WAN Wednesdays

Secure access service edge, or SASE as you might know it, has the potential to transform how network managers deal with their traffic - putting the cloud at the centre of the network, offering end-to-end security, and making user access policies easier to implement. We welcomed Craig Connors, CTO and VP for SD-WAN at Velocloud, now part of VMware, to discuss his organisation's take on SASE, how SD-WAN fits within SASE architectures, and what the move to remote working means for SASE implementation within enterprises.

We are taking a break in the schedule to update you on some exciting WAN Summit news.

In this week’s episode, Bill Yates welcomes cloud evangelist Marco van den Akker to discuss the impact of COVID-19 on the internet and the future of cloud services.

We don’t need to tell you that not much is predictable right now in the world of business – especially when it comes to enterprise networks. Each organisation, industry and country has different priorities when it comes to emerging to the other side of Covid-19. We welcome two guests from Orange Business Services – Director Connectivity Solutions John Isch and Director Application Driven Network Laurent Perrin – to discuss the impact of increased working from home, how Orange is supporting customers, and what the current situation means for enterprises and their transformation journeys.

We’ve heard from quite a few WAN managers on WAN Wednesdays, but now we’re about to hear from dozens of them in one go - thanks to the WAN Manager Survey, which is published by WAN Summit co-organisers TeleGeography. Co-author Lizzy Thorne, Research Analyst at TeleGeography, shares some previews of the findings and what they might mean for the future of the WAN.

SD-WAN brings great benefits to an organisation - not least the ability to scale bandwidth, sites and connections up and down when required. But for true ease of use, there needs to be some element of interoperability - and this means standardisation across the supply chain. Dan Pitt, SVP of MEF, President of Palo Alto Innovation Advisors, and veteran of the SDN/NFV movement, will join us on the podcast to discuss the progress made in SD-WAN standardisation so far, why it's so necessary, and what network managers and solutions providers can expect in the near future.

Managing a corporate network is difficult enough at the best of times. But when you add mergers, acquisitions or disposals into the mix, the job can become fiendishly complex. How do you integrate two organisations with totally different application stacks, networking setups and corporate cultures? And on the other side of the coin, how do you go about untangling a division of a business to prepare for its sale? Lucas Goh, IT Director for power solutions manufacturer Volex, is dropping into WAN Wednesdays to tell us all about his experience in M&A WAN management.

SD-WAN has the potential to transform how an organisation operates - but it's not all smooth sailing. Michael Martin, Senior Enterprise Architect at business consultancy McKinsey, discusses the hidden challenges that can trip up an enterprise adopting SD-WAN. These can include security issues, the challenges of managing a hybrid network - and of course, how SD-WAN will integrate with remote access over time.

As multicloud becomes a reality for enterprises, how can network managers handle the transition - especially the security aspects? This week we're delighted to welcome Lloyd Noronha, head of SD-WAN Marketing at Cisco and veteran of the SD-WAN game, onto the podcast to discuss the role SD-WAN plays in multicloud transition, deployment models in security, the difference between what enterprises ask for in deployment and what they can get, and other aspect.

When we asked them in October, 44% of the enterprise delegates at the WAN Summit London said that pricing is the most important factor when choosing SD-WAN. So our guest this week is Ciaran Roche from corporate networking consultancy Coevolve, who'll tell us how enterprises can keep spending under control while running and improving their networks.

Todd Rychecky, Opengear's VP Sales for Americas, discusses how enterprises can ensure resilience when making deployments as part of their SD-WAN rollouts.

Serge van Tuil's career spans numerous positions in network management across companies in the financial and outsourcing sector - Capgemini and Rabobank to name two, plus a 10-year stint with DLL - and now he is going freelance with his iStrategize consultancy business. He will discuss how organisations can make hybrid networks work for them.

The move to SD-WAN is a big step for enterprises, but could it just be the start of the journey? Mahesh Bommareddy from Juniper Networks discusses how enterprises can unleash the benefit of artificial intelligence and machine learning for a network that fires on all cylinders - where an issue can be noticed, fixed and written out of the system before the user even knows it's happened.

This week we discuss the MPLS/Internet dynamic with Sander Barens, CCO of Expereo.

As companies around the world start to settle into remote working, in some cases this is making existing, on-premises MPLS networks redundant if nobody is in the office to get onto them. Is this encouraging more enterprises to choose Internet-based solutions?

For the second edition of WAN Wednesdays we are joined by Margareta Sauger, PCCW Global's VP of Sales America Enterprise, who will take us through an SD-WAN use case for one of PCCW Global's enterprise customers.

Think you can spare 20 minutes of your week to keep up to speed with the world of WAN?

That's what WAN Wednesdays are for. Every week from 14.15 GMT, we'll host a quickfire podcast with a new guest each week dedicated to a different aspect of corporate network management. From security to MPLS migration, from single pane of glass to the impact of IoT - we'll cover it all, one week at a time. Guests will include network managers, analysts, solution providers, telecoms operators - anyone with a voice in where the WAN is heading.

Our first guest is Greg Bryan, Senior Manager Enterprise Research, TeleGeography. Greg discusses the impact of COVID-19 on WANs around the world, and the hurdles network managers will have to clear to deliver a remote working experience that feels as much like the office as possible.

With Greg Bryan, Senior Manager Enterprise Research, TeleGeography