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RE-THINKING THE NETWORK Delivering Transformation With Simplicity
Re-Thinking the Network: Delivering Transformation With Simplicity | 2
Table of Contents
¾How Did Networks Get to Be So…Painful?
¾ The Challenges Are Easy to See
¾ Einstein Really Was Pretty Smart
¾Be Careful What You Wish For
¾ Let’s Re-frame the Problem
¾Offering a Solution
¾Growing Simpler
Why Read this eBook?If you’ve been around the world of networking for any length of time you’re painfully
aware of how complicated it has become. And it doesn’t seem to be getting any
easier helping the business keep up (and put up) with increasing demands for more
mobility, leveraging the cloud and newer, more interconnected applications.
Oh, and did someone mention security?
What if we could dramatically simplify the way we network? Actually remove the
barrier of network complexity from the way we do business?
Re-Thinking the Network: Delivering Transformation With Simplicity | 3
Today’s networks have been shaped
largely in response to changing market
demands. Yet there has been little
innovation in routing itself for decades;
routed networks are built on the
same fundamental principles put in
place decades ago. And it’s not like
they were initially designed to handle
current business demands, never mind
those of tomorrow.
Early networks were mainly point-to-
point, packets and flow. The first round
of modifications focused on improving
“speeds and feeds” through specialized
hardware.
Routers, originally software, emerged
when islands of people on LANs
wanted to share applications like email
across network boundaries.
The packet fundamentals remained
the same.
This little thing called the Internet
helped the demand for network
services to simply explode.
Network professionals were asked
to manage, assure and secure more
traffic and different use cases than
anyone ever imagined.
Each new use case created a need
for new network functionality – NATs,
firewalls, load-balancers, you name
it. Middleboxes, mere “bumps on the
wire,” were introduced to address
these pressing needs, again without
changing basic routing architectures.
It seemed that with each new use
case came another middlebox. The
downside was more stuff to manage,
connect and pay for. And it was
getting more complicated.
As networks expanded and
interconnected – both inside and
outside the walls of companies around
the globe – the demands of business
also grew. Now the need was to
protect critical business processes, to
control the flow of packets between
endpoints, for better performance,
security and reliability.
This time the answer was “overlay”
technologies, encapsulation and
tunneling such as MPLS & VPN.
Again on top of the same basic routing
paradigm. The result for network
professionals: more stuff to manage
and serious complexity.
How Did Networks Get to Be So…Painful?
Re-Thinking the Network: Delivering Transformation With Simplicity | 4
More Changes Are Coming
The Challenges Are Easy to SeeYou don’t have to look very far to see the problems introduced by today’s network
complexity. Even with sophisticated orchestration and coordination, complex systems are
inherently inefficient, unstable, and insecure.
It’s not like market demands decrease or slow down. There are more cloud-based
applications running across interconnected networks with partners, branches, 4G/5G,
wired, wireless, and fiber. There’s increasing mobility: People working from home and a
constant stream of new bring-your-own devices.
Of course the “next big thing” is just around the corner. How we will accommodate that
on the network? And did we mention sophisticated cyber-criminals and security?
Bottom line: Overly complex networks are barely meeting today’s business requirements,
with armies of sleep-deprived network engineers, duct-tape and some luck. How are they
going to meet the demands of tomorrow?
$75Bspent on security and still nearly half-a trillion dollars lost from data breaches each year [Forbes]
$1M+Is what it costs your company on average for every network slowdown and outright outage [IHS]
50%of cloud implementations suffer business impacting performance issues due to the network [Gartner]
¾ More than four-fifths of all
workloads will be processed
in cloud data centers.
[Cisco GCI]
¾ Accessing the Internet
through mobile devices will
grow more than 25% per
year. [IDC]
¾ The cost of data breaches
will reach $2.1 trillion
globally. [Forbes]
¾ Internet of Things devices
will reach nearly 21 billion
connected devices by 2020.
[Gartner]
You’ve been living with this complexity and its attendant risks and headaches for a long time. But we all know business
demands more. Is it really an option is to keep doing the same thing over and over, adding more complexity, and expecting
a better outcome? Or expecting our jobs to get easier?
Re-Thinking the Network: Delivering Transformation With Simplicity | 5
Einstein Really Was Pretty SmartIt’s not like there’s been no
progress. We’ve seen the advent
of inexpensive, powerful general
purpose computers and new
software infrastructure techniques
such as virtualization. And let’s not
forget the cloud.
Just as these trends have reshaped
the way we compute and store data,
they are beginning to alter the way
we network.
A general purpose x86 chip for
example can push as much traffic as
most custom network chips. And we
are now able to view networks in line
with the applications they support.
Software Defined Networking (SDN),
Network Function Virtualization
(NFV) and Software-Defined Wide
Area Networking (SD-WAN) have all
emerged as potential solutions to
some network complexity issues.
The idea was to be more agile and
make networks easier to manage.
The intent is in the right place:
Automatically route packets more
efficiently, securely and cheaply.
And at first glance they appear to
help better manage all this “stuff.”
Right?
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.” Albert Einstein
Re-Thinking the Network: Delivering Transformation With Simplicity | 6
Be Careful What You Wish ForThe problem with NFV and SDN approaches is that
they are fundamentally extensions of the existing way
of networking, the same basic protocols and routing
conventions. Which means they really just add more
complexity. It’s like the road to an unworkable network
is paved with good intentions.
For example, NFV continues to perpetuate “middle-
box” proliferation for network services — albeit in
virtual form — strung together on an as-needed basis,
and orchestrated through an elaborate management
model. Does this sound simpler?
Nearly all SDN models rely on encapsulation, tunneling
or other overlay techniques to better control and
protect network traffic – and in the process adding to
the already complex nature of the network. And SD-
WANs combine additional middle-boxes with tunneling
to provide a point-to-point solution intended to reduce
the costs of dedicated circuits. Great, but long term?
It turns out these approaches add a layer of translation
on top of an old foundation: In reality, “more stuff” to
manage. In many cases the solutions are more complex
than the problems they were intended to solve in the
first place.
Deep Packet Inspection NAT DeviceFireWallRouter Load Balancer
+ + + +
Re-Thinking the Network: Delivering Transformation With Simplicity | 7
What If...
¾ You could replace
overlays with more
secure, scalable and agile
end-to-end networking
at a fraction of the cost
and overhead?
¾ Services and applications
were tightly aligned with
network sessions?
¾ You could easily get rid of
middle boxes and infuse
security, load balancing
and monitoring functions
natively across the
network?
¾ Network routing
provided zero trust
security and encryption
automatically?
The True Value of Network SessionsSessions exist at many levels in the networking stack; let’s focus on the transport layer leveraging
TCP or UDP. Transport layer sessions have some unique universal characteristics.
¾ Sessions have fixed addresses (IP and port)
for source and destination endpoints.
¾ They have “biflow” – comprised of two
unidirectional flows in opposite directions.
¾ They have directionality, reflecting which
endpoint initiated the exchange.
¾ And sessions are stateful – including a
recognizable start and end, along with
other unique quantitative characteristics
that can be used to provide native,
advanced network capabilities.
Let’s Re-frame the ProblemReal solutions to the networking challenges of today and tomorrow require a new
way of thinking. Networks have always been viewed in terms of flow – the unidirectional
movement of packets from one point to another. This is only one side of the story.
We believe networking – especially the routed plane – must be examined from a new
perspective; Networks now exist in a world of “sessions.”
Sessions are a two-way, exchange of information end-to-end – comprised of related
flows in both directions. Just about every use of a network today involves bi-directional
sessions. And nearly all of the advanced service functions that have evolved (firewalls,
load balancers, etc.) require an understanding of, and control over, network sessions.
True session orientation allows networks to be fundamentally simpler and more
transparent – with greater security, control, and agility.
Re-Thinking the Network: Delivering Transformation With Simplicity | 8
Offering a SolutionWe believe session orientation in
the routing layer itself allows a
fundamentally different, far simpler,
way to network. Sessions are the key
to providing advanced capabilities
— security, reliability, and analytics
natively — without piling on more
complex, limited techniques like
those that have gone before.
128 Technology has developed a
solution that takes advantage of
cheap, powerful computing for a
distributed, software-based
network infrastructure. The solution
addresses many of the underlying
problems in today’s networks –
without introducing another layer
of abstraction or out-of-band
complexity.
The platform lets you put smart,
session-oriented routing wherever you
need it across your infrastructure.
The 128T Networking Platform
represents a new breed of software-
based networking. The platform
delivers simpler control, virtualization,
security, network services, and
visibility across networks in the
WAN, data center, and branch office/
campus environments.
The platform is designed to integrate
and work with existing network
architectures. It can operate with
current L2/L3 fabrics and network
elements.
Imagine that: Growing SimplerAccommodate the growing needs of your organization while
simplifying the management of your network.
Remove complexity from the way you do business, like routing with
words, with true service-oriented networking.
128 Technology is helping to change the way we do networking.
We are focused on eliminating network complexity and bringing about
a new era of IP service agility and true network innovation.
The 128T Networking Platform lets you put smart, session-oriented
routing wherever you need it across your infrastructure.
To learn more, visit us at 128technology.com.
Re-Thinking the Network: Delivering Transformation With Simplicity | 9
200 Wheeler Road, Burlington MA 01803
781.203.8400 | [email protected]
128technology.com
Copyright © 2016 128 Technology.
About 128 TechnologyThe company is focused on creating innovative
software solutions that address a broad range of
networking challenges across enterprises, service
providers and cloud services.
We are a group of technologists and entrepreneurs
who enjoy tackling big problems and aren’t afraid
to defy convention and raise a few eyebrows. Our
core team has a successful track record in creating
disruptive network technology for delivering secure
connectivity across global IP networks.
128 Technology understands that for many
companies, networks are a core part of their
business — and in some cases, the network is their
business. The massive, rapid shift to cloud and
mobile native applications places the importance of
the network into even sharper relief.