Don’t Let Legacy WANs Stifle Customers’ Cloud Experience

… cloud orchestration systems.

SD-WANs Need a Modern DDI Platform

Traditionally, DDI platforms have been appliance-based and hosted in corporate data centers. When all enterprise applications were hosted internally, the destination for branch office traffic was the data center. Today, given the rise of cloud-based services for mission-critical functionality, almost one-third of branch office traffic goes directly to the cloud.

If DNS queries are resolved by backhauling to corporate data centers, remote users aren’t guaranteed connectivity to an entry point to the cloud closest to them. Remote users in South Carolina may be connected to the cloud in Oregon because their DNS queries were resolved at the Portland headquarters. The result is a poor end-user experience for SaaS applications like Microsoft Office 365 or Salesforce. Additionally, suppose remote sites are dependent on a link to the headquarters’ data center for DNS resolution. In that case, if that link is down, the SaaS apps become unavailable and business is interrupted. Local presence not only resolves DNS queries to their closest point in the cloud but also offers local survivability.

Another option for customers is to deliver DNS and DHCP services at each connected remote site. However, this quickly becomes cumbersome and costly as the number of individually managed remote locations that must be supported increases. All the benefits of SD-WAN, particularly the direct connections to cloud-based services such as Google G Suite, can be negated without the proper DDI architecture.

A new lightweight and agile DDI solution is needed that allows organizations to execute DDI functions at the enterprise edge without deploying dedicated hardware at each connection. One that is cloud-managed can help customers reduce costs, simplify branch networking, and give them the agility and scalability to quickly and seamlessly adjust to changing business needs. It enables DNS queries to be resolved directly without having to backhaul to a centralized data center, improving user experience and network reliability. And it simplifies network management, enabling administrators to centrally and automatically provision, manage and control policies for all remote locations. Cloud-managed DDI gives enterprises the ability to get the full value of their SD-WAN deployments by extending simplicity and agility to the network edge.

As enterprises adopt new cloud technologies and services, they’re fundamentally looking for a more straightforward experience for their branch office networks. A cloud-managed DDI platform is vital for extending network simplicity to the edges. This ensures that companies can realize the full potential of their hybrid infrastructure investments and continue to adapt to the cloud-first business challenges and opportunities ahead.

Lori Cornmesser, vice president of worldwide partner and alliance sales at Infoblox, began her career in the channel more than 25 years ago. Her leadership and strategic vision have resulted in multiple awards for her work. Since Lori joined Infoblox in May 2018, she has advocated for channel culture, prioritized the importance of building channel relationships, and hosted Infoblox’s inaugural Americas Partners Summit in November 2018. You can follow her on LinkedIn or @Infoblox on Twitter.