RADWIN, software defined wide area network, Press Release
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Fusion Broadband has certified Radwin wireless solutions for interoperability with its SD-WAN, enhancing service availability and capacity for business customers in Johannesburg. Testing demonstrated that Radwin's fixed wireless links provided more stable and reliable performance compared to LTE alternatives. The integration allows for efficient network management and improved customer service, with the added benefit of enhanced security features.
RADWIN, software defined wide area network, Press Release
- 1. www.fusionbroadband.com.au Fusion Broadband certifies RADWIN wireless solutions as interoperable with its award-winning SD-WAN solution Business customers can now use RADWIN FWA to increase capacity and secure service availability over SD-WAN Johannesburg, South Africa. In live network tests based in the field and not in a lab, Fusion Broadband https://fusionbroadband.com.au has together with RADWIN https://www.radwin.com/ completed interoperability testing. Based on location in Blackheath and Hoogland in the suburbs of Johannesburg, the testing validated the use of fixed wireless within a Software Defined Wide Area Network (SD-WAN) solution. Fusion Broadband is an IBM Beacon award winner for 2020. They received their award in the infrastructure solutions category and provides a SD-WAN solution aimed at last mile optimization. RADWIN is a global wireless provider based in Tel Aviv, Israel. Ronald Bartels, CTO of Fusion Broadband South Africa states that: ”One of the perfect use cases for the solution is where a fixed wireless solution is used in conjunction with a fibre solution to ensure that the uptime of a location converges to 100%.“ The testing validated the use of the SD-WAN solution in an active configuration whereby both the fibre and fixed wireless was utilized. The full aggregated bandwidth of both the fibre and wireless was available for use at the location and in most tests exceeded this actual capacity when compression was enabled. The abilities of the Fusion Broadband SD-WAN cater for the ability to deliver on this aggregation even though there is often a difference in latency between the various underlying links. Bartels added that the stability of the RADWIN link was remarkable when compared to an alternative of using LTE. LTE links are inconsistent in reliability as well as throughput and as a result excessive retries of the underlying networking protocols are triggered which is identified as packet loss. The RADWIN links at the testing locations recorded no packet loss within the SD-WAN network performance management system dashboards. The testing was performed using the platforms built-in throughput testing tools using the universal CPE and data centre aggregator as testing end points. The use of a fixed wireless solution is thus highly recommended, and an LTE would only be used as a last resort. Bartels says: “The use of RADWIN makes sense to use for customers who during the current economic times would prefer to not experience the adverse effects of LTE bill shock. Customers on fixed wireless links can accurately budget for the cost of their networking for their locations.” During supplemental testing of LTE at these locations, it was difficult to provide consistent performance over the LTE links as compared to the RADWIN links. Within the SD-WAN solutions bandwidth adaption was required whereby algorithms would continuously monitor throughput to determine the optimal clamping speeds. This was not required when the RADWIN links were active. Bartels noted that the stability of the RADWIN link is unique as often links deployed on alternative wireless solutions are not as reliable due to poor interference mitigation. In many cases, when alternative fixed wireless network equipment was used at other locations, the stability issues required the links to be placed into a failover mode which is similar to using LTE as a connection of last resort.
- 2. © Fusion Broadband 2020 Multiple link configurations are currently possible using legacy networking equipment but notoriously difficult to deploy, manage and troubleshoot. In all cases, the aggregated bandwidth available from bonding the active links together is not possible when a traditional CPE is used. The ability to use full aggregated bandwidth is made possible by the hub and spoke nature of SD-WAN solutions. SD-WAN) technology provides several attributes that can be leveraged by managed service providers to migrate their overall network architecture from MPLS to SD-WAN. Unlike MPLS the attributes available for SD-WAN include performance, reliability, security, and management. These attributes are distinguishing features of SD-WAN that allows operators to provide business grade services that are more closely aligned to business requirements than MPLS solutions that only address connectivity requirements. A business solution typically consists of not only the last mile but includes the backhaul to a data centre and interconnection to the cloud. During testing the problems that were identified related to congestion with cross connection at an Internet Exchange. Additionally, poor path routing of connecting to cloud resources via non-optimal paths was encountered. Thus, instead of routing to cloud service directly in Johannesburg, a long-distance path to Cape Town was in use. This is useful when there is a regional data centre failure but should not be encountered in normal operations. The SD-WAN solution makes these problems transparent where previously troubleshooting would be more difficult! Clint Sutherland, primary RADWIN network engineer in Africa, states that the use of SD-WAN in the continent of Africa is beneficial to the region’s operators and it makes deploying complex network topologies that include multiple paths in a more efficient manner. The operators will be able to deploy these networks in an automated manner using resources while maximizing operational efficiencies. These operational efficiencies include RADWIN’s deployment tools which provides installers the ability to configure a link with optimal throughput in a minimal time frame. This is one of RADWIN’s unique features. As an example, when an operator has multiple regions and a customer has locations in all these regions it is a highly complex engineering task to optimize the connectivity paths within the solution. SD-WAN provides an overlay network that automates this task. The latest SD-WAN version from Fusion Broadband consolidates this private WAN ability into the data centre concentrators/aggregators. “One of the perfect use cases for the solution is where a fixed wireless solution is used in conjunction with a fibre solution to ensure that the uptime of a location converges to 100%.“ Ronald Bartels CTO Fusion Broadband South Africa
- 3. © Fusion Broadband 2020 Nick Ehrke, country manager of RADWIN South Africa, mentions: “RADWIN is pleased with the results of the testing as it validates the RADWIN products as being able to integrate into broadband networks that can be leveraged to provide more advanced services that will dramatically benefit business customers.” The tests in South Africa were conducted using the Fusion Broadband universal CPE. This platform catered for not only the SD-WAN function but all the necessary protocols and connectivity options over Ethernet to connect to various broadband networks. As an example, the tests in Johannesburg used broadband FTTX products from local Internet Service Providers. The Fusion Broadband product does not require a special configuration to connect over broadband networks. Peter Turvey, RADWIN General Manager concurs. “The RADWIN solution now fits into a greater ecosystem and its domain is not only to provide singular links to a location but improve the availability and performance of existing links as well as new links. The reliability of the overall customer experience has a new benchmark.” Bartels agrees. “During the current pandemic we had locations that experienced single link failures. However, as these sites where connected by both fibre and fixed wireless that locations remained up and connected to the Internet 100%. If it weren’t for the RADWIN links these locations would have been down for up to 9 days as resource constraints prevented quick resolution to the fibre link failures.” During testing, the security of the solution was validated. By default, the RADWIN product can encrypt the last mile using AES128. The Fusion Broadband solution enhances this by providing end to end encryption over PWAN links using not only AES128 but AES256 as wells as SALSA20. Security is paramount to solutions and SD-WAN solutions provide not only encryption but conditional access and steering using firewalls. The SD-WAN solutions in South Africa are also protected by advanced active threat intelligence that prevents bad players from attempting security breaches. In conclusion, the testing by RADWIN and Fusion Broadband displays that the binding of the two vendors into an ecosystem is a viable alternative in using SD-WAN as an MPLS replacement or supplement. Additionally, the fixed wireless from RADWIN provides is a more reliable and consistent alternative to LTE for multiple path connections to a location. For more information: Kirthesh Sundersingh kirthhesh@fusionbroadband.co.za 0834423396 “RADWIN is pleased with the results of the testing as it validates the RADWIN products as being able to integrate into broadband networks that can be leveraged to provide more advanced services that will dramatically benefit business customers.” Nick Ehrke Country Manager RADWIN South Africa