VMware Extends SD-WAN to Operational Tech (OT) with New Software Client Offering

Mobile World Congress VMware, announced it is delivering new and enhanced remote worker/device connectivity and intelligent wireless capabilities to its SD-WAN and SASE customers. Relatedly, VMware announced an expanded collaboration with Intel to deliver new edge appliances featuring 5G connectivity allowing support for additional SD-WAN use cases involving mobile and IOT devices.

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“We were delighted how quickly we had the solution up and running and were able to easily define access policies and services. We are looking forward to leveraging the client to extend the flexibility of our SD-WAN offering.”

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VMware SD-WAN Offers Customers Greater Flexibility and Enhanced Performance

By building a unique virtual overlay network on top of underlying transport(s), VMware SD-WAN enhances application reliability by responding to wireless or wired network issues in milliseconds, which is a requirement in today’s environment of Over The Top applications. Further, VMware SD-WAN and SASE support a wide range of transport services including LTE/3G, satellite transport and wired transport options like MPLS and broadband allowing for greater flexibility in WAN connectivity.

With VMware SD-WAN, customers can more confidently use any of these transport services as real world tests have shown VMware SD-WAN can provide more than 40% improvement in QoE for voice and video applications when using satellite and cellular⁽¹⁾. In addition to delivering higher application quality, the platform enables higher network utilization through adaptive thresholds designed from real-world learnings from more than 100,000 cellular and satellite connections in use today by VMware customers.

These enhancements set the direction for management plane APIs and AIOps integration with 5G carrier platforms to support advanced service customizations using network slicing and RIC integration, allowing service providers to better address the WAN demands of enterprises. The combination of APIs, AIOps, and network slicing will enable enterprises to benefit from better economics, service provisioning, and service management. Additionally, VMware SD-WAN and SASE will enhance connectivity, compute, and intelligence in rapidly evolving edge use cases with the help of VMware Private Mobile Network.

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Momentum Builds for VMware SD-WAN Client

Following the introduction of the VMware SD-WAN Client at VMware Explore 2022 Europe, VMware today announced it is inviting select customers and partners, including Nature Fresh Farms, Coevolve and Presidio, respectively, to thoroughly evaluate the SD-WAN Client across numerous use cases. The client will help provide consistent connectivity, performance, and security capabilities to remote workers on the road or IOT devices deployed in remote locations. The VMware SD-WAN Client is expected to be available in VMware’s Q1 FY24.

Intel and VMware Collaborate on Enhanced 5G Connectivity for SD-WAN Edge Devices

VMware is expanding on its decades long relationship with Intel to drive new solutions at the edge. The companies are working together to enable enterprises to more confidently employ wireless to augment or replace existing wired connections, while also allowing for additional SD-WAN use cases including moving vehicles, ATMs, and IOT devices. First in the series of new devices will be a small form factor solution featuring low power Intel Atom processor C series for small branches, followed by a 5G equipped version. Expected to be available in calendar year 2023, this appliance family will offer improved WAN throughput, the latest WIFI technology, an integrated eSIM to simplify provisioning, and better economics.

VMware Furthers SD-WAN and SASE Education with New Certification

VMware today also announced the addition of a VMware Certified Professional education program and certificate for VMware SD-WAN and SASE to its lineup of professional certifications. This new certification will help partners and customers identify professionals with the skills and expertise necessary to effectively deploy and manage VMware SD-WAN solutions. By hiring or working with VMware SD-WAN Certified Professionals, partners and customers can have greater confidence in the quality and reliability of their SD-WAN deployment, enabling a smoother and more successful deployment process. VMware is continuing to build out the SD-WAN and SASE certification track to include skill badges and advanced certifications expected later in 2023.

Supporting Quotes

“Our collaboration with our service provider partners to launch the SD-WAN Client solution is a great example of how together we are helping enterprises address the mobility requirements of the hybrid workforce,” said Sanjay Uppal, senior vice president and general manager, Service Provider and Edge, VMware. “Further, to complement our partners investment in 5G services, VMware plans to deliver enhanced intelligence for running SD-WAN over 5G networks, allowing service providers to further monetize their networks.”

“We were looking for a solution to better secure some of our remote IoT devices and automation equipment that operate over the 5G public networks,” said Keith Bradley, Vice President of IT and Security, Nature Fresh Farms. “The VMware SD-WAN Client was a perfect fit and we were able to deploy it on the devices and build a direct link to our infrastructure within minutes. It was also a great fit for a remote pumping station that was able use fixed 5G instead of an expensive hard-wired connection. The clients’ overlay network is transparent to our operations and makes it easy to deploy and secure without additional configuration on our network. I’m looking forward to more deployments across our infrastructure and user base.”

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