The definition of the enterprise network is changing in a borderless world, where workloads are shifting to the cloud, and remote work is increasingly the norm rather than the exception.

In fact, a new network has emerged spanning unmanaged Internet of things, operational technology, cloud networks, third-party devices and shadow IT.

This increased complexity, exacerbated by the lack of a well-defined network boundary, makes it difficult for organisations to give users and devices consistent access to corporate resources without sacrificing productivity or security.

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To build a true software-driven network, businesses need a single, enterprise-wide switching fabric that allows them to securely distribute applications, data and microservices across private cloud, public cloud, campus and edge compute areas.

Here are three critical considerations for the new enterprise network.

Physical networks must be abstracted to the cloud

Traditional network monitoring, visibility and management approaches have fallen behind in today’s cloud era. Orchestrating workflows across physical and virtual infrastructure in expanded enterprise campus networks adds complexity to architecture and increases the risk landscape.

Businesses that adopt an automated, cloud-like infrastructure, such as Arista CloudVision, can abstract their physical networks to a network-wide fabric that improves operational and telemetry efficiency. Built on cloud networking principles, CloudVision automates provisioning and change management tasks while providing real-time network visibility and a secure cloud delivery architecture.

Case study: Leading cloud provider chooses Arista

One of the leading private cloud providers in South Africa had been battling with capacity and reliability issues for weeks. Its incumbent vendor could not find the cause, and tech support was slow and inefficient.

The enterprise’s routing architecture carried the burden of proprietary protocols, inefficient router platforms, and legacy operating systems, which bloated operating expenses and caused daily reliability issues.

An investigation by three6five, an Arista Elite partner, found that the cloud provider was using inferior switching hardware that could not handle its customers’ traffic requirements. In just two days, three6five identified the problem and offered a solution in Arista’s modern, scalable spine-leaf architecture.

There has not been a single reliability issue since.

Security: Hunter must become the hunted

Preventing attacks is no longer enough. Today, security efficacy relies heavily on how quickly you detect a threat, track it down, determine the root cause, and act.

In other words, enterprises need answers, not alerts. They need more accuracy and less operational overhead. They need a way to autonomously discover and profile every device, user and application, whether managed by the organisation or not.

Recent advancements in network processing, analytics and security research have ushered in a new era of network detection and response (NDR) capabilities that eliminate many of the challenges of traditional network security.

Arista’s security solution goes beyond first-generation behaviour analytics and uses machine learning to identify attackers based on their intent rather than attack indicators.

Arista Ava, an autonomous security analyst and the world’s first AI-based security expert system, autonomously hunts for insider and external attacker behaviours while providing triage, digital forensics and incident response across the network. Ava can take a single trigger from a human analyst and autonomously expose the entire kill chain in minutes. It even collects evidence to back up a conviction.

Enterprise routing architectures need to change

Traditional network technologies are not conducive to dynamic, agile networking. New cloud architectures and principles – such as 5G, mobile edge compute, cloud WAN and peering – require new approaches to scale, efficiency and agility that traditional routers cannot address.

Enterprises need open, flexible switching solutions that can evolve with rapidly changing technology. They also need to maximise switching functionality while integrating with as many controllers, management systems and networking services as possible.

Arista is transforming data centre routing. It uses segment routing and a single protocol to support multiple use cases based on leading cloud principles. This increases network efficiency, reduces costs and protocol complexity, and simplifies the service provider core.

Case study: Arista exceeds high-scale routing requirements for leading ISP

A tier-1 open Internet exchange point based in South Africa, but with global points of presence in Europe, America and Australia, needed to simplify and standardise the design and deployment of its routing and switching architecture.

It needed a solution that could handle high-scale routing and peering requirements at a lower price point and higher port density than its existing solution. Importantly, it wanted the smallest physical footprint with more functionality than an ISP could ever need.

Arista, recognised as a leader in open, programmable switching solutions by Forrester, and one of the largest suppliers of data centre networking switches, was the only vendor in South Africa that could use merchant silicon to provide heavy BGP peering, an advanced Internet POP, as well as high port density and routing using a single operating system. It also achieved this with four devices – the previous solution used 14.

Arista’s price point and port density was unmatched in the market and enabled extensible and programmable switching. With a much higher port density than traditional hardware, Arista switches offer advanced features and functionality at a fraction of the cost of a switch.

In fact, the model is so successful that it’s been replicated in various industries, including finance and medical enterprises.