Quick! Why do programmers always confuse Halloween with Christmas? *Answer below
Yes! It’s that time of year again – season of trick or treats, Jack-O-Lanterns, costume parties and lots of Halloween slasher movies! Halloween is an excuse to pile on a few scares and rig up some sweet treats at least.
So how do network admins rouse up some scares in Halloween?
Well, as it is, the idea of a software-defined WAN (SD-WAN) is both alien and scary for some. A buzz word at best, just bringing up the topic is enough to send shivers down the spines of certain network managers!
Next, in settings where traditional SD-WAN has already been deployed, you can bring the horror level up a notch by reminding the teams about the inherently un optimised network security due to software overlays and the lack of of security features. That’ll do the trick and send them jumping lividly out of their clown costumes!
If that’s the trick, what’s the treat?
Why are there fences around graveyards?
People are dying to get in!
Ok, we got carried away in the Halloween spirit.
So, what’s the treat if you scare the CIOs about costs of using traditional multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) architecture?Â
If you’re really nice, your treat would be their change of heart and mind — towards adopting only an SD-WAN network, or at least an overlay to an existing WAN!
Just as romping door-to-door yields different treats or tricks for the kids, the houses of SD-WAN come with various levels of fences. Security, WAN optimisation, managed network services and orchestration.
Good old SD-WAN certainly has its strengths over the scarier MPLS, but the caveat is that it also offers scares for those unprepared with potential orchestration complexity, management, troubleshooting and software bugs.
Even when SD-WAN could be better overall in the age of the cloud than an antiquated network, picking the wrong service provider or deployment for your organisation may mean an even scarier fate…
Neat trick-or-treat strategies
The best strategy for adopting SD-WAN without scares is not only to choose one with end-to-end integrated security, zero-touch deployment but also access to a carrier-grade global network.
For good measure, must-haves include class-leading granular application control and real-time network performance analytics. This warm, cuddly and comforting kind of SD-WAN is cloud-native in nature, optimised for low latency and throughput while enabling direct access to a global network fabric.
Network lessons from the Halloween movie
The original movie in 1978 was so successful that it launched an eight-sequel franchise that has lasted to the present day! Gross earnings: US$620m and counting.
What is the larger wisdom to be gleaned from the films despite the mindless horror?
- Halloween helped to burn into our minds the fact that, the more careful you are like Laurie Strode, the more likely you are to survive and outwit slashers. Same for being the most prudent when it comes to choosing the right SD-WAN vendor.
- Your neighbours will not be helping you when you’re being hunted by a serial killer. No telling who will be able to help when your traditional network patched-up with multiple service provider links becomes vulnerable to downtimes. Gulp!
- Supernatural killers never really die — they just get resurrected in the sequels. In the same way, your network can ever be too secure against hackers and criminals that will try to penetrate your network from every angle — repeatedly, for months. The aim is constant vigilance, day in and out, with automation and network security doing the hard work wherever possible.
- All victims of the serial killer have one major handicap — lack of information and visibility into the location and intent of the killer. Similarly, deploying SD-WAN without deep analytics and application control or network visibility can be like wandering in the dark, without complete oversight over the network. This can result in enormous waste of resources, inefficient WAN links configuration and directly affect the bottom line.
- The need for speed: the killer changes position quickly, and hunts down his victims in places unfamiliar to them. Speed of deployment and agility, whether for a network engineer or a movie character, is of the essence. Gone are the days when network setup, provisioning and decommissioning would take months. SD-WAN today need to be agile enough to keep up with the business.
So you see, the lifesaving tactics we glean from horror flicks can save you from potential horrors too!
*Answer:Â OCT 31 = DEC 25
