Modern Enterprise Network Architecture: Cisco SD-WAN with AWS Cloud WAN
The days of backhauling users to data centers across continents are on their way out. There is even a term for yesteryear's network architecture dubbed the "Trombone Effect". The trombone effect occurs when a distributed enterprise architecture forces users to come back to a single centralized point just to turn around and go back to the internet. This winding path resembles the twisted pipes of a trombone.
Today's networks are moving closer to the users. Even with the advent of Cloud, the idea behind user-to-service mean latency remains an often overlooked but very important aspect of today's networks. You can't beat the speed of light, at least not yet -plug quantum tunneling networks. Therefore, the only option is to move the service closer to the general population centers.
Modern network connections have become cumbersome with strict encryption overhead, and they are also much more granular with "chatty" intelligences at various layers many of which are monitoring the health of the network. Having a user connect to a service under 30ms vs having that same connection at 90ms the user tends to "feel" this exponentially. This has become very apparent for latency sensitive applications such as cloud video game hosting many of which require 30ms or less to even operate at baseline.
The cloud is key in this conversation as while it made provisioning, scaling and hosting services more economical, one of its largest benefits is that it has moved services closer to the users in a way that most data centers, even with an army of 1000 cache engines and WAN accelerators ever could. :)
Now that I have laid out the importance of the user experience, let's touch base on how we get there. Moving a global enterprise network from yesterday's model of a few data centers to multi cloud is no easy feat nor is it a fast one. It's likely both networks will need to coexist for some time. Enterprises have spent decades perfecting the art of BGP routing over MPLS leased lines. Acquisitions, mergers, divestments and just the general size and diversity of global networks have demanded a complex solution.
SD-WAN, once touted as a more effective way to backhaul traffic to data centers, has obtained a new lease on life. SD-WAN has laid down the trombone and embraced rock and roll blasting its music in all directions. Its new purpose… Connecting MANY different types of things together as securely and most efficiently as possible across any transport… SD-WAN has become the highway to multi-cloud. SD-WAN being a new network overlay gives enterprises the ability to partition sections of migrations to cloud in a low risk, one bite at a time way. This is often done on a regional POP basis such as tackling AMER first, then EMEA and lastly APAC over a period of time.
Cisco and AWS see this very story playing out and are investing heavily in making sure the products can service both greenfield and brownfield migrations to cloud. An ever-growing toolset in both ecosystems is there to take advantage of and automation is making these steps more consumable. We routinely see customers with datacenters, public/private cloud, SASE/SSE, SaaS direct offload, and Colocation facilities all interconnected and working at the same time and this list keeps growing with various "flavors of cloud" consumption. Having the ability to install Sd-WAN routers such as the Cisco 8000v series directly in the cloud and then also use the clouds private WAN for transport feels very familiar to architects.
In essence, Cloud WAN competes with MPLS and Internet as global transports by:
- Providing optimized and reliable network paths via the AWS global network backbone.
- Minimizing network hops and the distance data needs to travel.
- Offering private connectivity options through Direct Connect and Transit VPC.
- Enabling traffic prioritization and shaping.
- Leveraging AWS's high-performance infrastructure
Lastly but certainly not least is the global WAN footprint. SD-WAN has helped many enterprises replace MPLS with business internet and LTE/LOE Satellite at their branch locations worldwide. "Regional Full Mesh" is one of the most common SD-WAN models used. However, traffic between regions such as AMER to EMEA still largely uses MPLS as a backbone when traffic needs to traverse the gap. MPLS is also used as a way for the new SD-WAN network to talk to "non SD-WAN" sites during the period of transition. Marrying MPLS networks with cloud directly poses a unique challenge. You often must have your connections aggregated to a CNF that then has a cloud attachment and many enterprises have taken this approach. Services such as AWS Cloud WAN bring this global reach that MPLS has offered all these years and has now given customers the first real option outside of commodity internet to connect worldwide clouds together.
WWT has real-time front-row seats to this next generation architecture. We have developed strong partnerships with providers such as Cisco and AWS and routinely help and guide customers through this next generation network landscape. WWT is uniquely qualified to move customers through this model from idea to outcome. We have seen it done hundreds if not thousands of times all over the globe and we have the recordings to prove it. We would love to take your business on this journey and truly make a new world happen.
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