimes called ‘active-active’ configuration
• Ability to offload Internet-destined traffic at or close to the network’s edge

As both a technology and services leader with a long history in managing large enterprise networks and optimizing broadband performance, Hughes is in a unique position to deliver SD-WAN across all verticals.

Intelligent Path Control Joins ActiveTechnologies™

Enter the Hughes SD-WAN Solution, which leverages the HR Branch Gateway and is powered by ActiveTechnologies™ and the soon-to-be-launched ActivePath™. ActiveTechnologies transform ordinary broadband connections into enterprise-grade high performance networks and include:

• Hughes ActiveClassifier™—using advanced heuristics algorithms, does away with the time-consuming process of configuring rules to classify and prioritize traffic.
• Hughes ActiveQoS™—intelligently determines end-to-end network capacity and meters traffic with multi-level priority queues, resulting in dramatically improved performance for VoIP and video traffic.
• Hughes ActiveCompression™—uses a unique, two-stage adaptive process to compress traffic before it enters broadband pipes, achieving up to 300% higher data throughput.

Hughes ActivePath™ is the newest addition to the Hughes ActiveTechnologies suite for Intelligent Path Control—enabling the simultaneous use of multiple WAN connections at a branch site—and is a core technology underlying the Hughes SD-WAN Solution. ActivePath incorporates novel algorithms and techniques that exploit the use of multiple paths to improve application performance and increase resiliency. For example, it substantially reduces detection and failover times of network error conditions—from tens of seconds to just a few seconds. Network error conditions include not just outages, but also degraded conditions where the connection is still operational but intermittent, or ‘flaky.’ With such rapid recovery from WAN path failures, many data applications will continue to operate uninterrupted; for certain applications, such as VoIP, ActivePath supports hitless recovery, where no packets are lost even when a WAN path fails or degrades.

Ultimately, a Hughes SD-WAN Solution powered by ActivePath and the overall capabilities of ActiveTechnologies will deliver superior performance in a distributed networking environment—with the reliability and consistency required for mission critical applications, including offloading Internet traffic directly from a branch location. Most importantly, Hughes delivers it as part of a fully managed HughesON™ solution for enterprise WANs, resulting in Next Generation IT performance and productivity at the branch.

Look for ActivePath to launch later this year!

The Challenge

With the explosive growth in cloud and rich-media applications deployed at branches, distributed enterprises are seeking Next Generation WAN architectures that deliver high performance, better resiliency and security. Software-Defined WAN (SD-WAN) offers a compelling solution, along with improved flexibility and agility.

What is SD-WAN?

SD-WAN incorporates advanced technologies that leverage all WAN transport technologies, support secure VPN connections, and offload Internet traffic directly from the branch. A key component is the use of intelligent path control to improve application performance and increase resiliency.

The Hughes Advantage

A Hughes SD-WAN Solution powered by ActivePath and related ActiveTechnologies delivers superior enterprisegrade performance with the reliability and consistency required for mission critical applications. It also is part of a fully managed HughesON solution to simplify the design, implementation, and management of enterprise WANs.

Customer Benefits

An SD-WAN Powered by ActiveTechnologies

• Hughes ActiveTechnologies deliver enterprise-grade performance over broadband, including end-to-end QoS.
• Hughes provides Next Generation WAN capabilities with cost-effective broadband economics to power private networking, SaaS, Internet access, network backup, voice/data convergence.
• Hughes offers highly integrated platforms which combine advanced security, performance optimization and routing through a single device: the HR Branch Gateway