Cisco is launching a new version of its SD-WAN software that will expand the system’s reach and include new management capabilities.
The most significant enhancement of Cisco SD-WAN version 17.10, expected to be released in December, is the ability to use Cisco SD-WAN multi-region fabric (MRF) support with existing software-defined cloud interconnect (SDCI) systems to Dramatically extend coverage and control of your SD-WAN environment.
According to Cisco, MRF allows customers to partition their SD-WAN environment into multiple regional networks that are distinct from each other, as well as a central core regional network that manages traffic between regions.
SDCI technology is used to link enterprise resources to various cloud, network and internet service providers. Cisco customers have historically been able to use SDCI for their SD-WAN deployments, but not MRF.
By combining these two technologies and using the Cloud OnRamp multi-cloud interconnect gateway in Cisco SD-WAN Software, customers can now set network, configuration, and security policies across multiple locations from a central site. Cisco’s SD-WAN Cloud OnRamp links branch offices or individual remote users to cloud applications such as Cisco’s Webex, Microsoft 365, AWS, Google, Oracle, Salesforce, and more.
Customers can now assign zones and roles to the SD-WAN edge deployed in the SDCI infrastructure, and they can partition the MRF zone into sub-zones and share border routers between these sub-zones, allowing for better redundancy and Failover-centric network design, according to John Joyal, senior manager, product and solution marketing, Cisco Enterprise SD-WAN and Routing Group. (Joyal wrote a blog about Cisco SD-WAN MRF enhancements.)
In addition to MRF integration, Cloud OnRamp now includes improved telemetry, giving customers better visibility into and management of attached Webex applications and network resources.
Another new Cloud OnRamp feature automatically programs Kubernetes application connectivity requirements, allowing customers to more quickly bring out these resources in SD-WAN environments, Cisco said.
On the security front, Cisco has expanded its Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) options by adding integration with Cloudflare and Netskope security platforms. This follows similar integration between Cisco SD-WAN and ZScaler security products.
Cisco also said it will integrate its SD-WAN alerts with Splunk’s security information and event management (SIEM) system.
Also part of the 17.10 release is deeper integration with Microsoft’s Azure cloud services that Cisco talked about in October.
Cisco said its SD-WAN package will allow Azure customers to use Cisco SD-WAN Cloud Hub and Azure Virtual WAN and its multi-region fabric to establish automated site-to-site connections across Microsoft’s global network.
The idea is for customers to build single or multiple overlays on top of Microsoft’s backbone to interconnect enterprise sites around the world and connect the sites to workloads running in Azure, similar to Cisco’s arrangement with Google Cloud.
Microsoft’s structure identifies sites based on geographic location and attaches sites to zones based on geographic boundaries. With Cisco SD-WAN Cloud Hub, enterprises that have deployed a Cisco SD-WAN fabric for their WAN infrastructure can now securely extend their fabric to the public cloud in a simple and automated way and consider it for their Global site-to-site connectivity, the company said.