FEATURE : NETWORKING
“ The team at CMC Networks understood our specific requirements , assessed our current network , and developed a plan that worked alongside our growth roadmap . The entire process has been seamless from start to finish , and we look forward to making the full move from MPLS to SD-WAN with an expert team by our side .”
CMC Networks implemented the SD-WAN for Bowmans using a mixture of its IP Premier Direct Internet Access , DIA service and a third-party broadband Internet service . The solution delivered a hybrid network consisting of a fully meshed Juniper Session Smart Router , SSR SD-WAN with high availability nodes at each branch location , interconnected with Bowmans ’ existing MPLS .
This will facilitate the long-term migration from MPLS to SD-WAN , enabling branches to be migrated in a phased approach to increase cost-efficiency , network performance , and customer experiences across markets .
CMC ’ s IP Premier was configured as the primary connectivity service , with the third-party broadband used as a backup or failover service . CMC also deployed an additional node in cold-standby mode at each SD-WAN branch to reduce the risk of operational downtime for Bowmans .
Left : Ken Davidson , Head of Information Technology , Bowmans
Right : Marisa Trisolino , CEO CMC Networks
CMC NETWORKS HAS BEEN SELECTED BY BOWMANS
TO TRANSFORM ITS LEGACY MULTIPROTOCOL
LABEL SWITCHING ,
MPLS NETWORK TO A SOFTWARE-DEFINED WIDE- AREA NETWORK , SD-WAN .
A high availability node was deployed in one of CMC ’ s Johannesburg data centres to facilitate interconnectivity with Bowmans ’ existing MPLS network . An additional virtual appliance was then deployed in Microsoft Azure to connect the network to Bowmans ’ workloads running in Azure South Africa North . To provide an additional level of redundancy to Azure , CMC deployed a MSFT ExpressRoute from the node in its data centre .
CMC is also providing Bowmans with rack space in its data centre to host its security equipment such as firewalls , VPN aggregators and DMZ switches .
The network is delivered as a fully managed service from CMC Networks , with a full suite of service management services including a dedicated service manager , SLA reporting , trend analysis and extensive consulting .
“ Legacy MPLS networks can be very rigid and unable to keep up with the demands of flexible and cloud-first business landscape . Enterprises in Africa and beyond need to adopt new networking models like SD-WAN to move at the speed of the market ,” said Marisa Trisolino , CEO at CMC Networks . which has helped us to build a bespoke solution built on expert knowledge .”
Global business continuity
In July this year , CMC Networks launched its international business continuity solution to mitigate risks during the South Africa energy crisis . The solution enables businesses in South Africa and across the world to maintain their operations and optimise applications and services , even during extended power outages .
South Africa regularly experiences severe electricity blackouts due to ageing coal power plants . This loadshedding is estimated to cost the economy $ 51 million a day according to the country ’ s central bank estimates . CMC Networks ’ business continuity solution combines satellite technology , software-defined widearea networking , SD-WAN , and customised cross-
“ The entire team at CMC have extensive experience across all the African markets Bowmans operates in ,
www . intelligentcio . com INTELLIGENTCIO AFRICA 47