It’s natural for IT shops to replicate their current hardware and architecture when it’s time to refresh networking equipment. But refresh cycles provide a valuable opportunity to rethink — and improve — long-standing practices. Software-defined WAN applies software-defined networking principles over the WAN, redefining the management paradigm by operating the WAN as a holistic system…

Cisco recently released a new major update to its SD-WAN solution. This release introduced advanced security features baked directly into IOS XE SD-WAN. The release notes can be found here and more information about the SD-WAN security features can be found here. With SD-WAN security, Cisco was looking to solve four common branch security use…

Branch offices can be a double-edged sword, depending on an employee’s role in the organization. For product managers and other businesspeople, branches are a great way to expand into new geographic markets, grow the customer base and drive revenue. But for CIOs and IT managers, branch offices can be a headache, increasing the scope and…

Cisco SD-WAN is the new name for Viptela, post-Cisco acquisition. I spent more than two years deploying Cisco IWAN, seeing the good and the bad. After spending some time with Cisco SD-WAN, I’m extremely impressed with this new solution. I’d like to share my top three reasons why I’m excited for the arrival of Cisco…