ChannelVision Sept-Oct 2017

Virtual Realities The SimpleWan integration reported- ly offers no-drop failover in the event of a connectivity outage; enhanced secu- rity through the creation of a VPN from the customer premises to any SkySwitch Data Center; and voice encryption from the customer premises to the SkySwitch Data Center, which is necessary to achieve HIPAA compliance. “The implementation of SD-Voice from SimpleWan enables our resellers to significantly maintain call reliability, even in the event of an internet inter- ruption at a client site,” said Jayson Jones, vice president of business de- velopment at SkySwitch. The SD-Voice features are already implemented in the SkySwitch Network and Platform, and are ready for use by any SkySwitch reseller with Simple- Wan appliances deployed at their cus- tomers’ sites. U.S. mobile operator Sprint has en- listed cloud communications software company Metaswitch to deploy prod- ucts and technologies that it says will enable the accelerated development of advanced mobile communication ser- vices for businesses and consumers. According to Metaswitch, its cloud tech- nology portfolio provides an agile, cost- efficient innovation platform for LTE and 5G networks, extending beyond person-to-person communications and into the Internet of Things (IoT) sector. “We’re excited to lay this founda- tion as part of Sprint’s network virtu- alization initiative, which we expect will deliver an expanding range of innovative services to our customers for many years to come,” said Gun- ther Ottendorfer, COO of technology at Sprint. “These new services will enable our customers to do more with the devices they depend on at home, at work and on the go, while reducing our infrastructure and oper- ating costs.” Verizon Adds Security to SD-WAN Offerings Verizon’s SD-WAN customer premises solution dubbed SD-Branch now incorporates security and other functionality, the company announced. The new Verizon SD-WAN option will use software from Versa Networks that runs on generic hardware. In a typical SD-WAN deployment, an enterprise may purchases an MPLS and internet connections for each location, with the SD-WAN soft- ware dynamically directing traffic over the different links. When location rely on their own internet connection, en- terprises need to secure traffic to and from each of those locations. The Versa software product that Verizon will be offering also can pro- vide other functionality such as WAN optimization. And if an enterprise wants to use a different security solu- tion, Versa can host it as a virtualized network function. SkySwitch Turns Up SD Voice U CaaS provider SkySwitch has implemented software defined voice (SD Voice) from SimpleWan. Sprint Taps Metaswitch for Virtualization Boost Overheard “Ultimately SDN is not necessarily just about moving things to the software. It’s primarily about programmability, and it’s about automation. Because if they don’t take operational expenses and improve operational efficiencies in their network and [when] delivering new services or upgrading services, then they’ll have a hard time competing. The business case is driving their need to get the programmability.” Jay Wilson, Senior Vice President of Technology and Strategy at ADTRAN SMBs’ Larger Upside According to a study by Harvard Business Review, the business benefits of cloud adoption may be outsized for smaller companies because the business risks of not adopting more flexible systems can be more significant. “Large enterprises often have more diverse revenue streams and business models,” said Richard L. Villars, research vice president for data center and cloud at IDC. “When you’re only in one or two businesses, it’s not just a risk of disruption to a portion of the business – it’s an existential threat, which is why it’s even more important for [SMBs] to exploit new technologies and opportunities faster.” Percentage that Said Cloud Adoption Improved Performance SMB Large Enterprise Time to market 47% 15% Revenue/Profit growth 38% 17% End customer experience 48% 32% Ability to manage security 39% 26% Ability to mitigate risk 39% 28% Source: Harvard Business Review Analytic Services 20 Channel Vision | September - October, 2017