Migrating Infrastructure to Enable the Office of the Future

0
1160
Infrastructure

Author: Damian Alfonso, Solutions Architect, CDW Canada

The global pandemic is challenging the way we live, learn and even the way we socialize with friends and family. Before the pandemic, organizations were dealing with the decentralization of data, where it could be stored on-premises or in the cloud. This led to hybrid infrastructures where the data centre was no longer a single location, rather distributed infrastructure where the data resided. In our current environment, work is no longer a place, forcing organizations to accelerate their digital workforce transformation strategies.

As organizations and networks grow, troubleshooting has become more difficult. Network engineers are often running behind on their deliverables and spend most of their time and effortschasingand fixing problems, while also performing manual operation tasks. Regardless of the amount and calibre of work put in, a common user criticism is about poor application performance. This has been a reality for many of us for a long time.

The uprising of wide-area networks (WAN)

With physical distancing measures shifting and organizations weighing what their future office will look like, it’s imperative that networks can withstand and support whatever the end result is. With a hybrid office environment presenting as a likely avenue for many organizations moving forward, the extension of the office network beyond the physical walls needs to have seamless performance and security to ensure organizational success.

Software-defined wide-area networks (SD-WAN) have evolved as a natural application of the SDN approach to change the way companies manage their WAN infrastructure. With SD-WAN, companies can now aggregate all their transport networks and branch offices into a holistic system rather than managing individual locations, links and devices. By migrating to SD-WAN, companies will be able to use any transport method more securely and reliably with increased efficacy of the available bandwidth, which improves user experience. Many organizations have also recognized additional benefits this introduces, such as cost efficiencies.

To ensure your organization’s data remains private, Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) is an emerging architecture looking into the best ways to deliver this integration between cloud-managed SD-WAN and cloud-delivered security as an enabler for digital business transformation. SASE can help organizations to reduce complexity, improve speed and agility while enabling multi-cloud networking through a more secure SD-WAN infrastructure.

Improving your network’s capabilities with Cisco and CDW

At CDW, we offer the best-in-class services and solutions to help our customers through every step of their SD-WAN migration and digital transformation needs. We recently achieved the Cisco Master Networking Specialization – a key differentiator in the Canadian market. This gives us the highest capabilities in Cisco networking technologies that support intent-based networking, business processes and results. As a leading Canadian services provider, our deep expertise and vast understanding of the unique challenges that Canadian organizations face in this new phase of planning for a safe and efficient return to work, allow us to tailor our solutions specifically to you and your business. We can design innovative solutions from the ground up based on your specific business objectives.

If you’re interested in learning more about how you can make your current wireless network work better for you, visit cdw.ca/cisco or call 888.439.2392.