I have read about the concept of the Aryaka WAN as a Service with a mixture of curiosity and doubt. At last, I can say that I have first-hand experience with Aryaka it is nothing short of marvelous. Imagine installing a global MPLS network in just two weeks, even connecting to India, China or Brazil! That is exactly what we did. So I felt compelled to share the specifics.
The situation was familiar: a global manufacturer has been using an IPSec VPN over the internet for its WAN infrastructure. The ERP system for their two China factories was not working during certain times of the day, when latency and packet loss would rise. They hired SD-WAN-Experts to help them source a new MPLS network to replace the internet based VPN. We did our usual: go out to bid with the appropriate carriers, compare prices and SLAs, explain the nuances that differentiate the carriers that were quoting. We also provided the Aryaka WAN as a Service option, which could be implemented in two weeks (not 90+days, like the traditional MPLS network). Aryaka offered a seven-day free trial. The customer decided to try it, since they could be operational quickly and the cost would be lower.
The principle behind Aryaka is that the network provider has a global MPLS network, with POPs at key locations around the world, close to end users. POP locations are selected based on customer proximity, network and geographical diversity, and the location of peering points to best deliver predictable, reliable, and superior application performance. The customer connects to the Aryaka POP using an IPSec VPN over the internet, but the latency to the POP is typically 10 to 15 milliseconds. This is short enough, that the traditional issues with VPNs do not raise their ugly heads: latency and packet loss. Once you are configured in their system, you simply configure the VPN tunnel and routing and you are operational. No waiting for local loop provisioning. No demark extensions. No waiting for routers. And Aryaka really works!
You see, the way TCP/IP works, if a packet is lost on a 200ms path, it takes a long time to resend and confirm receipt of that packet. So performance suffers dramatically. If a packet is lost on a 10ms path, it is not even noticed. Besides, packet loss with most ISPs for nearby paths is excellent these days. Since the Aryaka MPLS core carries your network, you experience the high performance of MPLS, without the local loop hassles. For redundancy, the network provider has multiple internet providers, so you can create more than one VPN tunnel to their POP, to protect yourself from a failure. Aryaka also uses three different global MPLS networks to provide additional core resiliency.
SASE Experts helps our clients to run a Proof of Concept of Aryaka to see first-hand that it works as it says it does. Honestly, I needed to see with my own eyes with our own client to see how Aryaka performed. I was more than impressed. One key is that they measure the latency from the POP nearest your offices to your public IP. You then know that you have a low latency path. They use WAN optimization technology to allow you to obtain greater throughput than you can imagine. But you really need to see for yourself.
Now that we have seen how well it works, there are compelling reasons to consider using Aryaka’s WAN as a Service:
Aryaka is simpler, faster to deploy and manage
No softwares to maintain, no boxes to manage. Plug-an-play installation. The fastest MPLS implementation imaginable. MPLS installations in India, China and Brazil, all challenging locations, can be operational in two weeks.
Optimized TCP performance
Multi-segment design for better performance across distance.
QoS
Support for industry standard QoS protects voice, video and real time traffic, ensuring predictable performance. Flawless VoIP and video.
Security you can trust
Built-in redundancy with multiple layers of security in the physical, network, and data layers.
Network wide visibility
End-to-end WAN and application visibility for advanced traffic analysis through a web-based portal. You can configure the tools to recognize every application, based on IP or port number.
WAN Optimization without Capex
Purpose-built WAN Optimization technology with enterprise-grade connectivity via a dedicated, reliable, global core network, with no capital investment. When your MPLS network spans from the U.S. to India, China or Brazil, this improves performance remarkably.
Redundancy
Aryaka operates three independent global MPLS networks to interconnect their POPs, to insulate you from a problem that any single carrier may have. You can use multiple ISP connections to Aryaka POPs to provide “local loop” redundancy at a low cost. Even cellular wireless or DSL.
The only shortcoming is that since Aryaka includes WAN Optimization, it does not work well if your already have a WAN Op solution in place. They offer buy-back programs to help customers recover their WAN OP investment.
Would you like to learn more or discuss your own Proof of Concept to install an MPLS network with WAN optimization for almost half the cost of a traditional MPLS network? Call or contact SASE Experts today using the form above.
