Transforming the Network Edge

Megaport Virtual Edge transforms the way businesses architect their network. Cisco collaboration brings SD-WAN to Megaport platform.

Today, we are proud to announce the development of Megaport Virtual Edge (MVE) and our collaboration with Cisco to enable interoperation of the Cisco Secure SD-WAN solution with the Megaport global interconnection platform.

By integrating Cisco’s SD-WAN platform with MVE, Megaport’s on-demand NFV hosting platform, customers will be able to securely connect with Megaport’s ecosystem of more than 360 service providers and over 700 enabled data centres globally. On demand connections managed through the Cisco vManage console will empower customers with a single pane of glass experience and simplify the roll-out and management of critical IT services from branch locations all the way to data centres and cloud onramps. 

Responding to the Evolving IT Landscape

Digital transformation and the cloud revolution have caused businesses to fundamentally rethink their connectivity models. Today’s IT environment consists of an ever-changing footprint of locations where businesses must support end users and provide services to customers. At the same time, there have never been more cloud-based service offerings available to power and scale out new capabilities. When also factoring private infrastructure into this mix, IT stakeholders are left with an incredibly complex architecture that spans wide geographies.

Ultimately, businesses must be able to exchange data fast and securely, not just with data centres and cloud onramps, but with their widespread offices, remote workers, partners, and customers. This has been a challenge in many cases due to the cost, time to provision, and availability of private connections to office locations, data centres, and cloud onramps. Decisions on where businesses can and cannot locate their offices and resources have proven to be problematic due to the need to consider network availability and underlying network performance.

IDC estimates that “by 2022, over 90% of enterprises worldwide will be relying on a mix of on-premises/dedicated private clouds, multiple public clouds, and legacy platforms to meet their infrastructure needs.”¹ An agile networking methodology is needed to be responsive to the changing needs of businesses through this transformation.

Pushing the Edge

Megaport and Cisco SD-WAN interoperation unlocks the ability to:

• Build a highly scalable, unified network architecture to dynamically deploy cloud, SaaS, and WAN resources with enhanced comprehensive management through the Cisco vManage console.
• Rapidly connect to leading cloud services including AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, Nutanix, Oracle Cloud, IBM Cloud, Salesforce, SAP, Alibaba Cloud, among others, via more than 200 cloud connection points interconnected with Megaport’s SDN.
• Provide the enterprise end-to-end, programmatic control, visibility, and reporting across the SD-WAN fabric as well as the Megaport network.
• Lower the TCO, and automate the segmentation and policy extension to the cloud using SD-WAN.
• Increase performance and improve security by utilising SLA-backed, highly-available direct connections to an ecosystem of more than 360 service providers.
• Connect branch locations to more than 700 enabled multi-tenant data centres to support private and hybrid cloud architectures.

Megaport and Cisco have invited a select list of customers to participate in the MVE beta program. General availability of the Cisco SD-WAN platform on MVE is planned for the first half of 2021. If you would like to participate in this program, or find out more, please contact us.

MVE IS the Edge

MVE acts as a bridge between Megaport’s private SDN and a variety of network technologies, including SD-WAN. It empowers customers with highly distributed on-demand edge resources to transform the edge of their network. In fact, MVE is the underlying technology that enables Megaport Cloud Router, which currently supports more than 300 virtual routers around the globe. MVE provides a platform where customers can host Network Function Virtualization (NFV) on demand, and in a point-and-click manner.

To reduce latency and improve performance, customers simply choose the MVE closest to their branch and remote locations and deploy and manage SD-WAN instances on demand and only a few data hops away. MVE is highly distributed to support localising traffic. This means businesses can instantly provision connectivity between on-premises locations and Megaport’s leading ecosystem of cloud, network, data centre, and IT service providers — reducing the time it takes to deploy and secure multi-service connections from months to minutes.

Customers no longer need to be in a multi-tenant data centre to take advantage of Megaport’s interconnection capabilities. Built-in transit gateway functionality enables internet-connected locations to access the Megaport SDN. Future capabilities within MVE will allow customers to bring their own SD-WAN licenses or take advantage of license pools provided by Megaport. All the benefits of Megaport’s Software Defined Networking — low-cost, speed, security, flexibility, rapid deployment, fast-and-easy online provisioning — will be available to more users and more locations thanks to MVE.

To find out more about MVE, download our MVE infopaper.

The Megaport Connected Edge Strategy

MVE is a fundamental component of the Megaport Connected Edge Strategy (MCES) — a framework for using Megaport’s platform to enable agile networking. With MCES, customers can completely transform their network procurement and management capabilities away from legacy telco buying and provisioning. This simplifies IT architecture and aligns the networking to cloud enablement models.

Megaport’s platform provides customers the resources and technology they need to support:

The recent rush to enable remote workers as a result of COVID-19 highlights how quickly networking IT service demands can change. Modern IT models are underpinned by the need for flexibility across all systems, and MCES supports our customers’ ability to deploy the right architecture to support their business needs.

Access to MVE is connected via partner devices such as SD-WAN appliances, using VPNs over the internet. Transit gateway functionality is built into each MVE and enables traffic flow to and from branch locations using SD-WAN technologies via internet connections. Once connected, customers can provision capacity to and from their internet-enabled branch locations securely, to any endpoint or service provider on Megaport’s private SDN.

Learn More

Are you interested in learning more about MVE or helping with testing? Check out the MVE web page and infopaper. If you are interested in participating in early testing of MVE, contact your Megaport account manager, or visit our registration page.

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¹IDC Expects 2021 to Be the Year of Multi-Cloud as Global COVID-19 Pandemic Reaffirms Critical Need for Business Agility