Tata Communications, Fortinet launch Secure SD-WAN for Azure Virtual WAN

Tata Communications Transformation Services Limited (TCTS), partner of choice for the world’s leading Communication Service Providers (CSPs) and a wholly owned subsidiary of Tata Communications Limited, and Fortinet, working with Microsoft Azure, has launched a fully managed SD-WAN offering for Azure Virtual WAN.

The TCTS SD-WAN offering will help service providers create solutions to further enable enterprises with seamless migration to Azure, thereby helping to accelerate their revenue in IT migration to public clouds. This joint offering will also enable inter-branch connectivity for customers using the Microsoft backbone and help them to meet SLAs while securing access to applications running on Azure. This offering is one of the first industry solutions of native hybrid SD-WAN coupled with traffic steering and security protection for Azure’s cloud.

In collaboration with Azure, Fortinet and Equinix[i], TCTS has augmented Azure’s current Virtual WAN offering in which application policies can be centrally configured using Fortinet’s SD-WAN technologies integrated with Equinix Network Edge to create Virtual Network Services that deliver enhanced performance and security protection. As part of the larger TCTS award winning, most innovative cloud service, Cloud Networking-as-a-Service (CNaaS) portfolio, the offering utilizes some of the industry’s best product partners with TCTS’ industry recognized virtualization consulting, deployment and operation services.

Madhusudhan Mysore, Executive Chairman and CEO of TCTS said, “TCTS's Cloud Networking-as-a-Service was developed to address the most complex real-world enterprise IT migration to the cloud. It offers a best-in-class white-labeled managed service provider (MSP) offering for operators worldwide to help them accelerate their MSP revenues through Microsoft’s worldwide enterprise customer base. TCTS has a significant set of highly skilled CNaaS technical consultants to provide white-labeled services to operators worldwide, thereby supporting the easy adoption and ongoing use of Microsoft Azure.”

As cloud complexity continues to grow, enterprises are grappling with the many functions, gateways, configuration, segmentation and monitoring of Virtual Private Clouds (VPCs) across Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) data centers, regions and worldwide deployments. Configuration of SD-WAN, VPNs, routing tables, security, gateways and hybrid connectivity within a public cloud continues to be a problem area for most enterprises. Additionally, as the cloud expands to the edge, including managed network connections between the clouds and service providers (ex: Azure ExpressRoute, etc.), cloud complexity will be even more challenging to configure and operate.

"Wide Area Network (WAN) requirements for the enterprise are becoming more cloud centric. Microsoft Azure Virtual WAN (VWAN) is addressing these needs by allowing devices and sites to connect to Azure’s public cloud more easily and globally,” added Ross Ortega, Partner Program Manager, Microsoft Azure Networking at Microsoft Corp. “TCTS’ SD-WAN managed services over Azure’s VWAN, will enable service providers worldwide to deliver CNaaS managed services.”

Through this offering, enterprises at any given site can use a hybrid deployment of MPLS and Internet to steer the traffic between mission critical traffic (MPLS and Carrier Ethernet) and non-mission critical traffic (Internet), which further connects directly to Azure via Azure ExpressRoute. This connection can be established leveraging TCTS’ highly commended platform, ‘Virtual Cloud exchange,’ for building within native service provider environments or white-labeled options using the Equinix’ Cloud Exchange Fabric™ (ECX Fabric™) and Network Edge solution offerings within their data centers globally.

John Maddison, EVP Products and CMO, Fortinet said: “Enterprise cloud adoption is driving a global WAN transformation by leveraging SD-WAN technology, but this increases security risks. Fortinet’s Secure SD-WAN offers best-of-breed SD-WAN, next-generation firewall security, advanced routing and WAN optimization capabilities integrated into a single offering. TCTS’ Managed SD-WAN offering with Fortinet provides communication service providers with a turn-key solution to deliver robust, secure and low latency connectivity services.”

TCTS’ Virtual Cloud exchange (US patent pending) automates connection and management to Azure and other public cloud delivered via a fully managed turn-key white-label solution for CSPs worldwide. With this service from TCTS, service providers can enable Azure enterprise customers to choose either a standard offering that needs no further SD-WAN Virtual Network Function (VNF) in Azure, or a more advanced option that places a SD-WAN VNF in Azure to deliver SD-WAN application traffic steering and security protection.

TCTS will provide customers with professional services for Azure CNaaS capabilities in:

• Planning - Business requirement, cloud strategy consulting, cloud assurance assessment, cloud migration planning and cloud security planning, data governance and risk compliance
• Deployment – Proof of concepts, cloud SaaS, IaaS and PaaS trials, cloud VPC configuration, cloud training, cloud migration, optimization and cloud policies
• Operations - 365X7X24 operations, technical support, remediation, change management, privilege access management, cloud monitoring and device management and new product & services integration