We can all probably agree that SD-WAN is a much-abused term. It seems to mean anything that a vendor wants it to mean. Gartner has defined a category of “WAN Edge” which includes “a widening set of network functions, including secure routers, firewalls, SD-WAN, WAN path control and WAN optimization, along with traditional routing functionality.”[1]
Even this definition, as vendor-neutral as it is, is extremely broad.
I was discussing terminology with another vendor the other day and he mentioned that it seems like a key component of WAN Edge is the connectivity, and that a key component of what Turnium does really well is almost better defined as SD-MUX, or software-defined multiplexing. “TCP multipathing or multiplexing at the kernel level,” to be exact.
It’s a catchy idea – a way of marrying old-school carrier transmission technology (multiplexing) with the new world of software-defined flexibility. It also resonated with me from a historic perspective. My first job as a co-op student was writing installation and support documentation for Nortel’s DNX-100, Digital Cross-Connect Multiplexer. Thirty-two years later, multiplexing is back!
The modern implementation, at least as Turnium has created it, keeps the core concepts of multiplexing alive. Make sure that packets get to their destination reliably and quickly by aggregating and managing the transmission characteristics of multiple circuits. We’ve added a bunch of things on top of it, but at its root, Multapplied delivers a transmission platform that any Service Provider can host, run and manage to create a private, secure, routed and managed network over top of multiple, diverse underlying carrier networks.
Turnium’s software manages the packet distribution, routing and security across the circuits in this network, allowing Service Providers to deliver tangible business benefits to their customers including managed voice, managed security, managed desktop or virtual desktop, and backup, while capping or reducing customer spend on Ethernet or MPLS.
MUX is back!!!
To learn more about the Turnium SD-WAN technology, get in touch with us today.
[1] Gartner, “Magic Quadrant for WAN Edge Infrastructure,” October 2018.