When digging into SD-WAN, why outer space and networking have a lot more in common than we think.
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Amid all the Mars hoopla, Elon Musk keeps calling for me (and everyone else) to volunteer for the inevitable colony that will ensure the long-term survival of the human race. Once I stopped laughing about my own potential career in space, I got to thinking about communicating with Mars. It can take between three and 22 minutes to send data one direction to or from Mars. What happens if that information gets lost or intercepted by aliens (or worse, hacked by the Russians!) … or gets sucked into a black hole? Retransmits could take longer than an episode of “The Big Bang Theory.” And that’s just not acceptable in this age of immediate gratification.
Enter SD-WAN.
Software-defined wide area networks can aggregate and transport data simultaneously over multiple WAN connections such as multiprotocol label switching, Ethernet, cellular and broadband internet. The software-defined approach also affords full network visibility and feedback to drive transmission efficiencies in real time. SD-WANs determine the quickest path and dynamically reroute packet flows across links to improve performance. Since I know a little bit about moving data fast, maybe they can actually use someone like me on Mars after all.
Getting back to our central theme, black holes are a very real threat to everything around them. When stars collide, they create black holes – gravity pits that consume all light and matter around them. Black holes consume anything and everything in their path, or at least whatever comes close enough to be pulled into their overpowering gravitational field. What happens to an object after it enters a black hole is unclear. While I’m curious, I wouldn’t want to find out first hand. The prevailing theory is that anything that enters a black hole never emerges.
Similarly, in the universe of carrier data and voice networks, there are several “stars” merging and colliding. AT&T’s acquisition of DirectTV sought to create a one-stop-shop for landline, broadband, TV and mobile is surely intended to catch and keep more customers in its gravitational pull. The list goes on including: Level 3 consumes Time Warner telecom; Windstream acquires EarthLink; Verizon Communications engulfs XO Communications; CenturyLink eats Level 3; Time Warner and Charter Communications; AT&T plans Time Warner acquisition; GTT absorbs Megapath; One Source Networks and Hibernia; and the list of Zayo takeovers looks like the product list on Amazon.com.
And unlike the physics proofs we study of real stars colliding and imploding into black holes, we have real life cases of tier-one carriers merging and creating black holes in their MPLS and private WAN services.
In the past, large networks merging have caused “brown outs” for customers and, based on the news, the amount and size of carriers merging is now spiking up again. So if you are a traditional MPLS/WAN customer with routing protocol based backup (or worse yet no back up) it’s time for network managers to prepare themselves for a “black hole” conversation with your carrier as your end users are at your office door with pitch forks and torches. Many times these issues are unavoidable as older technology and routers just can’t handle the management load merging networks.
The good news is there are cost efficient technologies available today that can attach to, overlay and reinforce your legacy networks, which brings us back to SD-WAN. SD-WAN from various carriers and vendors can be introduced into existing networks and offer a fool-proof method for avoiding network black holes and brown outs without their users ever knowing. The most effective are the over-the-top solutions that employ point-to-point techniques of communication and monitoring, allowing both network and customer premise equipment to make real-time informed decisions based on actual key performance indicators. Many of these solutions can actually increase the quality of experience for end users on bad performing circuits and networks.
So, it’s time for you to put on your NASA jumpsuit and begin navigating those network black holes. Unfortunately, the only feedback network managers get is negative so don’t expect to get an astronaut’s welcome home parade, but addressing these issues now can give you enough free time to fill out Elon Musk’s Mars Expedition application.
Photo copyright: kseniiavladimirovna / 123RF Stock Photo
