Bigleaf: Merging SD-WAN and the Cloud

Moving to the Cloud seems to be the norm with modern businesses. While some may be hesitant to migrate to the Cloud, a lot of companies have already moved their phones, their storage, and their SaaS applications into the Cloud. The Cloud is the future and we at Conectrix have constantly stressed its usefulness. But IT problems still exist especially when companies use cloud tech all across their system and must have a reliable internet connection; this is where Bigleaf comes in.

The Need for Stable Connectivity  

Our partners at Bigleaf were quite savvy when they realized that companies who rely on cloud technologies like VoIP, UCaaS, and SaaS would be faced with the problem of internet unreliability. Most companies don’t have the IT resources to build the perfect set of policies and rules to account for all the applications they rely on. Back in the day, it was 20 applications, but now businesses have 100s of applications. What’s more, those applications are constantly changing as line-of-business owners find new tools for their team. Businesses are provisioning apps straight from the laptop, have cloud tech all across the company, meet across several different streaming platforms, and a reliable internet connection is a must.

Companies need to be able to track these cloud-based and internet-based technologies. What’s more, is that companies’ needs are changing so much that static internet solving problems aren’t enough.

Linking SD-WAN and the Cloud

 Bigleaf is in the business of ensuring that your cloud applications are running smoothly and making them enterprise-ready. Think of the properties of a leaf when the light is shined through it: the veins are an interconnecting network of open pours collecting vital nutrients. Bigleaf takes this principle to the interconnectivity of their SD-WAN service and the Cloud.

Bigleaf uses SD-WAN but they are different in their system’s architecture. Most SD-WAN sites have two boxes talking from site to site with limited or only outbound control of cloud traffic. For those cloud applications, like UCaaS, there is no other side to put another box. To solve this, Bigleaf built a global network with the needed hardware, routers, and gateway clusters to ensure ease of traffic. Their intelligent software utilizes Load balancing, Dynamic QoS, and Same IP Failover.

A diagram demonstrating Bigleaf’s SD-WAN solution. Notice how the there is only one box on the left side and on the right is the gateway cluster.

Additionally, Bigleaf’s SD-WAN has a firewall-friendly design which works seamlessly with your current firewall to improve its functionality, without the need for replacement or changes to your existing security policies. Bigleaf has the tech to monitor and alert you to any changes in your system, basically tracking how your applications are performing and making any necessary changes before your users notice. All this adds up to a painless install process with a typical install only taking about 90 seconds.

Where Bigleaf’s SD-WAN Compares

There are a lot of SD-WAN products on the market and they all have a reason to exist. Where Bigleaf differs is that their system is designed for the growing needs of cloud technologies more than the legacy needs of hub and spoke networks.

For example, most SD-WAN products are focused more on site-to-site networks which makes them less valuable for a cloud-based environment. As mentioned earlier, Bigleaf is built specifically for site-to-cloud networks. Some other SD-WAN vendors leverage third-party carrier networks to connect to cloud applications but remember that Bigleaf operates their own global network, unique among their competitors. The fact that their customer’s firewall stays intact is another distinguishing feature.

Something to consider too is that most people learn about SD-WAN during MPLS replacement, giving the impression that SD-WAN technologies are expensive and take weeks or even months to plan and deploy. Bigleaf likes to educate their customers on their version of SD-WAN because a lot of people think that SD-WAN is out of their range. Think of a scenario where the only cars you were ever exposed to were Ferraris; you would think cars, in general, were out of your range!

Bigleaf’s SD-WAN offerings open people’s minds who think there exists no response to their internet connection problem. The SD-WAN narrative is the enterprise space with a lot of upfront overhead. Bigleaf’s system differs massively in that it is simple, easy to use, for both the small companies and the big, and there is not much scraping or new material.

Check out Bigleaf

The Cloud is the future of computing but with it comes the need for a reliable connection. Businesses need security and they need eyes on their applications; Bigleaf is the provider to get your network cloud-ready and with limited stress.