The international coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is inflicting corporations to rethink their distributed workforce technique. Thousands of companies have moved to work-from-home environments as staff adapt to new methods of speaking and collaborating with one another.
This shift presents new challenges for IT departments, similar to connecting a distributed, distant workforce to enterprise apps and providers each in information facilities and within the cloud. All staff and their dwelling networks at the moment are handled as distant branches that IT should help with current assets. At the identical time, IT should be sure that these connections are safe and reliable. Historically, for most individuals, distant entry was one thing used on occasion. Now it must be as accessible and dependable as the corporate community, as a result of persons are working from dwelling for an indefinite time period.
Companies have a number of choices for equipping staff with distant entry. The first, most evident selection for companies is a client-based digital personal community from cloud suppliers like Amazon Web Services, which work with current enterprise infrastructure. The second possibility might be a zero-trust, safe distant entry resolution, similar to Zscaler Private Access. Both have the place however don’t clear up all issues. Organizations additionally want distant connections that present excessive efficiency and reliability for accessing mission essential apps in information facilities and within the cloud.
A reference structure for a distributed workforce
To meet the necessities of companies within the third class, Silver Peak created a reference structure for a distributed workforce, powered by its Unity EdgeConnect software-defined wide-area community (SD-WAN) platform. The platform was designed to deal with these distinctive necessities, particularly safe and direct entry to cloud providers; entry to real-time apps that embody voice, video, and digital desktop infrastructure (VDI); and extra efficiency for high-throughput apps like medical imaging.
Silver Peak’s Unity EdgeConnect permits each SD-WAN and non-SD-WAN customers to hook up with apps and providers remotely. Businesses with giant distant workforces get the advantages of SD-WAN networking {hardware} that may be managed with a software-based controller hosted within the cloud. This method, companies can hyperlink up websites utilizing a number of connections from completely different suppliers and several types of transport, together with 4G LTE, multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) and broadband Internet.
EdgeConnect might be deployed domestically for high quality of service (QoS), native web breakout, WAN optimization and different providers that help real-time and high-throughput apps. A enterprise can select to put in ultra-small and extra-small home equipment at staff’ houses, to allow them to immediately plug of their zero consumer to a neighborhood space community (LAN) port on the EdgeConnect equipment. The zero consumer acts as if it had been linked to the enterprise LAN.
IT directors can use Silver Peak’s Unity Orchestrator to centrally implement insurance policies primarily based on enterprise intent to safe and handle app site visitors throughout the WAN infrastructure. Unity Orchestrator assigns insurance policies to all Unity EdgeConnect SD-WAN site visitors and…
