VIEWPOINT
OPTIMISING NETWORKING AT THE EDGE ALI SLEIMAN, TECHNICAL DIRECTOR MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA AT INFOBLOX, SAYS, TRADITIONAL NETWORKING ARCHITECTURE IS NO LONGER EFFECTIVE FOR MANAGING THE EXPLOSION OF WORKFLOW AT THE EDGE.
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n a cloud-first world, the nexus of activity is no longer in your data centre; it’s at the network edge. The hub and spoke way of networking cannot keep up with the soaring demand for direct-to-cloud access at the edge. Unfortunately, many organisations are still relying on siloed hardware that locally manages DNS, DHCP and IP address management (collectively known as DDI) individually for each site. Why does that matter? Because fast, reliable DDI services are essential to all modern networking, including the cloud. Consequently, the “local hardware” management of core DDI services creates a host of problems, 46
CXO INSIGHT ME
MARCH 2021
including higher costs, higher latency, manual errors, slower performance, security gaps and no local survivability. Your organisation wants to embrace the cloud and all its benefits—yet you need a simpler, more reliable way to manage your network, devices, apps and services across all locations. Enter cloud-managed DDI By moving the management plane for DDI from the appliance to the cloud, it enables you to centrally manage your borderless enterprise—and with far greater elasticity, reliability, security and automation than traditional on-premises DDI solutions provide. Plus, cloud-managed DDI reduces
latency by ensuring that traffic from all locations connects directly to the cloud through the closest point of presence (PoP). As a result, critical cloud-based apps like Microsoft Office 365 run faster. With today’s rapidly expanding distributed workforce, getting secure access to cloud apps and data as if working from headquarters is a game changer for your employees—and your network management team. What does cloud-managed DDI look like? DDI (DNS, DHCP and IP address management) services play a central role in every network interaction. They
