SASE Takes: Service Providers Mull SD-WAN Complexity as Comcast, Versa Enhance AI Capabilities

… another story. When multiple providers account for the underlay services, the SD-WAN provider might find it difficult to deliver an end-to-end service. The study found that operators need help automating the underlay. More than one in three (37%) respondents said the underlay network performance monitoring is the area where they need automation, just ahead of service activation testing (33%).

Automation already exists in many areas of the SD-WAN environment, such as in overlay network monitoring and service provisioning. However, other areas, such as the underlay network monitoring and SLA reporting, still require manual labor.

Comcast, Versa

Comcast Business and Versa Networks expanded their partnership around SD-WAN to better serve remote workers.

The update taps into artificial intelligence and machine learning improve Comcast’s traffic steering algorithm. As a result, Comcast’s SDN platform can prioritize applications and evaluate “real-time status of the network connections.”

Comcast Business’ Jeff Lewis

Versa provides the SD-WAN component of the Comcast Business ActiveCore SDN platform. They teamed up back in 2017.

Versa Chief Marketing Officer Mike Wood said the update is unique to Comcast, as it combines Comcast and Versa technologies.

Jeff Lewis, Comcast’s vice president of ActiveCore product and operations, said the update helps meet the demands of an “increasingly distributed world.”

“Organizations had to adapt quickly when faced with the sudden shift to a distributed and remote workforce last year. These changes drastically transformed the way businesses interact, collaborate and communicate,” Lewis said. “As a result, IT departments have continued to be tasked with meeting evolving security, access and bandwidth challenges brought on by the need to support a hybrid workforce model.”

Apurva Mehta, Versa’s chief technology officer, agreed.

Versa’s Mehta Apurva

“This algorithm provides Comcast Business with a powerful ability to steer traffic for any application — including real-time over optimal transport paths. Additionally, this enables them to help minimize down time and deliver the best application user experience with fast switchover when any transport degrades or fails,” Mehta said.

Quick Hits

• Orange Business Services scored a big SD-WAN earlier this year with BNB Paripas. The French banking group will harness SD-WAN services at approximately 1,800 retail sites. Read the announcement.
• Cato Networks has publicized statistics on the growth of its SASE business. For example, the company graduated the 600th member of its SASE certification program. It also reported significant year-over-year financial growth. Read the financial growth announcement.
• Viptela’s co-founders exited stealth mode for their new startup, Prosimo. Check out our profile on the company.
• We also recently wrote about a TeleGeography study that shows SD-WAN gradually but inevitably replacing MPLS.