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WAN technologies and services

• Fintech company goes all in on SD-WAN 2.0 with Versa tech

  In the age of hybrid and multi-cloud environments, software-defined WAN technology must do more than just connect branch locations to data centers. Enter SD-WAN 2.0. Continue Reading

• Better security through software-defined perimeter know-how

  Network attacks keep changing, which means your strategy for protecting the network must too. Learn one advancement that's replacing traditional network architectures. Continue Reading

• Achieve network perimeter security through deep segmentation

  Firewall effectiveness is in deep decline, but there's still a way to create an effective security perimeter through the practice of deep segmentation. Learn how. Continue Reading

• DIY SD-WAN more complex than some vendors admit

  Is DIY SD-WAN a do or a don't bother? One expert says it's rarely as simple as vendors suggest -- prompting a growing number of enterprises to enlist third-party support. Continue Reading

• The future of VPN will reflect the need for flexibility

  The future of VPN services reflects the industry's trend toward software networking, evident in developments like SD-WAN and public cloud. The need for flexible technology is a main driver. Continue Reading

• A deep dive into SD-WAN troubleshooting and monitoring

  Whether in the throes of SD-WAN issues or preparing for the future, it's important for organizations to have practical steps to follow when taking on SD-WAN troubleshooting.Continue Reading

• How your SD-WAN appliance can consolidate the branch stack

  The latest SD-WAN appliance technology promises expanded and accelerated consolidation of branch stacks. Learn how it works and how to make it work for you.Continue Reading

• How types of noise in data communication systems affect the network

  Learn about the different types of noise in data communication -- including thermal, intermodulation, cross-talk, impulse and shot noise -- and how they can affect your network.Continue Reading

• What do I need to do to create successful hybrid WANs?

  The market for hybrid network services is growing, and with it comes the challenge of successfully creating hybrid WANs.Continue Reading

• Stepping up your WAN connection with new network technology

  If you think enterprise WAN is "been there, done that," think again. The mobile workforce is redefining the role of the wide area network and the nature of the WAN connection. New technologies related to link aggregation and software-defined ...Continue Reading

• Visibility key to loving your WAN carrier

  Taking a few simple steps can help strengthen the relationship between your WAN carrier and IT management.Continue Reading

• Getting the most out of a managed WAN implementation

  Marketing materials paint a rosy picture, but a managed WAN implementation can be a challenge for enterprise network engineers.Continue Reading

• Understanding the basics of a hybrid VPN

  In part two of a three-part series, an expert looks at how hybrid VPNs are impacted by the shift from private services to the public Internet.Continue Reading

• WAN 2.0: Say goodbye to network provisioning delays

  Network engineers have long suffered the consequences of slow provisioning times for many traditional wide area network (WAN) connections like point-to-point T1 lines or MPLS networks. They're at the mercy of carriers that can take as long as three ...Continue Reading

• Grappling with private WAN provisioning delays in the on-demand era

  Long lead times are not a new problem in private WAN provisioning, but enterprises are feeling the pain of those delays more acutely.Continue Reading

• Can Netflix save enterprise WAN networks?

  How long will it take for ISPs to come to enterprises and ask them to pay extra to ensure that their Salesforce.com data gets to where it's supposed to go?Continue Reading

• Cisco iWAN marries MPLS and Internet for WAN aggregation

  With Cisco iWAN, engineers optimize WAN performance by dynamically aggregating MPLS and Internet resources.Continue Reading

• MPLS networks not obsolete, but Internet as WAN catches up

  MPLS networks have been the undisputed king of WAN services for years, but more enterprises are looking at supplementing them with Internet services.Continue Reading

• Talari WAN aggregation helps shake enterprise reliance on MPLS

  WAN aggregation, coupled with WAN optimization, can help businesses take advantage of cheaper bandwidth options, while keeping reliability intact.Continue Reading

• Anuta Networks expands device support for LAN and WAN orchestration

  Anuta Networks has expanded device and feature support for network orchestration across data centers, campuses and branches.Continue Reading

• How to improve public cloud computing performance over your WAN

  Enterprises have a few options for improving public cloud computing performance over their WANs. See what our expert recommends.Continue Reading

• Wide area network resiliency best practices

  Learn about network resiliency best practices to keep your wide area network (WAN) services running during technical difficulties and outages.Continue Reading

• How to manage service providers on your own

  IT professionals who handle global networks need to know how to manage service provider relationships. This article explains how to be your own MSP.Continue Reading

• Managing service providers for multicarrier networks

  If you run a global network, chances are you deal with managing service provider relationships. Use these tips to reduce network complexity.Continue Reading

• IPsec transport mode: How it works

  This article explains what virtual private network (VPN) IPsec transport mode is and how it works, using diagrams, illustrations and easy-to-understand language.Continue Reading

• IPsec tunnel mode: How it works

  Learn what IPsec tunnel mode is and how it works across your virtual private network (VPN).Continue Reading

• How can I allow and restrict user access on my VPN client?

  Rainer Enders explains how to allow certain users to access a VPN client while restricting others.Continue Reading

• How to use iPerf to measure throughput

  Learn how to use iPerf, a network testing tool to measure throughput and benchmark your WAN links.Continue Reading

• Testing VDI network performance to avoid application meltdown

  Ensuring VDI network performance is central to providing a good VDI user experience, so engineers must start by testing the impact of VDI on bandwidth and traffic flow.Continue Reading

• Ping latency test results: How slow is your WAN link?

  Understand your ping latency test results to determine whether your WAN link needs WAN optimization, QoS or other technologies.Continue Reading

• What is VPN-as-a-service and how does it work?

  In this Ask the Expert response, VPN expert Rainer Enders discusses what a virtual private network as a service (VPNaaS) is and how it works.Continue Reading

• How does your WAN intersect cloud services?

  Where is the line between cloud service and the wide area network? In this tip, Tom Nolle breaks down information flows to recommend the best WAN connectivity for cloud computing.Continue Reading

• How next-generation standards are reshaping wireless WAN technologies

  Learn how the latest next-generation standards are reshaping enterprise wireless WAN technologies and how these telecom services can enhance your company's mobile strategy.Continue Reading

• T1 circuit or MPLS network: How to choose

  The venerable T1 circuit is making way for the high-speed, easy to manage MPLS network. While the carriers are not ripping out T1 connections, they are pressuring WAN managers to abandon them.Continue Reading

• How to prepare enterprise WANs for MPLS/VPN integration

  How should IT professionals prepare their enterprise WANs (wide area networks) for an MPLS VPN integration? Find out using the steps described in this tip.Continue Reading

• How is MPLS different from SONET and ATM networks?

  WAN managers face an array of technology possibilities, like SONET, ATM and MPLS, being pitched to them by every service provider. Making sense of these terms, and the differences between the technologies, will enable organizations to make an ...Continue Reading

• Managed WAN services best practices: How to triple the odds of success

  Before procuring managed WAN services for your enterprise wide area network, read these best practices for tripling your success and finding a provider that can guarantee good service.Continue Reading

• How to apply network virtualization to a wide area network (WAN)

  How can you apply network virtualization technology to an enterprise wide area network (WAN)? Allocating bandwidth and improving network management and performance are just a sampling of what WAN managers can do better. In this primer, discover ...Continue Reading

• Using network virtualization to simplify WAN management

  In enterprise IT, virtualization always increases complexity. Luckily for wide area network (WAN) managers, network virtualization can simplify WAN management. To learn how, read this tip.Continue Reading

• How to plan an out-of-band network management system

  To design out-of-band network management systems that are both cost efficient and effective, networking teams must consider which assets are crucial for visibility and just how much information they need to see.Continue Reading

• Meraki's Enterprise Cloud Controller offsets remote access, wireless network hardware costs

  Meraki's Enterprise Cloud Controller can potentially offset costs associated with remote access management and wireless network hardware for small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs), but will a cloud-based model present challenges a larger enterprise...Continue Reading

• Smart grid tutorial: What IT managers should know

  This smart grid tutorial explains what enterprise IT managers should know about the technology and how it will be applied to your business's wide area network (WAN).Continue Reading

• What is a WAN manager's role in storage?

  Bandwidth, data deduplication, disaster recovery (DR) and remote site acceleration and optimization are all areas where storage and WAN managers' job responsibilities overlap. This article explains how and answers the question, 'What is a wide area ...Continue Reading

• Types of cloud computing services WAN managers should consider

  WAN managers can benefit greatly from understanding the different types of cloud computing services available to them. Understand how SaaS, PaaS, IaaS, security, network, systems, and project planning services can be used to benefit your enterprise ...Continue Reading

• Choosing a provider for WAN managed services for your enterprise

  How do you find the right provider for your business's WAN managed services? Ask the right questions. To get a managed service provider (MSP) at the right price with the right offerings and service-level agreements (SLAs), view these tips.Continue Reading

• WAN managers must weigh using one or multiple service providers

  Wide area network (WAN) managers need to think less like techies and more like business strategists when deciding whether to power the WAN with one or multiple service providers. Enterprises have to decide how much risk they can tolerate and weigh ...Continue Reading

• Consolidation, centralization change the face of WAN managed services

  In an era of tight budgets, a shortage of skilled staff and increasing network demands, WAN managed services are looking better as an option to help eliminate management and support stress on a company's IT department. There are also some ...Continue Reading

• Centralization, smaller budgets drive demand for managed WAN services

  As efforts like unified communications (UC) and collaborative applications take flight, enterprises are relying more on application performance monitoring and management tools, network optimization solutions, and even WAN- managed service providers ...Continue Reading

• Service providers like Verizon offer WAN services to cut network costs

  With budgets tightening, service providers are offering managed WAN services ranging from optimization to on-site maintenance as a way to cut internal costs.Continue Reading

• Managed services for branch office networks: New options

  Managing branch offices and the complex relationship that exists there among applications, networking, and management systems is becoming a bigger challenge every day for networking professionals. New services for branch locations are emerging in ...Continue Reading

• Which OSI layers are network managers responsible for?

  Learn which layers of the OSI model network managers should be responsible for. Our expert, Lindi Horton, explains where to focus your manual operations, especially regarding automated operation tasks.Continue Reading

• Managed remote access options

  A new breed of options exist for companies that want to outsource remote access to their networks.Continue Reading

• Networked application performance management -- Where to start

  Application performance management that results in clear and high-quality networked business services is vital to enterprise acceptance of those services. Such management must provide information visibility and effective control exercised across all...Continue Reading

• Managing streaming protocols on your network

  To manage user access to streaming media, you first must understand the protocols that deliver streaming media across the network. Learn more about RTP, RTSP, RTCP and other protocols in this tip -- and find out why merely blocking access may not ...Continue Reading

• User acceptance test plan for 1000-branch WAN

  My vendor has asked me to prepare a user acceptance test plan for a WAN of 1000 branches, which have leased line and ISDN connectivity. What are the specific parameters I should look for at each branch connection? The vendor has just specified ping ...Continue Reading