ADVA’s SmartWAN addresses these challenges with an efficient, simple, and cost-effective alternative to today’s routers and SD WAN solutions. And SmartWAN provides a cloud-native and future-proof platform for innovation to support your communications strategy.

What’s wrong with routers and SD-WAN?

Enterprises and service providers build secure networks today using approaches like routers with IPsec and SD-WAN with VPN overlays. But there are drawbacks to these methods. Routers are closed, proprietary and limited in functionality. SD-WAN provides a rich set of networking functions, but it can be complex and expensive. And the high cost extends both to the licensed software as well as the platform on which it runs. Both of these approaches are device-centric and lock enterprises into a single-vendor solution. They don’t map well into today’s cloud-native model. We need open and best-of-breed multi-vendor systems. 

So how can you implement secure networking and avoid these pitfalls? And set the stage for future innovation?

SmartWAN for secure networking

The answer is SmartWAN from ADVA. SmartWAN provides the essential features for secure networking, including routing, tunnels, and path resiliency. It uses the latest technologies to provide high performance at a low cost. 

With SmartWAN, you can build private networks that provide secure access using IPsec tunnels. And SmartWAN also provides hybrid WAN functionality for access resiliency - all managed by a simple controller that speeds deployment.

Built on the Ensemble virtualization platform

Even better, SmartWAN is built on Ensemble, the industry’s leading virtualization platform. That means you can start with secure networking only, and meet your cost and performance objectives. Later you can add functionality via in-service downloads. This might include off-the-shelf software such as a firewall, DPI or WAN optimization. Or it might be your own applications, running in a small edge cloud on Ensemble Connector. And you can select from leading server manufacturers to provide the hosting platform.

SmartWAN offers many of the key benefits initially targeted by SD-WAN but at a lower cost point, and it provides higher overall performance.

SmartWAN and uCPE as a platform for innovation

SmartWAN meets this market demand for both efficiency and openness, and it provides the following:

• Fully integrated secure networking that is low-cost, small-footprint, high-performance and full-featured
• Automated installation, provisioning and licensing that is easy to deploy
• Simple and intuitive management tools that streamline building and administering overlay VPNs
• All the benefits of an open hosting platform that can evolve as requirements change

SmartWAN helps you lower costs by eliminating the need for networking VNFs in most cases. It does so with two independently licensable feature options:

• SmartWAN vRouter: A compact, high-performance embedded routing engine that automatically deploys with Ensemble Connector to provide a dual stack advanced networking feature set. It’s automatically enabled, provisioned, and licensed “out of the box” via the Ensemble ZTP process.
• SmartWAN Secure Networking: An easy-to-use, secure hybrid networking feature that provides a simple UI to manage overlay networks and configure traffic distribution policies. These apply to static hub-and-spoke or dynamic full-mesh topologies.

Benefits of Ensemble SmartWAN

SmartWAN offers many of the key benefits initially targeted by SD-WAN but at a lower cost point – both in terms of software licensing and hardware footprint required. And it provides higher overall performance. Here’s a summary of SmartWAN’s benefits:

• Networking - With SmartWAN, you can build overlay networks across a variety of private, public and wireless network technologies. You can manage bandwidth costs and ensure highly available connectivity through the efficient routing of traffic over different underlay networks.
• Management - The integrated SmartWAN Manager is a centralized, efficient, and easy-to-use tool. It streamlines creation of traffic distribution policies, automates site deployment and simplifies day-N management activities. And because SmartWAN Manager is integrated into the broader Ensemble MANO solution, you can deploy the SmartWAN solution where the requirements allow or more advanced SD-WAN VNFs where those additional features are needed.
• Expandability - SmartWAN provides the ability to expand the platform with more advanced uCPE features via VNF/CNF onboarding
• Cost model - Ensemble SmartWAN offers a competitive cost model and improved ROI for enterprise networking use cases. Service providers can offer critical SD-WAN features at a lower initial cost than stand-alone SD-WAN applications – and without the lock-in.

SmartWAN – taking open networking to the next level

With SmartWAN, we’re taking NFV, uCPE and edge computing to the next level. SmartWAN provides additional flexibility for our embedded networking solution. And it’s still the industry's leading multi-vendor uCPE platform. A true win-win solution for networking!