For years, Aryaka has helped hundreds of companies successfully transition from MPLS to a more agile cloud-friendly SD-WAN architecture. Many of us have had decade+ careers selling MPLS networks where we all knew it was 100% the right network topology that made the most sense for nearly every multi-site organization. Benefits like eliminating public gateways at branch locations, centralizing internet egress in data centers, SLA’s, QoS/CoS, etc…. All reasons why MPLS made telcos billions. In the pre-cloud era 10+ years ago when 90% of application flows were to corporate data centers and internet traffic was minimal, MPLS was THE answer. But we all know the reality today. We live in the Cloud Now era. Internet utilization has skyrocketed. Do you remember when we helped customers design their MPLS class of service policy when internet traffic was deemed best effort over every other application? Certain SaaS applications are as critical to the business as an ERP system still sitting in the data center. So with all of this digital transformation, it begs the question…. Why do companies still use MPLS?

Perhaps these companies do not see what I see. Perhaps they believe MPLS is still faster than any other solution? Perhaps I should put our customers in touch with them, so they can talk about their experience. 6X faster than MPLS, 10X faster than MPLS ….in Gartner Peer Insights customer quotes include …’Best SD WAN Solution’ and ‘Aryaka is superior to competitors’.

Maybe it is not all about performance. Perhaps the risk of change concerns them? With the IT resources already stressed, do they have the time for a network overhaul? Any impact to the network can cause immediate friction in the business. So the risk of change takes precedent over the risk of better! We all know what happens to species that don’t adapt. In the animal world, if you don’t adapt, you die. In the business world if you don’t adapt, you lose to your competition and then you die. So I understand the decision to move away from MPLS should not be made lightly but when you have companies like Aryaka offering SLAs with 99.999% core uptime guarantees, 99.99% end to end availability, and managed services to assist strained IT teams, there are risk free options for organizations to transform and modernize the WAN to a more agile and better performing architecture.

Let me give you a real-world situation. A CIO decided 18 months ago that MPLS was holding them back. In fact, there were three problems:

1. The cost to value ratio for MPLS was no longer valid. It was the right technology years ago but there are better, lower cost solutions today.
2. Wanted to lift the burden of managing the network away from his valuable IT staff, so they could focus their time on activities which were of greater business value.
3. They wanted to advance their cloud strategy. The company had an aggressive cloud first strategy and MPLS was going to hold them back on cloud adoption.

For these three reasons, the CIO decided to act or should I say adapt. After a very detailed analysis of the marketplace, he and his team selected Aryaka and they experienced 10X performance improvements and better reliability at the same time. Moving away from MPLS enabled this company to deliver on their vision. This is just one of many successes and so why don’t more companies adapt?

I believe there exists a misconception among some businesses that believe MPLS is still the fastest and most reliable option available. This misconception may stem from a lack of awareness or outdated information regarding the capabilities of alternative networking options. In reality, SD-WAN solutions like Aryaka’s offer significant improvements over traditional MPLS networks, as evidenced by customer testimonials. If you still rely on this old, outdated network technology and want to understand all of the benefits of moving, then come talk to a company who is known as having the ‘Best SD WAN solution’ in the marketplace. Customers who have moved to us save 30% on their OpEx, experience 10X better performance and many other business benefits on top. In fact, let me close with a recent quote I saw on Garter Peer insights. We consistently get 5 Star reviews, and one customer wrote – ‘GET ARYAKA – YOU WON’T REGRET IT’

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Problem # 1: Over emphasis on security at the expense of networking – we all agree that security is critical; it is non-negotiable. However, performance is as well, and many companies find it hard to balance both. As one layers in more security, this can come at a cost and so a foundational requirement for a successful SASE solution is a high performant SD-WAN solution. This must come first and the better network solution you have, the more security you can layer in to protect your applications.

Problem # 2: Lack of integration between security and networking functionality – buying best of breed is a commonly accepted approach, like best of breed SWG, CASB, DLP, NGFW, etc.. This will get you the right standalone functionality, however stitching together solutions from different vendors will come at a cost – a people cost, a time cost, a performance cost. Integrating best of breed solutions costs more than you think, and most importantly, it slows you down. Integrated solutions work better – they are faster, cheaper and they enable your business to be more agile.

Problem # 3: Too much focus on the last mile – not enough focus on the middle mile and multi-cloud compute edges. The starting position is always the end user. Security for the end user is important but so is securing the application at the cloud edge. The closer security is to the application, the less risk of having someone compromise the application. Therefore, what happens in the middle mile and what happens at the cloud edge matters. It is like locking your door but keeping the windows open. Security risks are minimized when you protect all three areas equally.

Problem # 4: Challenged network and security workflows – what is meant by this? Your end goal is to configure and deploy fast. To ensure policies are easily changed and maintained. Administrators want to scale fast – new employees, new locations, new business needs. Scale up and down as the business demands. The more complex policy management is, the harder this goal is. Also, the more solutions and the more dashboards you deal with, the more complex everything is. The end result is increased complexity for administrators and operators alike.

In order to help make your SASE Journey in 2024 more simple and more successful, I suggest we look at overcoming these 4 common challenges. Did I miss any? Are there more out there? Or do these 4 common challenges address the bulk of the challenges faced by organizations who are trying to improve their networking and security postures by implementing SASE?

Finally, this white paper has much more valuable content and so if these challenges resonate with you and you want to learn more, then reach out to us. Looking forward to your thoughts and feedback.

The post Overcoming SASE Challenges: Dell Oro’s 2024 White Paper Unveils 4 Key Hurdles to Clear appeared first on Aryaka.

In the digital era, network downtime is not just an inconvenience; it can be highly disruptive or cause an outright business crisis. High availability in network infrastructure has become a paramount necessity for organizations striving to provide uninterrupted services to their clients and maintain business continuity. The repercussions of network downtime extend beyond mere financial losses, impacting customer trust and brand reputation. Aryaka’s SD-WAN solution SmartConnect emerges as a robust solution, ensuring high network availability and supporting businesses in their quest for uninterrupted excellence. This blog explores the criticality of high availability in networks, the potential impacts of network downtime, and how Aryaka’s SmartConnect offers a resilient solution.

Understanding High Availability in Network Infrastructure

Defining High Availability

High availability in network infrastructure refers to the infrastructure’s ability to remain accessible and operational for a maximum period, minimizing downtime and ensuring continuous service delivery. It is quantified as a percentage of uptime in a given year, with the industry gold standard being “five nines” availability, or 99.999%, translating to just over 5 minutes of downtime annually. Achieving and guaranteeing this level of availability requires a robust network design, incorporating redundancy, failover mechanisms, and meticulous monitoring.

The Cost of Network Downtime

Network downtime can have severe implications for businesses, ranging from lost revenue and productivity to damaged customer relationships and tarnished brand image. For instance, for an e-commerce giant, even a minute of downtime during peak shopping hours can result in millions of dollars in lost sales. Beyond the immediate financial losses, downtime can erode customer trust, leading to long-term reputational damage. The cost of network downtime underscores the critical importance of investing in a high-availability network solution.

Key Components of a High Availability Network

Achieving high availability requires a strategic approach to network design and management. Key components include:

• Redundancy: Implementing redundant network paths and hardware to ensure continuous service in the event of a failure.
• Failover Mechanisms: Automated processes that seamlessly redirect traffic to operational paths or nodes during an outage.
• Load Balancing: Distributing network traffic efficiently across multiple servers or paths to optimize resource use and prevent any single point of failure.
• Regular Monitoring and Maintenance: Pro-active monitoring of network performance and regular maintenance to identify and address potential issues before they lead to downtime.

Aryaka’s SmartConnect : Ensuring Network Uptime

Leveraging Global Points of Presence for Redundancy

Aryaka’s SmartConnect capitalizes on its extensive global network, boasting over 40 points of presence (PoPs) across six continents. This vast network ensures redundancy at a global scale, providing multiple paths for data transmission and minimizing the risk of downtime due to regional outages or failures.

Multiple Levels of Redundancy

Aryaka’s commitment to high availability is evident in its multi-faceted approach to redundancy:

• First-Mile/Last-Mile Redundancy: Ensuring reliable connections from the customer premises to the nearest Aryaka PoP.
• CPE Redundancy: Deploying redundant Customer Premises Equipment to eliminate single points of failure.
• PoP-Level Redundancy: Ensuring each PoP has redundant equipment and connections, maintaining network functionality even in the event of hardware failures.

Proactive Monitoring and Support

Aryaka’s 24×7 support and proactive monitoring are pivotal in maintaining high network availability. The network operations center (NOC) continuously monitors network performance, identifying and addressing issues before they can escalate to downtime. This proactive approach ensures that potential problems are resolved swiftly, maintaining uninterrupted network availability.

Benefits of High Network Availability with Aryaka’s SmartConnect

Supporting Critical Business Operations

High network availability is crucial for maintaining continuous business operations, especially for organizations reliant on cloud services, e-commerce platforms, and other online applications. Aryaka’s SmartConnect ensures that these critical services remain accessible, supporting operational continuity and safeguarding business productivity.

Enhancing Customer Experience

In today’s competitive landscape, customer experience is paramount. High network availability ensures that customers can access services and applications without interruption, fostering satisfaction and loyalty. Aryaka’s SmartConnect plays a crucial role in delivering a seamless customer experience, contributing to positive brand perception and customer retention.

Achieving Peace of Mind

Investing in Aryaka’s SmartConnect provides businesses with peace of mind, knowing that their network is resilient, reliable, and capable of supporting continuous operations. This assurance is invaluable, allowing organizations to focus on innovation and growth, confident in the knowledge that their network infrastructure is robust and dependable.

Getting Started with Aryaka’s SmartConnect

Embarking on the journey to high network availability with Aryaka’s SmartConnect is straightforward. Organizations can reach out to Aryaka, request a demo, and experience the unparalleled network availability and reliability firsthand. Aryaka’s team of experts is ready to guide businesses through the integration process, ensuring a smooth transition to a high-availability network solution.

Conclusion

Achieving high availability in your network is not just a technical necessity; it’s a business imperative. Aryaka’s SD-WAN based on SmartConnect has proven itself time and time again to what is achievable in network resilience, ensuring that businesses remain operational, customers remain satisfied, and reputations remain intact. By investing in Aryaka’s SD-WAN, organizations are not just choosing a network solution; they are choosing reliability, performance, and peace of mind. And set the foundation for future SASE deployments.

Request a demo today, and take the first step towards achieving high availability in your network.

The post Achieving High Availability in Your Network with Aryaka’s SD-WAN appeared first on Aryaka.

The Challenges of Global Connectivity

Latency and Performance Issues

Latency is one of the main culprits, when it comes to not having a good user experience. In a world where every milli-second counts, a delay in data transmission can lead to lost sales, dissatisfied customers, and ultimately even a tarnished brand reputation. The farther your data has to travel, the higher the latency, and this is where a robust global network becomes crucial. Aryaka’s SmartConnect leverages a global backbone network and built-in WAN Optimization, ensuring that your data travels the shortest and fastest route, minimizing latency and enhancing performance.

Network Reliability and Uptime

Network reliability is the backbone of any successful business operation. Downtime is not just an inconvenience; it translates to lost productivity, lost opportunities, and in many cases, lost revenue. With Aryaka’s SmartConnect businesses can enjoy up to 99.999% uptime, ensuring their operations run smoothly, 24/7. The multiple levels of redundancy built into the Aryaka global network mean that even in the face of unforeseen issues, your network stays up and running.

Complexity in Network Management

Managing a global network requires a skills , resources, and a significant investment of time and money. The complexity of the task can lead to increased operational costs and a higher potential for errors. Aryaka’s SmartConnect simplifies this complexity, offering managed automation and orchestration capabilities, backed by 24×7 support, ensuring that your network is in good hands.

Aryaka’s SmartConnect : A Global Connectivity Solution

Global Reach with Lightning Performance

Aryaka’s SmartConnect is not just about connectivity; it’s about high-performance connectivity. With over 40 points of presence spread across six continents, the service ensures that over 95% of the world’s business population is within 30ms of an Aryaka point of presence. This global reach ensures that no matter where your business operations are, you are guaranteed lightning-fast performance.

Ensuring High Availability

High availability is at the core of Aryaka’s SmartConnect. The service’s multiple levels of redundancy, from the first mile to the last mile, from CPE to PoP-level, ensure that your network is always on, always available. With uptime options of 99.999% or 99.99%, depending on the SmartConnect service chosen, businesses can rest assured that their operations will run uninterrupted.

Simplifying Network Management

Aryaka’s SmartConnect takes the complexity out of network management. The service’s managed automation and orchestration capabilities, backed by 24×7 support, ensure that your network is always optimized for performance. The MyAryaka cloud portal provides insightful analytics about the state of the WAN and applications, offering co-management/self-serve capabilities to monitor, manage, and maintain app performance with a single tool.

Realizing the Benefits of Aryaka’s SmartConnect

Fast Deployment and Operational Simplicity

In the fast-paced world of business, time is of the essence. Aryaka’s SmartConnect ensures that businesses can deploy sites rapidly, in hours or days, not weeks or months. The service’s zero-touch deployment for the services edge, along with its ability to connect to clouds seamlessly worldwide, ensures operational simplicity. The closed-loop workflows for services and support, fast change management, and a single vendor with a single point of contact model further simplify operations, ensuring that businesses can focus on what they do best.

Achieving a Lower Total Cost of Ownership

Aryaka’s SmartConnect is not just about performance and reliability; it’s also about cost-effectiveness. The 100% subscription-based model means no CAPEX, no rip-and-replace of EOL products but predictable costs. The cloud-first delivery of services, along with the choice of right-sized optimal price/performance and service level deployment options, ensures that businesses can achieve a lower total cost of ownership, without compromising on performance or reliability.

How to Get Started with Aryaka’s SmartConnect

Embracing Aryaka’s SmartConnect is a straightforward process. Businesses interested in transforming their global connectivity can reach out to Aryaka, request a demo, and see firsthand the benefits and solutions that SmartConnect can provide. on

Navigating the complex world of global connectivity is no small feat, but with Aryaka’s SmartConnect it’s not just possible; it’s straightforward. The Aryaka cloud-delivered services address the challenges of latency, network reliability, and the complexity of network management, ensuring that businesses can enjoy high performance, reliability, and user satisfaction. With its global reach, high availability, and simplified network management, Aryaka’s SmartConnect has proven itself to help companies realize a simply better and more economical global connectivity.

Request a demo today, and get started on your WAN Transformation, and be on your accelerated path for a SASE deployment.

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Businesses’ desire for efficiency is the key motivating factor encouraging the adoption of innovative technologies. Recently, I read the stat that said two thirds of businesses cite the need to increase efficiency and productivity as a primary driver and one third highlighted cost savings. But what if you can get both?

SASE has been this promise that can help accomplish both. It reduces the total cost of ownership by integrated technology for network (SDWAN) and security (SSE). But how exactly does SASE (Secure Access Service Edge) work? Where do you start, and does it require additional budget?

In a Total Economic Impact^TM (TEI) study conducted by Forrester Consulting and commissioned by Aryaka with multiple Aryaka customers, Forrester examined the financial and operational impact associated with implementing Aryaka managed solutions including SD-WAN, last-mile access, middle-mile access and managed SASE.

Even for us, the results were substantial.

As a composite, the four businesses studied experienced the following key outcomes (among many others):

• Payback on their initial investment in <6 months
• 113% ROI and $2.48M in net present value over 3 years
• 45% reduction in effort from NetOps to manage WAN services
• $4.67M in total benefits (present value)

These positive impacts are attributable to a variety of factors including operational efficiency improvement, uptime improvement, sunset of existing multiprotocol label switching (MPLS), scaling acceleration with less effort, and more.

Overall, this study indicates that the rewards from adopting SD-WAN and SASE may be greater and far more within reach than many realize, when supported by the correct partner.

“Aryaka gives us an all-encompassing solution, with their own network, PoPs, managed services, SASE, etc. The other vendors had excellent technology, but they were just selling boxes.”
– Technical architect, transportation

Adoption of a SASE architecture is not an overnight undertaking. The process of converging networking with security, in an as-a-service model, requires incremental steps and deep collaboration across networking and security teams within a given organization, and with external SASE providers.

Part of what makes Aryaka’s SD-WAN and SASE offering so impactful is that it’s offered as a unified service. There is no shortage of vendors selling boxes and stitched-together options out there when it comes to SASE, but a measurable advantage can be found in our unified, all-in-one approach.

The simplicity of use with single-pane-of-glass visibility – from one singular provider – across your network and security infrastructure is a true game-changer. This unlocks substantially more time and productivity from your internal team, while making your network and business substantially more efficient.

You can find the full Forrester TEI study here

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Is your enterprise one that falls in the bracket of small to medium-sized firms? Does your organization face challenges when it comes to deploying network and security services? Are affordability, performance optimization, and ease-of-use key considerations that drive your decision-making? And who can help me with these challenges?

Sound familiar? Chances are great that as a small to mid-size enterprise you’ve asked yourself these questions.

We got answers. And the solutions with our revamped SD-WAN and SASE offerings.

You know us as a leader for Unified SASE Solutions that is trusted by large enterprises and Fortune 500 companies worldwide for over a decade. We now equally focus our energies on small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) like yours to offer you an all-in-one managed service. Our core identity lies in our ability to offer an all-encompassing SD-WAN and SASE network and security service solution, as opposed to the usual multi-vendor stitched together solution which is complex in its execution and just not sustainable in delivering the outcomes you need – and deserve!
Our aim is to make sure your enterprise gets the same end-to-end optimal experience that large companies get. And you won’t have to stretch your budget or compromise on the service you get.

SMEs deserve a First-class Service Delivery Experience

It makes us understand the specific networking and security challenges that enterprises of all sizes face. We take this understanding and actively take steps to deliver products and services that are targeted to address those challenges.

Dennis Monner, Aryaka’s Chief Commercial Officer, when asked about the importance of having a customer-centric focus, puts it like this: “One bad experience is one too many. SMEs deserve a first-class experience equal to large enterprises and multi-national companies while meeting their budgetary needs.”

Research shows that the three main networking and security challenges that small to medium-sized companies face are limited budgets, lack of skilled IT resources, and the need for operational simplicity. These fundamentals need to be taken into consideration before their need for optimized network and security solutions can be acted upon. SMEs search for a vendor that offers a service which encapsulates all their needs, while also fitting their budget framework of what they can afford as an organization, is a difficult one. This is where we step in.

Our revamped offerings bring our highly regarded agile deployment at an affordable price range for SMEs. Our entry price begins at $150 per site/per month. Our integrated approach delivers a more comprehensive set of managed service capabilities with application optimization, network security, multi-cloud connectivity, and cloud-based observability and control, all supported by comprehensive lifecycle services management.

Aryaka’s service is tailored specifically to solve these challenges through our approach of selling network and network security as-a-service. The “as-a-service” is part of our DNA. We have done it since we started 14 years ago. We are unique in combining our technology – and where desired, select 3rd party security technology – a global backbone and integrated lifecycle services management options. Making network and security affordable, easy-to-deploy, and easy-to-consume is what we offer SMEs.

SD-WAN and SASE Solutions for SMEs

Our tailored SME solutions are easy to buy and deploy. They are guided by focusing on cost-effectiveness, resilience, and easy consumption for SMEs. The SD-WAN and SASE service we offer comes with built-in resilience and application acceleration, offering flexible network connectivity through Aryaka’s global backbone. Its cloud-based structure brings in the ease-of-use quality. As enterprises have become work from anywhere and deliver from everywhere since the pandemic, moving networking and security to the cloud while offering the same QoS and performance optimization is the key. And that is what we offer.

More than anything, we make sure that your organization has access to reliable and high-performing network connectivity and security and does not find the need to compromise on the best quality service.

Contact Us to find out more about our SD-WAN and SASE solutions. Use keyword “SME Solutions” in the comment section of the contact form.

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Interest rates are rising.  US Inflation is now 8.5%, its highest point in over 40 years.  The S&P 500 is teetering on the brink of a bear market.  Q122 venture funding has dropped by 19%.

And all in time for budget season and your first request for 2023 IT funding.

So … what’s your plan?

Belts will be tightened

The impact of world events on the economy over the last few years has been unprecedented.  Calls for recession are now a daily occurrence across major news outlets.

“Two shocks in recent months, the war in Ukraine and the buildup of momentum in elevated U.S. and European inflation have caused us to revise down our forecast for global growth significantly,” a Deutsche Bank team led by economist David Folkerts-Landau wrote on Tuesday. “We are now projecting a recession in the U.S.…within the next two years.”¹ 

The phrase,“We need to tighten our belts,” will surely be uttered in more than one board room this summer.  For CIOs charged with finding growth while protecting the enterprise, the question is how?   It’s not like the challenges are getting any easier.

The bad guys aren’t going away

As any CISO will tell you, the threats are not going away.  The bad guys are still out there and unfortunately getting worse.

A penetration test study from Positive Technologies found that cybercriminals can penetrate an alarming number of enterprise networks.  “In 93 percent of cases, an external attacker can breach an organization’s network perimeter and gain access to local network resources.”  Ninety-three percent!²

They’re not (all) coming back to the office

While threats increase, the enterprise continues to become even more distributed.  77% of remote workers say they’re more productive at home.  85% of managers believe that having remote teams will become the new norm.³  It’s almost a given that remote work will persist well into the future.

But not everyone will be remote.  And even those that are remote, will not be remote all the time.  How do you even answer the question of “How many sites do you have?” when every worker is an office of one?  And do your AWS and Azure instances count as sites?  I mean, 60% of your workload is there.

Convergence is the answer

What used to be clean is now amorphous.  Buzz phrases like ‘Digital Transformation’ and ‘Network Modernization’ are just fancy ways of saying that the IT infrastructure and organization need to evolve … and fast.

That evolution is enabled by convergence.  Call it SASE or NESaaS or whatever acronym that analysts come up with, network and security are coming together in the cloud (whether the network and security silos like it or not).

Convergence IS the answer to the question of, ‘What’s your plan?’  Convergence provides the CIO flexibility, both for innovation AND the balance sheet.  It untethers the IT team from the legacy contracts that tie them to capital-intensive expenses.  The world doesn’t work in 3-5 year cycles anymore.  Your network and security infrastructure can’t either.

Big data center costs?  Gone.  Inflexible MPLS contracts?  Bye bye.  Network and security hardware refresh?  Not anymore.

Converging the network and security into the cloud, delivered as-a-service will become the story for CIOs needing to accomplish the impossible:  do more with less.  A smarter, more effective deployment of capital resources that is prepared for whatever craziness the world throws at it next.

Budget season?  We can help

We love talking convergence and helping IT teams rethink their network.  If you are just getting into budget season and trying to figure out how to tell a growth story while reducing the budget, give us a shout.

In the next article, we will discuss four practical recommendations where procurement and IT teams can look to reel-in costs while simultaneously modernizing the network.

1. https://bit.ly/3FJ6cG4
2. https://bit.ly/38pzCwE
3. https://bit.ly/3l94og5

In the next article, we will discuss four practical recommendations where procurement and IT teams can look to reel-in costs while simultaneously modernizing the network. In the meantime, check out Aryaka’s guide for IT manages on how to thrive during an economic downturn.

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We’re pleased to announce that SoftBank, one of the largest technology providers and system integrators, has selected Aryaka for its international SD-WAN service.  SoftBank, a technology leader, is embarking on a new stage of the Information Revolution with a “Beyond Carrier” strategy. They aspire to be a company that contributes to society by providing innovative services across a range of industries, going beyond the realms of conventional telecommunications carrier business models.

This is a strategic global partnership that includes joint marketing.  In Japan and APAC the two companies are bringing together the best of both worlds – a global leading SD-WAN solution with localized support.  They have committed to marketing Aryaka’s services to their installed base, which has a heavy emphasis on manufacturing as well as China, two of of Aryaka’s strong suits.  In the near future the companies will be conducting a sales roadshow across SoftBank’s key regional offices throughout APAC and EMEA, and SoftBank will also be bringing the Aryaka solution into their affiliates, such as the Axiata Group in Malaysia and Indonesia.  As a reality check, the two companies are well on their way in developing a strong opportunity funnel.

Service Offerings

SoftBank, as part of their new SD-CORE(aryaka) offer, is tapping into Aryaka’s new FlexCore, a global L3 private core that can be used to supplement its best-in-class global L2 private core, all of which is interconnected to the company’s nearly 40 high-performance points of presence (POPs) that are strategically located around the world. This allows SoftBank to map customer sites to the private core of their choice whether it’s based on performance or cost considerations or based on the criticality of sites and applications. And they will be able to take advantage of Aryaka’s hybrid enterprise and cloud friendly alignment that’s able to map where enterprises are going with their traffic, connectivity, applications, and investment.

In addition to providing customers with a portal site that can centrally manage devices and networks, SoftBank will provide its customers with one-stop support for maintenance and operation after installation. In addition, customers are able to build a more secure network because it can be linked with numerous cloud-based security services, including those provided by other security companies.

Key Features of SD-CORE(aryaka) from SoftBank

• High-speed and stable communication: Aryaka’s SD-WAN technology realizes high-speed and stable communication even in long-distance communication between Japan and Europe and the United States
• Centralized management of equipment and networks: SoftBank and Aryaka make centralized management possible by visualizing the communication status and setting information of routers and core networks installed in the customer’s office from the dedicated portal
• Remote access: By installing dedicated software on a PC or smartphone, customers can access the network from anywhere, such as at home or outdoors
• One-stop service for maintenance and operation support: SoftBank and Aryaka’s post-installation maintenance and operation services and various support windows are provided 24 hours a day, 365 days a year in Japanese and English

Cooperation with cloud-based security services: This makes it is possible to build a secure access service edge (SASE) environment on a global scale by linking with various cloud-type security services.

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Like many of you in the channel, I’ve just spent a week in Vegas at the 25^th anniversary Channel Partners Conference & Expo. Congratulations, Channel Partners, on 25 years. Thanks for bringing the channel community together twice a year and every day online. We agree – the best is yet to come!

Here are a few of the reasons why:

1. The channel is back – bigger and better than ever. More than 7,400 people turned out for CPEXPO – the largest contingent in the event’s history. It’s confirmation of what many of us in the channel community already know – the channel is growing in numbers and importance to businesses in navigating complex tech decisions. The record attendance also included a greater mix of agents, VARs and MSPs. The channel convergence we’ve anticipated for more than a decade may finally be here!
2. Network transformation is an opportunity and a challenge. Telecom agents are looking for providers to help their customers transition from MPLS-centric wide area networks to flexible software-defined WANs. At the same time, provider consolidation is narrowing their options as legacy carriers buy up disruptive competitors. Aryaka remains independent and invites partners to join our continuing campaign for cloud-first networking.
3. Marketplaces are gaining momentum. Online marketplaces are not new; they thrive in the software world as a direct-to-customer channel for buyers that have done their digital homework. What’s happening now is that marketplaces are adding more complex services like SD-WAN (stay tuned for some big news from Aryaka). At the same time, they are embracing rather than disintermediating the traditional IT and telecom channels. Buyers get the best of both worlds – expert advisors and simplified ordering.
4. SASE soars. Secure networking is priority one with partners and their customers, and for a good reason – network security is complex. They’re looking to simplify with integrated and managed SASE and SD-WAN. Aryaka’s 6^th annual State of the WAN report backs up what we heard in conversations at CPEXPO: More than two-thirds (64%) are deploying or planning to deploy SASE over the next year. A similar number will opt for a managed SASE to help address complexity and costs.
5. Diversity moves to center stage … literally. Diversity in gender and race were evident among the speakers and topics at CPEXPO – a welcome change for an industry long criticized for the opposite. While we’ve still a long way to go as a community, the show organizers deserve credit for leading us toward greater inclusion. For those of us at Aryaka, diversity is part of our DNA as an organization. Our global team is diverse from the home office to the corner office; two-thirds of our leadership are diverse in gender and/or race.

Those are my top five takeaways. Agree? Disagree? I’d love to hear from you! Connect with me personally on LinkedIn or email channelpartners@aryaka.com.

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This year, Aryaka announced the launch of the new Aryaka Accelerate Global Partner Program and our total transition from a channel-first to a channel-led go-to-market strategy.

We built the global program on the foundation the Aryaka Channel Team set in the fall of 2021 with our sales agent program launched at CPEXPO 2021, to include partnerships of all types, including:

• Managed services providers (MSPs)
• Value-added resellers (VARs)
• Cloud service providers (CSPs)
• IT distributors
• Marketplaces
• Technology services brokerages (TSBs)
• Sales Agents
• Technology vendors

Over the past eight months since I joined Aryaka as Channel Chief, Aryaka has demonstrated our commitment to the channel and our partner community through significant investments in people, processes and technology so that our solutions align with our partners’ specific business models and how they choose to go to market.

We’re putting our money where our mouths are to drive real growth for our Aryaka Accelerate partners through our managed SD-WAN, SASE and Last Mile services.

Here’s what Aryaka Accelerate Partners can expect when they partner with us:

• Enhanced Sales and Marketing Alignment – As a channel-led company, Aryaka works in lockstep with partners to align and supercharge sales and marketing activities, such as strategic account mapping, marketing resources, investment in co-marketing and co-selling, and all-new account-based sales and marketing programs to generate leads for qualified partners.
• Lucrative Incentives – Aryaka offers a range of enticing sales incentives tailored to all partner types, such as commission multipliers and increased margin opportunities
• 3-Fold Customer Success – In addition to two levels of expert support, Aryaka provides customer success managers (CSMs) devoted to retaining and growing partners’ accounts.
• Training and Certification – Aryaka has a self-paced, online training program for sales and technical competencies.
• Increased Total Addressable Market (TAM) – Aryaka’s new all-in-one SD-WAN and SASE services are based on the company’s new, industry-leading FlexCore technology that combines Layer 2 and 3 networking, enabling partners to deliver services optimized for performance or cost. This flexibility also expands the total addressable market for Aryaka’s services to include businesses of all sizes – from global enterprises to regional small and medium businesses (SMBs).
• Simplified Packaging and Pricing – Ayaka’s new SmartConnect EZ + SmartConnect Pro and Prime EZ solutions are easy to quote, sell and consume with “T-shirt” sized pricing and standard service tiers, speeding time to revenue for partners.
• New Co-managed Network Option – Aryaka’s new AppAssure application enables VAR, MSP and white-label partners with the network visibility required to co-manage their clients’ networks, increasing their value and wallet share.
• Last-Mile Services Revenue – Uniquely, Aryaka can offer its network-as-a-service solution with the last-mile connections included, offering partners an additional revenue opportunity.

Industry Accolades

These investments in our new Aryaka Accelerate Partner Program have paid off, with recognition as a CRN 5-Star Partner Program. This designation speaks to the innovations and resources the Aryaka Channel Team built into the new program, including real go-to-market strategy, planning and support. Unlike other providers, we aren’t expecting our partners to do all the work to bring in deals. We’re developing true partnerships.

Our team is actively engaging with our partners in a cooperative effort to acquire new business. We generate and share leads, identify target accounts, activate account-based campaigns and work side by side to close deals with our partners.

Aryaka’s channel investments were noted by Channel Futures as well. On behalf of the Aryaka channel team. I’m honored to accept the 2022 Circle of Excellence Award, which is presented to channel leaders who strategically invest in channels and provide enablement resources so that high-performance partners can create business value for their customers.

Race for the Keys to a Corvette!
To kick things into high gear, I’m super excited about our 2022 channel sales incentives, including a grand prize for our highest-performing partner. We’re giving away a 2023 Corvette to the Aryaka Accelerate partner who sells the highest total MRR in 2022.

Who’s in the lead? Check out our leaderboard.

Our Channel Team is Growing

We’ve reinforced our commitment to the channel with industry-leading depth and experience in the Aryaka Channel Team, including:

• Rich Farbman, Vice President of Global Strategic Partnerships
• Sarah Linford Cothran, Director of Channel Programs and Operations
• Nicole Steele, Director of Channel Marketing and Enablement
• Ryan Burke, Channel Sales Director, Great Lakes
• Derek Wood, Channel Sales Director, South Central
• Matt Thompson, Channel Sales Director, Pacific
• Mike Wall, Channel Sales Director, North Central
• Lou LaVigna, Channel Sales Director, Northeast
• Mark McGarvie, Channel Sales Director, Mid Atlantic
• J. Jensen, Channel Sales Director, Rocky Mountain
• Heather Clemen, Channel Sales Director, Midwest
• Ray Marfino, Channel Account Manager, West
• Melissa Anderson, Channel Account Manager, East

I’d like to invite you to meet the team and learn more about the Aryaka Accelerate Partner Program. We’ll be at the Channel Partners Conference & Expo, April 11-14, at the Venetian Resort in Las Vegas and we’d love to chat with you about what we’ve been up to. Visit us in Meeting Room 27 or Cabanas 119, 120 and 121. Click to set up a meeting.

Got questions? Connect with me personally on LinkedIn or channelpartners@aryaka.com.

The post Aryaka Accelerate: Our Commitment to the Channel appeared first on Aryaka.

The average tenure of the enterprise CIO was 4.6 years¹ … before the pandemic. Many expect that it will be even shorter as we emerge from the global crisis.

And as the new regime of IT leaders are taking office, one thing is very apparent … they are different.  There are more MBAs.  More profiles with P&L experience.  They are more than just technologists … they are strategic business leaders with a charter to reshape the modern enterprise.

“The CIO role used to be defined as an operational position that would focus on efficiency and keeping the business running faster, cheaper, better, and safer,” says Martha Heller who leads a recruiting firm specializing in CIO leadership.  “Now, technology leadership isn’t about running the business; it’s about changing the business and finding new opportunity.”

Great ideas or great systems?

New opportunities don’t always arise from amazing ideas. Often, they evolve and iterate to become great ideas.   The reason that agile development frameworks took-off was because they were fast.  Not in the literal sense of people working at a quicker pace, but fast because they enabled rapid adaptation.  Flexibility.

This flexibility enables the quick discovery and resolution of problems that ultimately gets good products to market, and then turns good products into great ones.

Similarly, the new face of the CIO is an agile one.  Flexible. Dynamic. Entrepreneurs able to identify issues early and then deploy resources appropriately to resolve them.

How do you scale almost infinitely?  Address zero-day threats that change every day.  Turn-up new applications in minutes. Integrate acquisitions in weeks.

You stay agile.  Flexible.

Agile minds deploy flexible systems

But as we all know too well, it is incredibly difficult to drive the business into tomorrow when dealing with the never-ending, break-fix of yesterday.  This becomes the Achilles heel for the CIO charged with transforming the business.  His or her success is “all predicated on a company having an agile, modern architecture.”²

It is not surprising then that one of the first projects that top performing companies undertake is addressing the backbone of that flexibility:  the network and security architecture.³ It underlays how the company operates.  How it protects data or enables collaboration.  It determines the employee’s on-line experience … which is now his or her only experience.

The CIO who wants to be agile and flexible needs the platform that already is agile and flexible. How long does that take?  It depends. Working with a provider like Aryaka, changes could be in place in a matter of weeks. For those looking to build themselves, it’s likely around 4.6 years.

Check out how Aryaka helped some enterprises:
https://www.aryaka.com/about-us/proven-success/
https://www.aryaka.com/videos/specialty-chemicals-company-albemarle-on-the-benefits-of-aryaka/

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The test for ‘digital transformation’ used to be measured by how many applications ran in the cloud.  The graph that IT leaders liked to show in the quarterly operations review was the one where the percentage of applications running in AWS continued moving up and to the right.

The challenge that we are seeing today, magnified as half the workforce moved from the office to the house, is when the network that delivers those services competes on the same internet with Disney, streaming the Book of Boba Fett to their 100M subscribers.  It’s not even really a competition, your customers and employees just lose (and let’s be fair, losing to The Mandalorian was palatable … but Boba Fett?!)

Great houses need great foundations

When you build a great house, you don’t start by decorating your favorite room.  Truly progressive CIOs understand that the first step to building is a solid foundation.

While the cloud can deliver all the amazing benefits as advertised in the brochure — flexibility, agility, speed, performance — it is only captured when delivered on a network that supports it.

Moving applications and workloads to cloud environments like Azure and AWS without a cloud-optimized network and security architecture puts stress on the network and security tools protecting it.  The old network was simply not built for the weight now being placed upon it from remote users operating in the cloud.  As a result, it cracks.

Change agents make foundational changes.

CIOs understand that to change is to survive.  But transformative IT leaders know that foundational change starts, unironically, at the foundation.  As such, they are evolving the underpinning for their service — the network and security architecture — to the cloud.  And the numbers here tell a story.

They are closing data centers and ditching old-school MPLS links for SD-WAN and internet. They are pushing security to the edge and becoming more SASE (hoping desperately that Gartner changes the acronym at some point in the future).

They are driving their teams to align with network and security partners that provide cloud-like pricing, not massive capital expenditure that locks the business in for years.  They are opting for self-service delivered as-a-service, not an unanswered ticket from a carrier support team who could not care less.

Go slow to go fast

As the old saying goes, sometimes you need to go slow to go fast.  Transforming years, in some cases decades, of network and security plumbing takes time and the right team behind you.  But make no mistake, while it may not feel like it at the time, these CIOs are at the bleeding edge of change, putting their organizations on a foundation of unlimited potential.

So to get a feel for just how progressive the IT organization is, don’t ask about ‘digital transformation initiatives’ or what innovative R&D projects they have in the works.  Just ask about the current and future state of the network security architecture.

The post Great Houses Need Great Foundations (3 min read) appeared first on Aryaka.