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It is then capable of automatically quarantining the suspect device and applying remediation so that it can re-join the network with a minimum of network disruption and without manual intervention. Responses are configurable and comprehensive logging provides a clear audit trail of the actions taken. This is a truly innovative feature that helps organizations avoid lost time and unnecessary disruption to services.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Block threats at source</span>\r\nMost IPS solutions are only capable of blocking suspicious traffic as it passes through the IPS device. Since this tends to be near the gateway to the Internet, only external threats can be detected and blocked (this is the traditional “secure border” model). However, SES can isolate traffic anywhere in the network, so it can prevent threats not only on the border, but threats inside the network too through USB drives, BYOD, etc. This makes SES an innovative security solution that can monitor traffic entering and traversing the local network without introducing latency or bottlenecks.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Wired and wireless SDN</span>\r\nSES is the first commercial SDN solution for wireless networks that offers programmability and control inside the network where it is most vulnerable. Allied Telesis wireless access points are OpenFlow capable and can be controlled by the SES controller to provide a dynamic wireless network that offers end-users a better experience. New policies and security updates can be easily implemented from the centralized controller to all access points in seconds, to dramatically cut the time required for network and security management, with a corresponding reduction in operating costs.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Open and flexible SDN solution</span>\r\nSES interoperates with networks containing compatible OpenFlow switches, and a range of physical and virtual firewall products. There is no need for a forklift upgrade of the network to take advantage of the benefits of SES – it can interoperate with a wide range of existing equipment.\r\nSES also integrates with Allied Telesis Autonomous Management Framework™ (AMF), which is a powerful network management and automation tool that also delivers cost and time savings. When used with AMF, SES no longer relies on the OpenFlow protocol to communicate with the network devices. Instead it can use AMF to deliver instructions to conventional network devices. Therefore, this provides all the benefits of an SDN solution without the need for OpenFlow. This lowers the risk and cost for enterprises to adopt SDN solutions since their existing network can remain unchanged.\r\nWith SES, Allied Telesis will deliver real value by constantly monitoring for threats and instantly protecting the network. While other SDN solutions provide esoteric solutions for obscure networking problems, SES will deliver true business value every day.","shortDescription":"Secure Enterprise SDN (SES) is a state of the art network threat detection tool, protecting networks from IoT-based threats with automatic threat detection and isolation.","type":null,"isRoiCalculatorAvaliable":false,"isConfiguratorAvaliable":false,"bonus":100,"usingCount":0,"sellingCount":0,"discontinued":0,"rebateForPoc":0,"rebate":0,"seo":{"title":"Allied Telesis Secure Enterprise SDN (SES)","keywords":"","description":"Allied Telesis Secure Enterprise Software Defined Networking (SES) is a state-of-the-art network management and security solution. 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Allowing devices to connect to the internet opens them up to a number of serious vulnerabilities if they are not properly protected.\r\nIoT security has become the subject of scrutiny after a number of high-profile incidents where a common IoT device was used to infiltrate and attack the larger network. Implementing security measures is critical to ensuring the safety of networks with IoT devices connected to them.\r\nIoT security hacks can happen in any industry, from smart home to a manufacturing plant to a connected car. The severity of impact depends greatly on the individual system, the data collected and/or the information it contains.\r\nAn attack disabling the brakes of a connected car, for example, or on a connected health device, such as an insulin pump hacked to administer too much medication to a patient, can be life-threatening. Likewise, an attack on a refrigeration system housing medicine that is monitored by an IoT system can ruin the viability of a medicine if temperatures fluctuate. Similarly, an attack on critical infrastructure -- an oil well, energy grid or water supply -- can be disastrous.\r\nSo, a robust IoT security portfolio must allow protecting devices from all types of vulnerabilities while deploying the security level that best matches application needs. Cryptography technologies are used to combat communication attacks. Security services are offered for protecting against lifecycle attacks. Isolation measures can be implemented to fend off software attacks. And, finally, IoT security should include tamper mitigation and side-channel attack mitigation technologies for fighting physical attacks of the chip.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What are the key requirements of IoT Security?</span>\r\nThe key requirements for any IoT security solution are:\r\n<ul><li>Device and data security, including authentication of devices and confidentiality and integrity of data</li><li>Implementing and running security operations at IoT scale</li><li>Meeting compliance requirements and requests</li><li>Meeting performance requirements as per the use case</li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What do connected devices require to participate in the IoT Securely?</span>\r\nTo securely participate in the IoT, each connected device needs a unique identification – even before it has an IP address. This digital credential establishes the root of trust for the device’s entire lifecycle, from initial design to deployment to retirement.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Why is device authentication necessary for the IoT?</span>\r\nStrong IoT device authentication is required to ensure connected devices on the IoT can be trusted to be what they purport to be. Consequently, each IoT device needs a unique identity that can be authenticated when the device attempts to connect to a gateway or central server. With this unique ID in place, IT system administrators can track each device throughout its lifecycle, communicate securely with it, and prevent it from executing harmful processes. If a device exhibits unexpected behavior, administrators can simply revoke its privileges.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Why is secure manufacturing necessary for IoT devices?</span>\r\nIoT devices produced through unsecured manufacturing processes provide criminals opportunities to change production runs to introduce unauthorized code or produce additional units that are subsequently sold on the black market.\r\nOne way to secure manufacturing processes is to use hardware security modules (HSMs) and supporting security software to inject cryptographic keys and digital certificates and to control the number of units built and the code incorporated into each.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Why is code signing necessary for IoT devices?</span>\r\nTo protect businesses, brands, partners, and users from software that has been infected by malware, software developers have adopted code signing. In the IoT, code signing in the software release process ensures the integrity of IoT device software and firmware updates and defends against the risks associated with code tampering or code that deviates from organizational policies.\r\nIn public key cryptography, code signing is a specific use of certificate-based digital signatures that enables an organization to verify the identity of the software publisher and certify the software has not been changed since it was published.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is IoT PKI?</span>\r\nToday there are more things (devices) online than there are people on the planet! Devices are the number one users of the Internet and need digital identities for secure operation. As enterprises seek to transform their business models to stay competitive, rapid adoption of IoT technologies is creating increasing demand for Public Key Infrastructures (PKIs) to provide digital certificates for the growing number of devices and the software and firmware they run.\r\nSafe IoT deployments require not only trusting the devices to be authentic and to be who they say they are, but also trusting that the data they collect is real and not altered. If one cannot trust the IoT devices and the data, there is no point in collecting, running analytics, and executing decisions based on the information collected.\r\nSecure adoption of IoT requires:\r\n<ul><li>Enabling mutual authentication between connected devices and applications</li><li>Maintaining the integrity and confidentiality of the data collected by devices</li><li>Ensuring the legitimacy and integrity of the software downloaded to devices</li><li>Preserving the privacy of sensitive data in light of stricter security regulations</li></ul>","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/iot.png"},{"id":5,"title":"Security Software","alias":"security-software","description":" Computer security software or cybersecurity software is any computer program designed to enhance information security. Security software is a broad term that encompasses a suite of different types of software that deliver data and computer and network security in various forms. \r\nSecurity software can protect a computer from viruses, malware, unauthorized users and other security exploits originating from the Internet. Different types of security software include anti-virus software, firewall software, network security software, Internet security software, malware/spamware removal and protection software, cryptographic software, and more.\r\nIn end-user computing environments, anti-spam and anti-virus security software is the most common type of software used, whereas enterprise users add a firewall and intrusion detection system on top of it. \r\nSecurity soft may be focused on preventing attacks from reaching their target, on limiting the damage attacks can cause if they reach their target and on tracking the damage that has been caused so that it can be repaired. As the nature of malicious code evolves, security software also evolves.<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \"></span>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Firewall. </span>Firewall security software prevents unauthorized users from accessing a computer or network without restricting those who are authorized. Firewalls can be implemented with hardware or software. Some computer operating systems include software firewalls in the operating system itself. For example, Microsoft Windows has a built-in firewall. Routers and servers can include firewalls. There are also dedicated hardware firewalls that have no other function other than protecting a network from unauthorized access.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Antivirus.</span> Antivirus solutions work to prevent malicious code from attacking a computer by recognizing the attack before it begins. But it is also designed to stop an attack in progress that could not be prevented, and to repair damage done by the attack once the attack abates. Antivirus software is useful because it addresses security issues in cases where attacks have made it past a firewall. New computer viruses appear daily, so antivirus and security software must be continuously updated to remain effective.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Antispyware.</span> While antivirus software is designed to prevent malicious software from attacking, the goal of antispyware software is to prevent unauthorized software from stealing information that is on a computer or being processed through the computer. Since spyware does not need to attempt to damage data files or the operating system, it does not trigger antivirus software into action. However, antispyware software can recognize the particular actions spyware is taking by monitoring the communications between a computer and external message recipients. When communications occur that the user has not authorized, antispyware can notify the user and block further communications.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Home Computers.</span> Home computers and some small businesses usually implement&nbsp; security software at the desktop level - meaning on the PC itself. This category of computer security and protection, sometimes referred to as end-point security, remains resident, or continuously operating, on the desktop. Because the software is running, it uses system resources, and can slow the computer's performance. However, because it operates in real time, it can react rapidly to attacks and seek to shut them down when they occur.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Network Security.</span> When several computers are all on the same network, it's more cost-effective to implement security at the network level. Antivirus software can be installed on a server and then loaded automatically to each desktop. However firewalls are usually installed on a server or purchased as an independent device that is inserted into the network where the Internet connection comes in. All of the computers inside the network communicate unimpeded, but any data going in or out of the network over the Internet is filtered trough the firewall.<br /><br /><br />","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\"> <span style=\"font-weight: normal; \">What is IT security software?</span></h1>\r\nIT security software provides protection to businesses’ computer or network. It serves as a defense against unauthorized access and intrusion in such a system. It comes in various types, with many businesses and individuals already using some of them in one form or another.\r\nWith the emergence of more advanced technology, cybercriminals have also found more ways to get into the system of many organizations. Since more and more businesses are now relying their crucial operations on software products, the importance of security system software assurance must be taken seriously – now more than ever. Having reliable protection such as a security software programs is crucial to safeguard your computing environments and data. \r\n<p class=\"align-left\">It is not just the government or big corporations that become victims of cyber threats. In fact, small and medium-sized businesses have increasingly become targets of cybercrime over the past years. </p>\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: normal; \">What are the features of IT security software?</span></h1>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Automatic updates. </span>This ensures you don’t miss any update and your system is the most up-to-date version to respond to the constantly emerging new cyber threats.</li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Real-time scanning.</span> Dynamic scanning features make it easier to detect and infiltrate malicious entities promptly. Without this feature, you’ll risk not being able to prevent damage to your system before it happens.</li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Auto-clean.</span> A feature that rids itself of viruses even without the user manually removing it from its quarantine zone upon detection. Unless you want the option to review the malware, there is no reason to keep the malicious software on your computer which makes this feature essential.</li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Multiple app protection.</span> This feature ensures all your apps and services are protected, whether they’re in email, instant messenger, and internet browsers, among others.</li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Application level security.</span> This enables you to control access to the application on a per-user role or per-user basis to guarantee only the right individuals can enter the appropriate applications.</li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Role-based menu.</span> This displays menu options showing different users according to their roles for easier assigning of access and control.</li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Row-level (multi-tenant) security.</span> This gives you control over data access at a row-level for a single application. This means you can allow multiple users to access the same application but you can control the data they are authorized to view.</li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Single sign-on.</span> A session or user authentication process that allows users to access multiple related applications as long as they are authorized in a single session by only logging in their name and password in a single place.</li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">User privilege parameters.</span> These are customizable features and security as per individual user or role that can be accessed in their profile throughout every application.</li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Application activity auditing.</span> Vital for IT departments to quickly view when a user logged in and off and which application they accessed. Developers can log end-user activity using their sign-on/signoff activities.</li></ul>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\"><br /><br /><br /><br /></p>","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Security_Software.png"},{"id":499,"title":"SDN Software-Defined Network","alias":"sdn-software-defined-network","description":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Software-defined networking (SDN)</span> technology is an approach to network management that enables dynamic, programmatically efficient network configuration in order to improve network performance and monitoring, making it more like cloud computing than traditional network management.\r\nSDN encompasses several types of technologies, including functional separation, network virtualization and automation through programmability. SDN solution is meant to address the fact that the static architecture of traditional networks is decentralized and complex while current networks require more flexibility and easy troubleshooting. \r\nSDN technology attempts to centralize network intelligence in one network component by disassociating the forwarding process of network packets (<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">data plane</span>) from the routing process (<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">control plane</span>). The control plane consists of one or more controllers which are considered as the brain of SDN network where the whole intelligence is incorporated. Originally, software defined technology focused solely on separation of the network control plane from the data plane. While the control plane makes decisions about how packets should flow through the network, the data plane actually moves packets from place to place. \r\nIn a classic SDN scenario, a packet arrives at a network switch, and rules built into the switch's proprietary firmware tell the switch where to forward the packet. These packet-handling rules are sent to the switch from the centralized controller. The switch - also known as a <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">data plane device</span> - queries the controller for guidance as needed, and it provides the controller with information about traffic it handles. The switch sends every packet going to the same destination along the same path and treats all the packets the exact same way.\r\nSoftware defined networking solutions use an operation mode that is sometimes called adaptive or dynamic, in which a switch issues a route request to a controller for a packet that does not have a specific route. This process is separate from adaptive routing, which issues route requests through routers and algorithms based on the network topology, not through a controller.\r\nThe <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">virtualization</span> aspect of SDN comes into play through a virtual overlay, which is a logically separate network on top of the physical network. Users can implement end-to-end overlays to abstract the underlying network and segment network traffic. This microsegmentation is especially useful for service providers and operators with multi-tenant cloud environments and cloud services, as they can provision a separate virtual network with specific policies for each tenant.","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\">Benefits of Software Defined Networking</h1>\r\nWith SDN software, an <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">administrator can change any network switch's rules when necessary</span> - prioritizing, deprioritizing or even blocking specific types of packets with a granular level of control and security. This is especially helpful in a cloud computing multi-tenant architecture, because it enables the administrator to manage traffic loads in a flexible and more efficient manner. Essentially, this enables the administrator to use less expensive commodity switches and have more control over network traffic flow than ever before.\r\nOther benefits of SDN are <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">network management</span> and <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">end-to-end visibility.</span>A network administrator need only deal with one centralized controller to distribute policies to the connected switches, instead of configuring multiple individual devices. This capability is also a security advantage because the controller can monitor traffic and deploy security policies. If the controller deems traffic suspicious, for example, it can reroute or drop the packets.\r\nSoftware defined networking software also <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">virtualizes hardware</span> and <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">services </span>that were previously carried out by dedicated hardware, resulting in the touted benefits of a reduced hardware footprint and lower operational costs.\r\nAdditionally, SDN contributed to the emergence of <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN)</span> technology. SD-WAN employs the virtual overlay aspect of SDN technology, abstracting an organization's connectivity links throughout its WAN and creating a virtual network that can use whichever connection the controller deems fit to send traffic.\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\">Are there any SDN security benefits?</h1>\r\nAs security issues become more complex at the edge of the network, it’s no wonder that network and security professionals are looking for new ways to approach network protection. Nowadays, it seems like SDN is going to be the answer. \r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Centralized Network Control </span></li></ul>\r\nIn a traditional network, devices (router/switches) make their own decisions locally about where and how best to send traffic.&nbsp; In terms of network security, SDN can be used to route data packets through a single firewall and make IDS and IPS data capture more efficient.\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Simplify Configuration</span></li></ul>\r\nThe SDN makes it easier to automate configuration and improves the traceability of those configurations. The introduction of SDN network management allows dynamic programming and restructuring of network settings, which reduces the risk of DDoS attacks. It is also worth adding that SDN has automatic quarantine capabilities. \r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Creation of High-level Network Policies</span></li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"color: rgb(97, 97, 97); \">Rather than physically configuring security solutions, SDN facilitates the central management of security policies to make network operator roles more efficient and flexible. Moreover, SDN helps to move away from current management approaches such as SNMP/CLI and build more effective policy management. </span>\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \"><span style=\"color: rgb(97, 97, 97); \">Easy to use Application Programming Interfaces (APIs)</span></span></li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"color: rgb(97, 97, 97); \">Cloud APIs are interfaces presented by software and play a vital role in SDN controllers and applications. Easy to use APIs help to manage network resources, improve the efficiency of IT resources, and aid integration with IT tools. Additionally, a number of good cloud security practices have been introduced recently. </span>","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_SDN_Software_Defined_Network.png"},{"id":204,"title":"Managed Detection and Response","alias":"managed-detection-and-response","description":" MDR, which stands for Managed Detection &amp; Response, is an all-encompassing threat detection system, which arose from the need for small/medium-sized organizations who lack resources to be able to monitor their network systems in-house. It provides a cost-effective alternative to SIEM (Security Information and Event Management).\r\nEveryday, the capabilities of attackers get more sophisticated and the volume of alerts becomes overwhelming and unmanageable. In-house teams might struggle to analyze and log data, which makes it harder than ever to determine if these threats are harmful. MDR can put a stop to attacks before they even happen. MDR technology monitors your systems and detects any unusual behavior, whilst our expert team responds to the threats detected within your business.\r\nMDR offers real-time threat intelligence, and is able to analyse behaviour which can be missed by traditional endpoint security technology. MDR also provides rapid identification of known threats, which in turn minimises overall attacks. Having remote incident investigation will minimise damage to your business, and will allow you to get back to work in no time. It’s important to note that using MDR services will allow third party access to your company's data. You need to consider working with a provider who understands and respects your data policy.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is Managed Detection and Response?</span>\r\nManaged Detection and Response (MDR) is a managed cybersecurity service that provides intrusion detection of malware and malicious activity in your network, and assists in rapid incident response to eliminate those threats with succinct remediation actions. MDR typically combines a technology solution with outsourced security analysts that extend your technologies and team.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Isn’t that What MSSPs or Managed SIEMs Do?</span>\r\nNo. Managed Security Service Providers (MSSPs) monitor network security controls and may send alerts when anomalies are identified. MSSPs typically do not investigate the anomalies to eliminate false positives, nor do they respond to real threats. This means that abnormalities in network usage are forwarded to your IT personnel who must then dig through the data to determine if there is a real threat and what to do about it.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Doesn’t My Firewall Protect My Network?</span>\r\nFirewalls and other preventive forms of cybersecurity are very important and effective at preventing basic cyberattacks. However, over the past decade, it has become clear that preventive cybersecurity technologies are not enough to secure an organization’s network. Further, they are yet another source of alerts, log messages, and events that contribute to the “alert fatigue” being universally suffered today. Recent major hacks such as the Marriot Hack of 2018, the Anthem Hack of 2015, and the Target Hack of 2013 demonstrate how easily cybercriminals can breach networks at enterprise organizations to steal millions of credit card numbers, medical records, and other forms of PII/PHI.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/Endpoint_Detection_and_Response.png"}],"characteristics":[],"concurentProducts":[],"jobRoles":[],"organizationalFeatures":[],"complementaryCategories":[],"solutions":[],"materials":[],"useCases":[],"best_practices":[],"values":[],"implementations":[]},"bigleaf-cloud-first-sd-wan":{"id":3332,"logoURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/Bigleaf_logo.png","logo":true,"scheme":false,"title":"Bigleaf Cloud-first SD-WAN","vendorVerified":0,"rating":"1.00","implementationsCount":0,"suppliersCount":0,"supplierPartnersCount":0,"alias":"bigleaf-cloud-first-sd-wan","companyTitle":"Bigleaf","companyTypes":["supplier","vendor"],"companyId":5236,"companyAlias":"bigleaf","description":"Our Software Defined Wide Area Network (SD-WAN) technology ensures that your business-critical applications are prioritized across your Internet connections and that all traffic flows are routed over the best connection in real-time.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Site-to-Cloud Architecture</span>\r\nUnlike box-only solutions, Bigleaf leverages both an on-site router and a dedicated backbone network, controlling traffic both to and from the Cloud.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Intelligent Software</span>\r\nExperience a seamless connection with our Intelligent Load Balancing, Dynamic QoS, and Same IP Failover–with zero manual configurations or policies required.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Firewall-friendly design</span>\r\nBigleaf installs outside your LAN, so you can leave your best-of-breed security solution in place, without disabling any of its features.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Monitoring and alerts</span>\r\nWe monitor each ISP connection, end-to-end, 10 times per second for packet-loss, latency, jitter, and capacity. You'll have access to logs and graphs, plus configurable email alerts.","shortDescription":"Bigleaf is the only SD-WAN that can provide seamless performance for all of your Cloud applications over any internet connection.","type":null,"isRoiCalculatorAvaliable":false,"isConfiguratorAvaliable":false,"bonus":100,"usingCount":0,"sellingCount":18,"discontinued":0,"rebateForPoc":0,"rebate":0,"seo":{"title":"Bigleaf Cloud-first SD-WAN","keywords":"","description":"Our Software Defined Wide Area Network (SD-WAN) technology ensures that your business-critical applications are prioritized across your Internet connections and that all traffic flows are routed over the best connection in real-time.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight:","og:title":"Bigleaf Cloud-first SD-WAN","og:description":"Our Software Defined Wide Area Network (SD-WAN) technology ensures that your business-critical applications are prioritized across your Internet connections and that all traffic flows are routed over the best connection in real-time.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight:","og:image":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/Bigleaf_logo.png"},"eventUrl":"","translationId":3333,"dealDetails":null,"roi":null,"price":null,"bonusForReference":null,"templateData":[{"id":93,"title":"Software-Defined WAN (SD-WAN)"}],"testingArea":"","categories":[{"id":499,"title":"SDN Software-Defined Network","alias":"sdn-software-defined-network","description":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Software-defined networking (SDN)</span> technology is an approach to network management that enables dynamic, programmatically efficient network configuration in order to improve network performance and monitoring, making it more like cloud computing than traditional network management.\r\nSDN encompasses several types of technologies, including functional separation, network virtualization and automation through programmability. SDN solution is meant to address the fact that the static architecture of traditional networks is decentralized and complex while current networks require more flexibility and easy troubleshooting. \r\nSDN technology attempts to centralize network intelligence in one network component by disassociating the forwarding process of network packets (<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">data plane</span>) from the routing process (<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">control plane</span>). The control plane consists of one or more controllers which are considered as the brain of SDN network where the whole intelligence is incorporated. Originally, software defined technology focused solely on separation of the network control plane from the data plane. While the control plane makes decisions about how packets should flow through the network, the data plane actually moves packets from place to place. \r\nIn a classic SDN scenario, a packet arrives at a network switch, and rules built into the switch's proprietary firmware tell the switch where to forward the packet. These packet-handling rules are sent to the switch from the centralized controller. The switch - also known as a <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">data plane device</span> - queries the controller for guidance as needed, and it provides the controller with information about traffic it handles. The switch sends every packet going to the same destination along the same path and treats all the packets the exact same way.\r\nSoftware defined networking solutions use an operation mode that is sometimes called adaptive or dynamic, in which a switch issues a route request to a controller for a packet that does not have a specific route. This process is separate from adaptive routing, which issues route requests through routers and algorithms based on the network topology, not through a controller.\r\nThe <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">virtualization</span> aspect of SDN comes into play through a virtual overlay, which is a logically separate network on top of the physical network. Users can implement end-to-end overlays to abstract the underlying network and segment network traffic. This microsegmentation is especially useful for service providers and operators with multi-tenant cloud environments and cloud services, as they can provision a separate virtual network with specific policies for each tenant.","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\">Benefits of Software Defined Networking</h1>\r\nWith SDN software, an <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">administrator can change any network switch's rules when necessary</span> - prioritizing, deprioritizing or even blocking specific types of packets with a granular level of control and security. This is especially helpful in a cloud computing multi-tenant architecture, because it enables the administrator to manage traffic loads in a flexible and more efficient manner. Essentially, this enables the administrator to use less expensive commodity switches and have more control over network traffic flow than ever before.\r\nOther benefits of SDN are <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">network management</span> and <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">end-to-end visibility.</span>A network administrator need only deal with one centralized controller to distribute policies to the connected switches, instead of configuring multiple individual devices. This capability is also a security advantage because the controller can monitor traffic and deploy security policies. If the controller deems traffic suspicious, for example, it can reroute or drop the packets.\r\nSoftware defined networking software also <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">virtualizes hardware</span> and <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">services </span>that were previously carried out by dedicated hardware, resulting in the touted benefits of a reduced hardware footprint and lower operational costs.\r\nAdditionally, SDN contributed to the emergence of <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN)</span> technology. SD-WAN employs the virtual overlay aspect of SDN technology, abstracting an organization's connectivity links throughout its WAN and creating a virtual network that can use whichever connection the controller deems fit to send traffic.\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\">Are there any SDN security benefits?</h1>\r\nAs security issues become more complex at the edge of the network, it’s no wonder that network and security professionals are looking for new ways to approach network protection. Nowadays, it seems like SDN is going to be the answer. \r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Centralized Network Control </span></li></ul>\r\nIn a traditional network, devices (router/switches) make their own decisions locally about where and how best to send traffic.&nbsp; In terms of network security, SDN can be used to route data packets through a single firewall and make IDS and IPS data capture more efficient.\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Simplify Configuration</span></li></ul>\r\nThe SDN makes it easier to automate configuration and improves the traceability of those configurations. The introduction of SDN network management allows dynamic programming and restructuring of network settings, which reduces the risk of DDoS attacks. It is also worth adding that SDN has automatic quarantine capabilities. \r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Creation of High-level Network Policies</span></li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"color: rgb(97, 97, 97); \">Rather than physically configuring security solutions, SDN facilitates the central management of security policies to make network operator roles more efficient and flexible. Moreover, SDN helps to move away from current management approaches such as SNMP/CLI and build more effective policy management. </span>\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \"><span style=\"color: rgb(97, 97, 97); \">Easy to use Application Programming Interfaces (APIs)</span></span></li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"color: rgb(97, 97, 97); \">Cloud APIs are interfaces presented by software and play a vital role in SDN controllers and applications. Easy to use APIs help to manage network resources, improve the efficiency of IT resources, and aid integration with IT tools. Additionally, a number of good cloud security practices have been introduced recently. </span>","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_SDN_Software_Defined_Network.png"},{"id":52,"title":"SaaS - software as a service","alias":"saas-software-as-a-service","description":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Software as a service (SaaS)</span> is a software licensing and delivery model in which software is licensed on a subscription basis and is centrally hosted. It is sometimes referred to as &quot;on-demand software&quot;, and was formerly referred to as &quot;software plus services&quot; by Microsoft.\r\n SaaS services is typically accessed by users using a thin client, e.g. via a web browser. SaaS software solutions has become a common delivery model for many business applications, including office software, messaging software, payroll processing software, DBMS software, management software, CAD software, development software, gamification, virtualization, accounting, collaboration, customer relationship management (CRM), Management Information Systems (MIS), enterprise resource planning (ERP), invoicing, human resource management (HRM), talent acquisition, learning management systems, content management (CM), Geographic Information Systems (GIS), and service desk management. SaaS has been incorporated into the strategy of nearly all leading enterprise software companies.\r\nSaaS applications are also known as <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Web-based software</span>, <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">on-demand software</span> and<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\"> hosted software</span>.\r\nThe term &quot;Software as a Service&quot; (SaaS) is considered to be part of the nomenclature of cloud computing, along with Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), Desktop as a Service (DaaS),managed software as a service (MSaaS), mobile backend as a service (MBaaS), and information technology management as a service (ITMaaS).\r\nBecause SaaS is based on cloud computing it saves organizations from installing and running applications on their own systems. That eliminates or at least reduces the associated costs of hardware purchases and maintenance and of software and support. The initial setup cost for a SaaS application is also generally lower than it for equivalent enterprise software purchased via a site license.\r\nSometimes, the use of SaaS cloud software can also reduce the long-term costs of software licensing, though that depends on the pricing model for the individual SaaS offering and the enterprise’s usage patterns. In fact, it’s possible for SaaS to cost more than traditional software licenses. This is an area IT organizations should explore carefully.<br />SaaS also provides enterprises the flexibility inherent with cloud services: they can subscribe to a SaaS offering as needed rather than having to buy software licenses and install the software on a variety of computers. The savings can be substantial in the case of applications that require new hardware purchases to support the software.<br /><br /><br /><br />","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: normal;\">Who uses SaaS?</span></h1>\r\nIndustry analyst Forrester Research notes that SaaS adoption has so far been concentrated mostly in human resource management (HRM), customer relationship management (CRM), collaboration software (e.g., email), and procurement solutions, but is poised to widen. Today it’s possible to have a data warehouse in the cloud that you can access with business intelligence software running as a service and connect to your cloud-based ERP like NetSuite or Microsoft Dynamics.The dollar savings can run into the millions. And SaaS installations are often installed and working in a fraction of the time of on-premises deployments—some can be ready in hours. \r\nSales and marketing people are likely familiar with Salesforce.com, the leading SaaS CRM software, with millions of users across more than 100,000 customers. Sales is going SaaS too, with apps available to support sales in order management, compensation, quote production and configure, price, quoting, electronic signatures, contract management and more.\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: normal;\">Why SaaS? Benefits of software as a service</span></h1>\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Lower cost of entry</span>. With SaaS solution, you pay for what you need, without having to buy hardware to host your new applications. Instead of provisioning internal resources to install the software, the vendor provides APIs and performs much of the work to get their software working for you. The time to a working solution can drop from months in the traditional model to weeks, days or hours with the SaaS model. In some businesses, IT wants nothing to do with installing and running a sales app. In the case of funding software and its implementation, this can be a make-or-break issue for the sales and marketing budget, so the lower cost really makes the difference.</li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Reduced time to benefit/rapid prototyping</span>. In the SaaS model, the software application is already installed and configured. Users can provision the server for the cloud and quickly have the application ready for use. This cuts the time to benefit and allows for rapid demonstrations and prototyping. With many SaaS companies offering free trials, this means a painless proof of concept and discovery phase to prove the benefit to the organization. </li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Pay as you go</span>. SaaS business software gives you the benefit of predictable costs both for the subscription and to some extent, the administration. Even as you scale, you can have a clear idea of what your costs will be. This allows for much more accurate budgeting, especially as compared to the costs of internal IT to manage upgrades and address issues for an owned instance.</li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">The SaaS vendor is responsible for upgrades, uptime and security</span>. Under the SaaS model, since the software is hosted by the vendor, they take on the responsibility for maintaining the software and upgrading it, ensuring that it is reliable and meeting agreed-upon service level agreements, and keeping the application and its data secure.&nbsp; While some IT people worry about Software as a Service security outside of the enterprise walls, the likely truth is that the vendor has a much higher level of security than the enterprise itself would provide. Many will have redundant instances in very secure data centers in multiple geographies.&nbsp; Also, the data is being automatically backed up by the vendor, providing additional security and peace of mind. Because of the data center hosting, you’re getting the added benefit of at least some disaster recovery. Lastly, the vendor manages these issues as part of their core competencies—let them.</li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Integration and scalability.</span> Most SaaS apps are designed to support some amount of customization for the way you do business. SaaS vendors create APIs to allow connections not only to internal applications like ERPs or CRMs but also to other SaaS providers. One of the terrific aspects of integration is that orders written in the field can be automatically sent to the ERP. Now a salesperson in the field can check inventory through the catalog, write the order in front of the customer for approval, send it and receive confirmation, all in minutes. And as you scale with a SaaS vendor, there’s no need to invest in server capacity and software licenses. </li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Work anywhere</span>. Since the software is hosted in the cloud and accessible over the internet, users can access it via mobile devices wherever they are connected. This includes checking customer order histories prior to a sales call, as well as having access to real time data and real time order taking with the customer.</li></ul>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\">&nbsp;</p>","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/SaaS__1_.png"},{"id":34,"title":"ITSM - IT Service Management","alias":"itsm-it-service-management","description":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">IT service management (ITSM)</span> is the process of designing, delivering, managing, and improving the IT services an organization provides to its end users. ITSM is focused on aligning IT processes and services with business objectives to help an organization grow.\r\nITSM positions IT services as the key means of delivering and obtaining value, where an internal or external IT service provider works with business customers, at the same time taking responsibility for the associated costs and risks. ITSM works across the whole lifecycle of a service, from the original strategy, through design, transition and into live operation.\r\nTo ensure sustainable quality of IT services, ITSM establishes a set of practices, or processes, constituting a service management system. There are industrial, national and international standards for IT service management solutions, setting up requirements and good practices for the management system. \r\nITSM system is based on a set of principles, such as focusing on value and continual improvement. It is not just a set of processes – it is a cultural mindset to ensure that the desired outcome for the business is achieved. \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">ITIL (IT Infrastructure Library)</span> is a framework of best practices and recommendations for managing an organization's IT operations and services. IT service management processes, when built based on the ITIL framework, pave the way for better IT service operations management and improved business. To summarize, ITIL is a set of guidelines for effective IT service management best practices. ITIL has evolved beyond the delivery of services to providing end-to-end value delivery. The focus is now on the co-creation of value through service relationships. \r\n<p class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">ITSM processes typically include five stages, all based on the ITIL framework:</span></p>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">ITSM strategy.</span> This stage forms the foundation or the framework of an organization's ITSM process building. It involves defining the services that the organization will offer, strategically planning processes, and recognizing and developing the required assets to keep processes moving. \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Service design.</span> This stage's main aim is planning and designing the IT services the organization offers to meet business demands. It involves creating and designing new services as well as assessing current services and making relevant improvements.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Service transition.</span> Once the designs for IT services and their processes have been finalized, it's important to build them and test them out to ensure that processes flow. IT teams need to ensure that the designs don't disrupt services in any way, especially when existing IT service processes are upgraded or redesigned. This calls for change management, evaluation, and risk management. \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Service operation. </span>This phase involves implementing the tried and tested new or modified designs in a live environment. While in this stage, the processes have already been tested and the issues fixed, but new processes are bound to have hiccups—especially when customers start using the services. \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Continual service improvement (CSI).</span> Implementing IT processes successfully shouldn't be the final stage in any organization. There's always room for improvement and new development based on issues that pop up, customer needs and demands, and user feedback.\r\n\r\n","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\">Benefits of efficient ITSM processes</h1>\r\nIrrespective of the size of business, every organization is involved in IT service management in some way. ITSM ensures that incidents, service requests, problems, changes, and IT assets—in addition to other aspects of IT services—are managed in a streamlined way.\r\nIT teams in your organization can employ various workflows and best practices in ITSM, as outlined in ITIL. Effective IT service management can have positive effects on an IT organization's overall function.\r\nHere are the 10 key benefits of ITSM:\r\n<ul><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Lower costs for IT operations</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Higher returns on IT investments</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Minimal service outages</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Ability to establish well-defined, repeatable, and manageable IT processes</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Efficient analysis of IT problems to reduce repeat incidents</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Improved efficiency of IT help desk teams</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Well-defined roles and responsibilities</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Clear expectations on service levels and service availability</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Risk-free implementation of IT changes</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Better transparency into IT processes and services</li></ul>\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\">How to choose an ITSM tool?</h1>\r\nWith a competent IT service management goal in mind, it's important to invest in a service desk solution that caters to your business needs. It goes without saying, with more than 150 service desk tools to choose from, selecting the right one is easier said than done. Here are a few things to keep in mind when choosing an ITSM products:\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Identify key processes and their dependencies. </span>Based on business goals, decide which key ITSM processes need to be implemented and chart out the integrations that need to be established to achieve those goals. \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Consult with ITSM experts.</span> Participate in business expos, webinars, demos, etc., and educate yourself about the various options that are available in the market. Reports from expert analysts such as Gartner and Forrester are particularly useful as they include reviews of almost every solution, ranked based on multiple criteria.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Choose a deployment option.</span> Every business has a different IT infrastructure model. Selecting an on-premises or software as a service (SaaS IT service management) tool depends on whether your business prefers to host its applications and data on its own servers or use a public or private cloud.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Plan ahead for the future.</span> Although it's important to consider the &quot;needs&quot; primarily, you shouldn't rule out the secondary or luxury capabilities. If the ITSM tool doesn't have the potential to adapt to your needs as your organization grows, it can pull you back from progressing. Draw a clear picture of where your business is headed and choose an service ITSM that is flexible and technology-driven.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Don't stop with the capabilities of the ITSM tool.</span> It might be tempting to assess an ITSM tool based on its capabilities and features but it's important to evaluate the vendor of the tool. A good IT support team, and a vendor that is endorsed for their customer-vendor relationship can take your IT services far. Check Gartner's magic quadrant and other analyst reports, along with product and support reviews to ensure that the said tool provides good customer support.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_ITSM.png"}],"characteristics":[],"concurentProducts":[],"jobRoles":[],"organizationalFeatures":[],"complementaryCategories":[],"solutions":[],"materials":[],"useCases":[],"best_practices":[],"values":[],"implementations":[]},"cisco-application-centric-infrastructure-aci":{"id":1692,"logoURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/cisco_new.png","logo":true,"scheme":false,"title":"Cisco Application Centric Infrastructure (ACI)","vendorVerified":0,"rating":"2.40","implementationsCount":1,"suppliersCount":0,"supplierPartnersCount":125,"alias":"cisco-application-centric-infrastructure-aci","companyTitle":"Cisco","companyTypes":["supplier","vendor"],"companyId":170,"companyAlias":"cisco","description":"Cisco ACI, the industry leading software defined networking (SDN) solution enables application agility and data center automation. Customers can build multi-cloud networks with a consistent policy model. With ACI Anywhere, customers have the flexibility to move applications seamlessly without compromising high availability and creating a single fault domain environment.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What Cisco ACI offers</span>\r\n<ul><li>Automate IT workflows and help organizations shorten app deployment from weeks to minutes.</li><li>Open and programmable. Build programmable SDN fabrics leveraging open APIs and over 65 Cisco ACI global partner ecosystems.</li><li>Security and analytics. Secure applications through whitelist model, policy enforcement, and micro-segmentation.</li><li>Workload mobility at scale. Deploy and migrate applications seamlessly across geographies with consistent policy.</li></ul>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Cisco ACI building blocks</span>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Cisco Nexus 9000 Series</span>\r\nHigh-performance, low-latency, and power-efficient switches operate in Cisco NX-OS software mode or in Cisco ACI mode.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Cisco Application Policy Infrastructure Controller (APIC)</span>\r\nProvides single-click access to all Cisco ACI fabric information, enabling network automation, programmability, and centralized management.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Cisco ACI Virtual Edge (AVE)</span>\r\nCisco ACI Virtual Edge is designed to support Cisco ACI architecture. It provides support for ACI application policy model as well as switching capabilities with high performance and throughput.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Cisco App Center</span>\r\nCollaborate with developers, then publish and monetize innovative apps using Cisco APIC.","shortDescription":"Cisco ACI, the industry leading software defined networking (SDN) solution enables application agility and data center automation. ","type":null,"isRoiCalculatorAvaliable":false,"isConfiguratorAvaliable":false,"bonus":100,"usingCount":11,"sellingCount":3,"discontinued":0,"rebateForPoc":0,"rebate":0,"seo":{"title":"Cisco Application Centric Infrastructure (ACI)","keywords":"","description":"Cisco ACI, the industry leading software defined networking (SDN) solution enables application agility and data center automation. Customers can build multi-cloud networks with a consistent policy model. With ACI Anywhere, customers have the flexibility to mov","og:title":"Cisco Application Centric Infrastructure (ACI)","og:description":"Cisco ACI, the industry leading software defined networking (SDN) solution enables application agility and data center automation. Customers can build multi-cloud networks with a consistent policy model. With ACI Anywhere, customers have the flexibility to mov","og:image":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/cisco_new.png"},"eventUrl":"","translationId":1693,"dealDetails":null,"roi":null,"price":null,"bonusForReference":null,"templateData":[],"testingArea":"","categories":[{"id":499,"title":"SDN Software-Defined Network","alias":"sdn-software-defined-network","description":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Software-defined networking (SDN)</span> technology is an approach to network management that enables dynamic, programmatically efficient network configuration in order to improve network performance and monitoring, making it more like cloud computing than traditional network management.\r\nSDN encompasses several types of technologies, including functional separation, network virtualization and automation through programmability. SDN solution is meant to address the fact that the static architecture of traditional networks is decentralized and complex while current networks require more flexibility and easy troubleshooting. \r\nSDN technology attempts to centralize network intelligence in one network component by disassociating the forwarding process of network packets (<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">data plane</span>) from the routing process (<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">control plane</span>). The control plane consists of one or more controllers which are considered as the brain of SDN network where the whole intelligence is incorporated. Originally, software defined technology focused solely on separation of the network control plane from the data plane. While the control plane makes decisions about how packets should flow through the network, the data plane actually moves packets from place to place. \r\nIn a classic SDN scenario, a packet arrives at a network switch, and rules built into the switch's proprietary firmware tell the switch where to forward the packet. These packet-handling rules are sent to the switch from the centralized controller. The switch - also known as a <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">data plane device</span> - queries the controller for guidance as needed, and it provides the controller with information about traffic it handles. The switch sends every packet going to the same destination along the same path and treats all the packets the exact same way.\r\nSoftware defined networking solutions use an operation mode that is sometimes called adaptive or dynamic, in which a switch issues a route request to a controller for a packet that does not have a specific route. This process is separate from adaptive routing, which issues route requests through routers and algorithms based on the network topology, not through a controller.\r\nThe <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">virtualization</span> aspect of SDN comes into play through a virtual overlay, which is a logically separate network on top of the physical network. Users can implement end-to-end overlays to abstract the underlying network and segment network traffic. This microsegmentation is especially useful for service providers and operators with multi-tenant cloud environments and cloud services, as they can provision a separate virtual network with specific policies for each tenant.","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\">Benefits of Software Defined Networking</h1>\r\nWith SDN software, an <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">administrator can change any network switch's rules when necessary</span> - prioritizing, deprioritizing or even blocking specific types of packets with a granular level of control and security. This is especially helpful in a cloud computing multi-tenant architecture, because it enables the administrator to manage traffic loads in a flexible and more efficient manner. Essentially, this enables the administrator to use less expensive commodity switches and have more control over network traffic flow than ever before.\r\nOther benefits of SDN are <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">network management</span> and <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">end-to-end visibility.</span>A network administrator need only deal with one centralized controller to distribute policies to the connected switches, instead of configuring multiple individual devices. This capability is also a security advantage because the controller can monitor traffic and deploy security policies. If the controller deems traffic suspicious, for example, it can reroute or drop the packets.\r\nSoftware defined networking software also <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">virtualizes hardware</span> and <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">services </span>that were previously carried out by dedicated hardware, resulting in the touted benefits of a reduced hardware footprint and lower operational costs.\r\nAdditionally, SDN contributed to the emergence of <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN)</span> technology. SD-WAN employs the virtual overlay aspect of SDN technology, abstracting an organization's connectivity links throughout its WAN and creating a virtual network that can use whichever connection the controller deems fit to send traffic.\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\">Are there any SDN security benefits?</h1>\r\nAs security issues become more complex at the edge of the network, it’s no wonder that network and security professionals are looking for new ways to approach network protection. Nowadays, it seems like SDN is going to be the answer. \r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Centralized Network Control </span></li></ul>\r\nIn a traditional network, devices (router/switches) make their own decisions locally about where and how best to send traffic.&nbsp; In terms of network security, SDN can be used to route data packets through a single firewall and make IDS and IPS data capture more efficient.\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Simplify Configuration</span></li></ul>\r\nThe SDN makes it easier to automate configuration and improves the traceability of those configurations. The introduction of SDN network management allows dynamic programming and restructuring of network settings, which reduces the risk of DDoS attacks. It is also worth adding that SDN has automatic quarantine capabilities. \r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Creation of High-level Network Policies</span></li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"color: rgb(97, 97, 97); \">Rather than physically configuring security solutions, SDN facilitates the central management of security policies to make network operator roles more efficient and flexible. Moreover, SDN helps to move away from current management approaches such as SNMP/CLI and build more effective policy management. </span>\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \"><span style=\"color: rgb(97, 97, 97); \">Easy to use Application Programming Interfaces (APIs)</span></span></li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"color: rgb(97, 97, 97); \">Cloud APIs are interfaces presented by software and play a vital role in SDN controllers and applications. Easy to use APIs help to manage network resources, improve the efficiency of IT resources, and aid integration with IT tools. Additionally, a number of good cloud security practices have been introduced recently. </span>","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_SDN_Software_Defined_Network.png"},{"id":4,"title":"Data center","alias":"data-center","description":" A data center (or datacenter) is a facility composed of networked computers and storage that businesses or other organizations use to organize, process, store and disseminate large amounts of data. A business typically relies heavily upon the applications, services and data contained within a data center, making it a focal point and critical asset for everyday operations.\r\nData centers are not a single thing, but rather, a conglomeration of elements. At a minimum, data centers serve as the principal repositories for all manner of IT equipment, including servers, storage subsystems, networking switches, routers and firewalls, as well as the cabling and physical racks used to organize and interconnect the IT equipment. A data center must also contain an adequate infrastructure, such as power distribution and supplemental power subsystems, including electrical switching; uninterruptable power supplies; backup generators and so on; ventilation and data center cooling systems, such as computer room air conditioners; and adequate provisioning for network carrier (telco) connectivity. All of this demands a physical facility with physical security and sufficient physical space to house the entire collection of infrastructure and equipment.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What are the requirements for modern data centers?</span>\r\nModernization and data center transformation enhances performance and energy efficiency.\r\nInformation security is also a concern, and for this reason a data center has to offer a secure environment which minimizes the chances of a security breach. A data center must therefore keep high standards for assuring the integrity and functionality of its hosted computer environment.\r\nIndustry research company International Data Corporation (IDC) puts the average age of a data center at nine years old. Gartner, another research company, says data centers older than seven years are obsolete. The growth in data (163 zettabytes by 2025) is one factor driving the need for data centers to modernize.\r\nFocus on modernization is not new: Concern about obsolete equipment was decried in 2007, and in 2011 Uptime Institute was concerned about the age of the equipment therein. By 2018 concern had shifted once again, this time to the age of the staff: &quot;data center staff are aging faster than the equipment.&quot;\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Meeting standards for data centers</span></span>\r\nThe Telecommunications Industry Association's Telecommunications Infrastructure Standard for Data Centers specifies the minimum requirements for telecommunications infrastructure of data centers and computer rooms including single tenant enterprise data centers and multi-tenant Internet hosting data centers. The topology proposed in this document is intended to be applicable to any size data center.\r\nTelcordia GR-3160, NEBS Requirements for Telecommunications Data Center Equipment and Spaces, provides guidelines for data center spaces within telecommunications networks, and environmental requirements for the equipment intended for installation in those spaces. These criteria were developed jointly by Telcordia and industry representatives. They may be applied to data center spaces housing data processing or Information Technology (IT) equipment. The equipment may be used to:\r\n<ul><li>Operate and manage a carrier's telecommunication network</li><li>Provide data center based applications directly to the carrier's customers</li><li>Provide hosted applications for a third party to provide services to their customers</li><li>Provide a combination of these and similar data center applications</li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Data center transformation</span></span>\r\nData center transformation takes a step-by-step approach through integrated projects carried out over time. This differs from a traditional method of data center upgrades that takes a serial and siloed approach. The typical projects within a data center transformation initiative include standardization/consolidation, virtualization, automation and security.\r\n<ul><li>Standardization/consolidation: Reducing the number of data centers and avoiding server sprawl (both physical and virtual) often includes replacing aging data center equipment, and is aided by standardization.</li><li>Virtualization: Lowers capital and operational expenses, reduce energy consumption. Virtualized desktops can be hosted in data centers and rented out on a subscription basis. Investment bank Lazard Capital Markets estimated in 2008 that 48 percent of enterprise operations will be virtualized by 2012. Gartner views virtualization as a catalyst for modernization.</li><li>Automating: Automating tasks such as provisioning, configuration, patching, release management and compliance is needed, not just when facing fewer skilled IT workers.</li><li>Securing: Protection of virtual systems is integrated with existing security of physical infrastructures.</li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Machine room</span></span>\r\nThe term &quot;Machine Room&quot; is at times used to refer to the large room within a Data Center where the actual Central Processing Unit is located; this may be separate from where high-speed printers are located. Air conditioning is most important in the machine room.\r\nAside from air-conditioning, there must be monitoring equipment, one type of which is to detect water prior to flood-level situations. One company, for several decades, has had share-of-mind: Water Alert. The company, as of 2018, has 2 competing manufacturers (Invetex, Hydro-Temp) and 3 competing distributors (Longden,Northeast Flooring, Slayton). ","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Data_center.png"}],"characteristics":[],"concurentProducts":[],"jobRoles":[],"organizationalFeatures":[],"complementaryCategories":[],"solutions":[],"materials":[],"useCases":[],"best_practices":[],"values":[],"implementations":[]},"citrix-sd-wan":{"id":3140,"logoURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/citrix_logo.png","logo":true,"scheme":false,"title":"Citrix SD-WAN","vendorVerified":0,"rating":"2.70","implementationsCount":2,"suppliersCount":0,"supplierPartnersCount":6,"alias":"citrix-sd-wan","companyTitle":"Citrix","companyTypes":["supplier","vendor"],"companyId":182,"companyAlias":"citrix","description":"Modern businesses need a network that can keep up with the pace of digital – one that delivers the best experience for the applications central to innovation and growth. Citrix' next-generation WAN Edge solution delivers flexible, automated, secure connectivity and performance that keeps the workspace always-on. Only Citrix SD-WAN delivers:<br /><br />\r\n<ul> <li>Unparalleled experience for SaaS, cloud, and virtual applications</li> </ul>\r\n<ul> <li>Choice of deployment options with automated connectivity to the cloud</li> </ul>\r\n<ul> <li>Integrated visibility and control over all aspects of the WAN</li> </ul>\r\nIn connection with the increased use of business-critical web applications, modern global networks (WANs) operate under load that exceeds their capacity. Extending the network with Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) solutions is a traditional approach, but can be expensive. On the other hand, alternatives like broadband and other types of Internet connections cost less, but they are not always acceptable for certain applications. Global network virtualization technologies can help optimize the bandwidth of such a network in an organization at a lower cost compared to traditional solutions.","shortDescription":"Citrix SD-WAN simplifies branch networking with a high-performance workspace experience when accessing SaaS apps, cloud workloads, virtual apps and desktops, or traditional data center resources","type":null,"isRoiCalculatorAvaliable":false,"isConfiguratorAvaliable":false,"bonus":100,"usingCount":0,"sellingCount":19,"discontinued":0,"rebateForPoc":0,"rebate":0,"seo":{"title":"Citrix SD-WAN","keywords":"","description":"Modern businesses need a network that can keep up with the pace of digital – one that delivers the best experience for the applications central to innovation and growth. Citrix' next-generation WAN Edge solution delivers flexible, automated, secure connectivit","og:title":"Citrix SD-WAN","og:description":"Modern businesses need a network that can keep up with the pace of digital – one that delivers the best experience for the applications central to innovation and growth. Citrix' next-generation WAN Edge solution delivers flexible, automated, secure connectivit","og:image":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/citrix_logo.png"},"eventUrl":"","translationId":3141,"dealDetails":null,"roi":null,"price":null,"bonusForReference":null,"templateData":[{"id":93,"title":"Software-Defined WAN (SD-WAN)"}],"testingArea":"","categories":[{"id":499,"title":"SDN Software-Defined Network","alias":"sdn-software-defined-network","description":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Software-defined networking (SDN)</span> technology is an approach to network management that enables dynamic, programmatically efficient network configuration in order to improve network performance and monitoring, making it more like cloud computing than traditional network management.\r\nSDN encompasses several types of technologies, including functional separation, network virtualization and automation through programmability. SDN solution is meant to address the fact that the static architecture of traditional networks is decentralized and complex while current networks require more flexibility and easy troubleshooting. \r\nSDN technology attempts to centralize network intelligence in one network component by disassociating the forwarding process of network packets (<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">data plane</span>) from the routing process (<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">control plane</span>). The control plane consists of one or more controllers which are considered as the brain of SDN network where the whole intelligence is incorporated. Originally, software defined technology focused solely on separation of the network control plane from the data plane. While the control plane makes decisions about how packets should flow through the network, the data plane actually moves packets from place to place. \r\nIn a classic SDN scenario, a packet arrives at a network switch, and rules built into the switch's proprietary firmware tell the switch where to forward the packet. These packet-handling rules are sent to the switch from the centralized controller. The switch - also known as a <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">data plane device</span> - queries the controller for guidance as needed, and it provides the controller with information about traffic it handles. The switch sends every packet going to the same destination along the same path and treats all the packets the exact same way.\r\nSoftware defined networking solutions use an operation mode that is sometimes called adaptive or dynamic, in which a switch issues a route request to a controller for a packet that does not have a specific route. This process is separate from adaptive routing, which issues route requests through routers and algorithms based on the network topology, not through a controller.\r\nThe <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">virtualization</span> aspect of SDN comes into play through a virtual overlay, which is a logically separate network on top of the physical network. Users can implement end-to-end overlays to abstract the underlying network and segment network traffic. This microsegmentation is especially useful for service providers and operators with multi-tenant cloud environments and cloud services, as they can provision a separate virtual network with specific policies for each tenant.","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\">Benefits of Software Defined Networking</h1>\r\nWith SDN software, an <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">administrator can change any network switch's rules when necessary</span> - prioritizing, deprioritizing or even blocking specific types of packets with a granular level of control and security. This is especially helpful in a cloud computing multi-tenant architecture, because it enables the administrator to manage traffic loads in a flexible and more efficient manner. Essentially, this enables the administrator to use less expensive commodity switches and have more control over network traffic flow than ever before.\r\nOther benefits of SDN are <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">network management</span> and <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">end-to-end visibility.</span>A network administrator need only deal with one centralized controller to distribute policies to the connected switches, instead of configuring multiple individual devices. This capability is also a security advantage because the controller can monitor traffic and deploy security policies. If the controller deems traffic suspicious, for example, it can reroute or drop the packets.\r\nSoftware defined networking software also <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">virtualizes hardware</span> and <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">services </span>that were previously carried out by dedicated hardware, resulting in the touted benefits of a reduced hardware footprint and lower operational costs.\r\nAdditionally, SDN contributed to the emergence of <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN)</span> technology. SD-WAN employs the virtual overlay aspect of SDN technology, abstracting an organization's connectivity links throughout its WAN and creating a virtual network that can use whichever connection the controller deems fit to send traffic.\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\">Are there any SDN security benefits?</h1>\r\nAs security issues become more complex at the edge of the network, it’s no wonder that network and security professionals are looking for new ways to approach network protection. Nowadays, it seems like SDN is going to be the answer. \r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Centralized Network Control </span></li></ul>\r\nIn a traditional network, devices (router/switches) make their own decisions locally about where and how best to send traffic.&nbsp; In terms of network security, SDN can be used to route data packets through a single firewall and make IDS and IPS data capture more efficient.\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Simplify Configuration</span></li></ul>\r\nThe SDN makes it easier to automate configuration and improves the traceability of those configurations. The introduction of SDN network management allows dynamic programming and restructuring of network settings, which reduces the risk of DDoS attacks. It is also worth adding that SDN has automatic quarantine capabilities. \r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Creation of High-level Network Policies</span></li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"color: rgb(97, 97, 97); \">Rather than physically configuring security solutions, SDN facilitates the central management of security policies to make network operator roles more efficient and flexible. Moreover, SDN helps to move away from current management approaches such as SNMP/CLI and build more effective policy management. </span>\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \"><span style=\"color: rgb(97, 97, 97); \">Easy to use Application Programming Interfaces (APIs)</span></span></li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"color: rgb(97, 97, 97); \">Cloud APIs are interfaces presented by software and play a vital role in SDN controllers and applications. Easy to use APIs help to manage network resources, improve the efficiency of IT resources, and aid integration with IT tools. Additionally, a number of good cloud security practices have been introduced recently. </span>","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_SDN_Software_Defined_Network.png"},{"id":52,"title":"SaaS - software as a service","alias":"saas-software-as-a-service","description":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Software as a service (SaaS)</span> is a software licensing and delivery model in which software is licensed on a subscription basis and is centrally hosted. It is sometimes referred to as &quot;on-demand software&quot;, and was formerly referred to as &quot;software plus services&quot; by Microsoft.\r\n SaaS services is typically accessed by users using a thin client, e.g. via a web browser. SaaS software solutions has become a common delivery model for many business applications, including office software, messaging software, payroll processing software, DBMS software, management software, CAD software, development software, gamification, virtualization, accounting, collaboration, customer relationship management (CRM), Management Information Systems (MIS), enterprise resource planning (ERP), invoicing, human resource management (HRM), talent acquisition, learning management systems, content management (CM), Geographic Information Systems (GIS), and service desk management. SaaS has been incorporated into the strategy of nearly all leading enterprise software companies.\r\nSaaS applications are also known as <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Web-based software</span>, <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">on-demand software</span> and<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\"> hosted software</span>.\r\nThe term &quot;Software as a Service&quot; (SaaS) is considered to be part of the nomenclature of cloud computing, along with Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), Desktop as a Service (DaaS),managed software as a service (MSaaS), mobile backend as a service (MBaaS), and information technology management as a service (ITMaaS).\r\nBecause SaaS is based on cloud computing it saves organizations from installing and running applications on their own systems. That eliminates or at least reduces the associated costs of hardware purchases and maintenance and of software and support. The initial setup cost for a SaaS application is also generally lower than it for equivalent enterprise software purchased via a site license.\r\nSometimes, the use of SaaS cloud software can also reduce the long-term costs of software licensing, though that depends on the pricing model for the individual SaaS offering and the enterprise’s usage patterns. In fact, it’s possible for SaaS to cost more than traditional software licenses. This is an area IT organizations should explore carefully.<br />SaaS also provides enterprises the flexibility inherent with cloud services: they can subscribe to a SaaS offering as needed rather than having to buy software licenses and install the software on a variety of computers. The savings can be substantial in the case of applications that require new hardware purchases to support the software.<br /><br /><br /><br />","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: normal;\">Who uses SaaS?</span></h1>\r\nIndustry analyst Forrester Research notes that SaaS adoption has so far been concentrated mostly in human resource management (HRM), customer relationship management (CRM), collaboration software (e.g., email), and procurement solutions, but is poised to widen. Today it’s possible to have a data warehouse in the cloud that you can access with business intelligence software running as a service and connect to your cloud-based ERP like NetSuite or Microsoft Dynamics.The dollar savings can run into the millions. And SaaS installations are often installed and working in a fraction of the time of on-premises deployments—some can be ready in hours. \r\nSales and marketing people are likely familiar with Salesforce.com, the leading SaaS CRM software, with millions of users across more than 100,000 customers. Sales is going SaaS too, with apps available to support sales in order management, compensation, quote production and configure, price, quoting, electronic signatures, contract management and more.\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: normal;\">Why SaaS? Benefits of software as a service</span></h1>\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Lower cost of entry</span>. With SaaS solution, you pay for what you need, without having to buy hardware to host your new applications. Instead of provisioning internal resources to install the software, the vendor provides APIs and performs much of the work to get their software working for you. The time to a working solution can drop from months in the traditional model to weeks, days or hours with the SaaS model. In some businesses, IT wants nothing to do with installing and running a sales app. In the case of funding software and its implementation, this can be a make-or-break issue for the sales and marketing budget, so the lower cost really makes the difference.</li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Reduced time to benefit/rapid prototyping</span>. In the SaaS model, the software application is already installed and configured. Users can provision the server for the cloud and quickly have the application ready for use. This cuts the time to benefit and allows for rapid demonstrations and prototyping. With many SaaS companies offering free trials, this means a painless proof of concept and discovery phase to prove the benefit to the organization. </li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Pay as you go</span>. SaaS business software gives you the benefit of predictable costs both for the subscription and to some extent, the administration. Even as you scale, you can have a clear idea of what your costs will be. This allows for much more accurate budgeting, especially as compared to the costs of internal IT to manage upgrades and address issues for an owned instance.</li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">The SaaS vendor is responsible for upgrades, uptime and security</span>. Under the SaaS model, since the software is hosted by the vendor, they take on the responsibility for maintaining the software and upgrading it, ensuring that it is reliable and meeting agreed-upon service level agreements, and keeping the application and its data secure.&nbsp; While some IT people worry about Software as a Service security outside of the enterprise walls, the likely truth is that the vendor has a much higher level of security than the enterprise itself would provide. Many will have redundant instances in very secure data centers in multiple geographies.&nbsp; Also, the data is being automatically backed up by the vendor, providing additional security and peace of mind. Because of the data center hosting, you’re getting the added benefit of at least some disaster recovery. Lastly, the vendor manages these issues as part of their core competencies—let them.</li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Integration and scalability.</span> Most SaaS apps are designed to support some amount of customization for the way you do business. SaaS vendors create APIs to allow connections not only to internal applications like ERPs or CRMs but also to other SaaS providers. One of the terrific aspects of integration is that orders written in the field can be automatically sent to the ERP. Now a salesperson in the field can check inventory through the catalog, write the order in front of the customer for approval, send it and receive confirmation, all in minutes. And as you scale with a SaaS vendor, there’s no need to invest in server capacity and software licenses. </li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Work anywhere</span>. Since the software is hosted in the cloud and accessible over the internet, users can access it via mobile devices wherever they are connected. This includes checking customer order histories prior to a sales call, as well as having access to real time data and real time order taking with the customer.</li></ul>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\">&nbsp;</p>","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/SaaS__1_.png"},{"id":34,"title":"ITSM - IT Service Management","alias":"itsm-it-service-management","description":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">IT service management (ITSM)</span> is the process of designing, delivering, managing, and improving the IT services an organization provides to its end users. ITSM is focused on aligning IT processes and services with business objectives to help an organization grow.\r\nITSM positions IT services as the key means of delivering and obtaining value, where an internal or external IT service provider works with business customers, at the same time taking responsibility for the associated costs and risks. ITSM works across the whole lifecycle of a service, from the original strategy, through design, transition and into live operation.\r\nTo ensure sustainable quality of IT services, ITSM establishes a set of practices, or processes, constituting a service management system. There are industrial, national and international standards for IT service management solutions, setting up requirements and good practices for the management system. \r\nITSM system is based on a set of principles, such as focusing on value and continual improvement. It is not just a set of processes – it is a cultural mindset to ensure that the desired outcome for the business is achieved. \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">ITIL (IT Infrastructure Library)</span> is a framework of best practices and recommendations for managing an organization's IT operations and services. IT service management processes, when built based on the ITIL framework, pave the way for better IT service operations management and improved business. To summarize, ITIL is a set of guidelines for effective IT service management best practices. ITIL has evolved beyond the delivery of services to providing end-to-end value delivery. The focus is now on the co-creation of value through service relationships. \r\n<p class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">ITSM processes typically include five stages, all based on the ITIL framework:</span></p>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">ITSM strategy.</span> This stage forms the foundation or the framework of an organization's ITSM process building. It involves defining the services that the organization will offer, strategically planning processes, and recognizing and developing the required assets to keep processes moving. \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Service design.</span> This stage's main aim is planning and designing the IT services the organization offers to meet business demands. It involves creating and designing new services as well as assessing current services and making relevant improvements.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Service transition.</span> Once the designs for IT services and their processes have been finalized, it's important to build them and test them out to ensure that processes flow. IT teams need to ensure that the designs don't disrupt services in any way, especially when existing IT service processes are upgraded or redesigned. This calls for change management, evaluation, and risk management. \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Service operation. </span>This phase involves implementing the tried and tested new or modified designs in a live environment. While in this stage, the processes have already been tested and the issues fixed, but new processes are bound to have hiccups—especially when customers start using the services. \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Continual service improvement (CSI).</span> Implementing IT processes successfully shouldn't be the final stage in any organization. There's always room for improvement and new development based on issues that pop up, customer needs and demands, and user feedback.\r\n\r\n","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\">Benefits of efficient ITSM processes</h1>\r\nIrrespective of the size of business, every organization is involved in IT service management in some way. ITSM ensures that incidents, service requests, problems, changes, and IT assets—in addition to other aspects of IT services—are managed in a streamlined way.\r\nIT teams in your organization can employ various workflows and best practices in ITSM, as outlined in ITIL. Effective IT service management can have positive effects on an IT organization's overall function.\r\nHere are the 10 key benefits of ITSM:\r\n<ul><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Lower costs for IT operations</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Higher returns on IT investments</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Minimal service outages</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Ability to establish well-defined, repeatable, and manageable IT processes</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Efficient analysis of IT problems to reduce repeat incidents</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Improved efficiency of IT help desk teams</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Well-defined roles and responsibilities</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Clear expectations on service levels and service availability</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Risk-free implementation of IT changes</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Better transparency into IT processes and services</li></ul>\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\">How to choose an ITSM tool?</h1>\r\nWith a competent IT service management goal in mind, it's important to invest in a service desk solution that caters to your business needs. It goes without saying, with more than 150 service desk tools to choose from, selecting the right one is easier said than done. Here are a few things to keep in mind when choosing an ITSM products:\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Identify key processes and their dependencies. </span>Based on business goals, decide which key ITSM processes need to be implemented and chart out the integrations that need to be established to achieve those goals. \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Consult with ITSM experts.</span> Participate in business expos, webinars, demos, etc., and educate yourself about the various options that are available in the market. Reports from expert analysts such as Gartner and Forrester are particularly useful as they include reviews of almost every solution, ranked based on multiple criteria.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Choose a deployment option.</span> Every business has a different IT infrastructure model. Selecting an on-premises or software as a service (SaaS IT service management) tool depends on whether your business prefers to host its applications and data on its own servers or use a public or private cloud.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Plan ahead for the future.</span> Although it's important to consider the &quot;needs&quot; primarily, you shouldn't rule out the secondary or luxury capabilities. If the ITSM tool doesn't have the potential to adapt to your needs as your organization grows, it can pull you back from progressing. Draw a clear picture of where your business is headed and choose an service ITSM that is flexible and technology-driven.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Don't stop with the capabilities of the ITSM tool.</span> It might be tempting to assess an ITSM tool based on its capabilities and features but it's important to evaluate the vendor of the tool. A good IT support team, and a vendor that is endorsed for their customer-vendor relationship can take your IT services far. Check Gartner's magic quadrant and other analyst reports, along with product and support reviews to ensure that the said tool provides good customer support.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_ITSM.png"}],"characteristics":[],"concurentProducts":[],"jobRoles":[],"organizationalFeatures":[],"complementaryCategories":[],"solutions":[],"materials":[],"useCases":[],"best_practices":[],"values":[],"implementations":[]},"ecessa-sd-wan":{"id":3326,"logoURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/Ecessa_logo.png","logo":true,"scheme":false,"title":"Ecessa SD-WAN","vendorVerified":0,"rating":"1.00","implementationsCount":0,"suppliersCount":0,"supplierPartnersCount":0,"alias":"ecessa-sd-wan","companyTitle":"Ecessa","companyTypes":["supplier","vendor"],"companyId":5234,"companyAlias":"ecessa","description":"Any business or entity that relies on public or private networks to operate their business.\r\nSD-WAN is the most disruptive technology to hit the telecom market in the last decade, delivering the benefits of increased bandwidth, network uptime and, in some cases, cost savings through the use of low-cost broadband connections.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">WHERE WE HELP</span>\r\n<ul> <li>We help you differentiate from direct</li> <li>We add incremental revenue streams and increase your margins with new and existing partners</li> <li>We can be your technical experts on SD-WAN helping you be the value-added partner</li> <li>We offer a variety of SD-WAN solutions with prices as low as $50/month</li> </ul>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">WHERE ECESSA TENDS TO WIN</span>\r\n<ul> <li>Voice, video and VDI environments</li> <li>SMB/SME with 1 to 500 sites are in Ecessa’s sweet spot</li> <li>Regulated markets where data must be controlled from end-to-end, e.g. medical, banking/finance</li> <li>Customers who need flexible networks</li> </ul>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">WHY WE ARE DIFFERENT</span>\r\n<ul> <li>Bandwidth and carrier agnostic</li> <li>Ecessa offers 3 unique, and upgradeable, platforms that can be mixed and matched to create the perfect solution for any environment</li> <li>Ecessa has products that range from 60 Mbps to 20 Gbps</li> <li>Easy to consume with both CapEx and OpEx pricing options</li> <li>Ecessa is a premise-based solution which means all the intelligence sits on the device</li> <li>Cloud-based SD-WAN can introduce issues with security, oversubscription, and latency</li> </ul>","shortDescription":"At Ecessa, we help organizations deploy SD-WAN using a guided process and real-time data to prove the return on investment of an SD-WAN solution from the start.","type":null,"isRoiCalculatorAvaliable":false,"isConfiguratorAvaliable":false,"bonus":100,"usingCount":7,"sellingCount":11,"discontinued":0,"rebateForPoc":0,"rebate":0,"seo":{"title":"Ecessa SD-WAN","keywords":"","description":"Any business or entity that relies on public or private networks to operate their business.\r\nSD-WAN is the most disruptive technology to hit the telecom market in the last decade, delivering the benefits of increased bandwidth, network uptime and, in some case","og:title":"Ecessa SD-WAN","og:description":"Any business or entity that relies on public or private networks to operate their business.\r\nSD-WAN is the most disruptive technology to hit the telecom market in the last decade, delivering the benefits of increased bandwidth, network uptime and, in some case","og:image":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/Ecessa_logo.png"},"eventUrl":"","translationId":3327,"dealDetails":null,"roi":null,"price":null,"bonusForReference":null,"templateData":[{"id":93,"title":"Software-Defined WAN (SD-WAN)"}],"testingArea":"","categories":[{"id":499,"title":"SDN Software-Defined Network","alias":"sdn-software-defined-network","description":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Software-defined networking (SDN)</span> technology is an approach to network management that enables dynamic, programmatically efficient network configuration in order to improve network performance and monitoring, making it more like cloud computing than traditional network management.\r\nSDN encompasses several types of technologies, including functional separation, network virtualization and automation through programmability. SDN solution is meant to address the fact that the static architecture of traditional networks is decentralized and complex while current networks require more flexibility and easy troubleshooting. \r\nSDN technology attempts to centralize network intelligence in one network component by disassociating the forwarding process of network packets (<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">data plane</span>) from the routing process (<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">control plane</span>). The control plane consists of one or more controllers which are considered as the brain of SDN network where the whole intelligence is incorporated. Originally, software defined technology focused solely on separation of the network control plane from the data plane. While the control plane makes decisions about how packets should flow through the network, the data plane actually moves packets from place to place. \r\nIn a classic SDN scenario, a packet arrives at a network switch, and rules built into the switch's proprietary firmware tell the switch where to forward the packet. These packet-handling rules are sent to the switch from the centralized controller. The switch - also known as a <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">data plane device</span> - queries the controller for guidance as needed, and it provides the controller with information about traffic it handles. The switch sends every packet going to the same destination along the same path and treats all the packets the exact same way.\r\nSoftware defined networking solutions use an operation mode that is sometimes called adaptive or dynamic, in which a switch issues a route request to a controller for a packet that does not have a specific route. This process is separate from adaptive routing, which issues route requests through routers and algorithms based on the network topology, not through a controller.\r\nThe <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">virtualization</span> aspect of SDN comes into play through a virtual overlay, which is a logically separate network on top of the physical network. Users can implement end-to-end overlays to abstract the underlying network and segment network traffic. This microsegmentation is especially useful for service providers and operators with multi-tenant cloud environments and cloud services, as they can provision a separate virtual network with specific policies for each tenant.","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\">Benefits of Software Defined Networking</h1>\r\nWith SDN software, an <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">administrator can change any network switch's rules when necessary</span> - prioritizing, deprioritizing or even blocking specific types of packets with a granular level of control and security. This is especially helpful in a cloud computing multi-tenant architecture, because it enables the administrator to manage traffic loads in a flexible and more efficient manner. Essentially, this enables the administrator to use less expensive commodity switches and have more control over network traffic flow than ever before.\r\nOther benefits of SDN are <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">network management</span> and <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">end-to-end visibility.</span>A network administrator need only deal with one centralized controller to distribute policies to the connected switches, instead of configuring multiple individual devices. This capability is also a security advantage because the controller can monitor traffic and deploy security policies. If the controller deems traffic suspicious, for example, it can reroute or drop the packets.\r\nSoftware defined networking software also <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">virtualizes hardware</span> and <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">services </span>that were previously carried out by dedicated hardware, resulting in the touted benefits of a reduced hardware footprint and lower operational costs.\r\nAdditionally, SDN contributed to the emergence of <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN)</span> technology. SD-WAN employs the virtual overlay aspect of SDN technology, abstracting an organization's connectivity links throughout its WAN and creating a virtual network that can use whichever connection the controller deems fit to send traffic.\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\">Are there any SDN security benefits?</h1>\r\nAs security issues become more complex at the edge of the network, it’s no wonder that network and security professionals are looking for new ways to approach network protection. Nowadays, it seems like SDN is going to be the answer. \r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Centralized Network Control </span></li></ul>\r\nIn a traditional network, devices (router/switches) make their own decisions locally about where and how best to send traffic.&nbsp; In terms of network security, SDN can be used to route data packets through a single firewall and make IDS and IPS data capture more efficient.\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Simplify Configuration</span></li></ul>\r\nThe SDN makes it easier to automate configuration and improves the traceability of those configurations. The introduction of SDN network management allows dynamic programming and restructuring of network settings, which reduces the risk of DDoS attacks. It is also worth adding that SDN has automatic quarantine capabilities. \r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Creation of High-level Network Policies</span></li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"color: rgb(97, 97, 97); \">Rather than physically configuring security solutions, SDN facilitates the central management of security policies to make network operator roles more efficient and flexible. Moreover, SDN helps to move away from current management approaches such as SNMP/CLI and build more effective policy management. </span>\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \"><span style=\"color: rgb(97, 97, 97); \">Easy to use Application Programming Interfaces (APIs)</span></span></li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"color: rgb(97, 97, 97); \">Cloud APIs are interfaces presented by software and play a vital role in SDN controllers and applications. Easy to use APIs help to manage network resources, improve the efficiency of IT resources, and aid integration with IT tools. Additionally, a number of good cloud security practices have been introduced recently. </span>","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_SDN_Software_Defined_Network.png"},{"id":52,"title":"SaaS - software as a service","alias":"saas-software-as-a-service","description":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Software as a service (SaaS)</span> is a software licensing and delivery model in which software is licensed on a subscription basis and is centrally hosted. It is sometimes referred to as &quot;on-demand software&quot;, and was formerly referred to as &quot;software plus services&quot; by Microsoft.\r\n SaaS services is typically accessed by users using a thin client, e.g. via a web browser. SaaS software solutions has become a common delivery model for many business applications, including office software, messaging software, payroll processing software, DBMS software, management software, CAD software, development software, gamification, virtualization, accounting, collaboration, customer relationship management (CRM), Management Information Systems (MIS), enterprise resource planning (ERP), invoicing, human resource management (HRM), talent acquisition, learning management systems, content management (CM), Geographic Information Systems (GIS), and service desk management. SaaS has been incorporated into the strategy of nearly all leading enterprise software companies.\r\nSaaS applications are also known as <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Web-based software</span>, <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">on-demand software</span> and<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\"> hosted software</span>.\r\nThe term &quot;Software as a Service&quot; (SaaS) is considered to be part of the nomenclature of cloud computing, along with Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), Desktop as a Service (DaaS),managed software as a service (MSaaS), mobile backend as a service (MBaaS), and information technology management as a service (ITMaaS).\r\nBecause SaaS is based on cloud computing it saves organizations from installing and running applications on their own systems. That eliminates or at least reduces the associated costs of hardware purchases and maintenance and of software and support. The initial setup cost for a SaaS application is also generally lower than it for equivalent enterprise software purchased via a site license.\r\nSometimes, the use of SaaS cloud software can also reduce the long-term costs of software licensing, though that depends on the pricing model for the individual SaaS offering and the enterprise’s usage patterns. In fact, it’s possible for SaaS to cost more than traditional software licenses. This is an area IT organizations should explore carefully.<br />SaaS also provides enterprises the flexibility inherent with cloud services: they can subscribe to a SaaS offering as needed rather than having to buy software licenses and install the software on a variety of computers. The savings can be substantial in the case of applications that require new hardware purchases to support the software.<br /><br /><br /><br />","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: normal;\">Who uses SaaS?</span></h1>\r\nIndustry analyst Forrester Research notes that SaaS adoption has so far been concentrated mostly in human resource management (HRM), customer relationship management (CRM), collaboration software (e.g., email), and procurement solutions, but is poised to widen. Today it’s possible to have a data warehouse in the cloud that you can access with business intelligence software running as a service and connect to your cloud-based ERP like NetSuite or Microsoft Dynamics.The dollar savings can run into the millions. And SaaS installations are often installed and working in a fraction of the time of on-premises deployments—some can be ready in hours. \r\nSales and marketing people are likely familiar with Salesforce.com, the leading SaaS CRM software, with millions of users across more than 100,000 customers. Sales is going SaaS too, with apps available to support sales in order management, compensation, quote production and configure, price, quoting, electronic signatures, contract management and more.\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: normal;\">Why SaaS? Benefits of software as a service</span></h1>\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Lower cost of entry</span>. With SaaS solution, you pay for what you need, without having to buy hardware to host your new applications. Instead of provisioning internal resources to install the software, the vendor provides APIs and performs much of the work to get their software working for you. The time to a working solution can drop from months in the traditional model to weeks, days or hours with the SaaS model. In some businesses, IT wants nothing to do with installing and running a sales app. In the case of funding software and its implementation, this can be a make-or-break issue for the sales and marketing budget, so the lower cost really makes the difference.</li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Reduced time to benefit/rapid prototyping</span>. In the SaaS model, the software application is already installed and configured. Users can provision the server for the cloud and quickly have the application ready for use. This cuts the time to benefit and allows for rapid demonstrations and prototyping. With many SaaS companies offering free trials, this means a painless proof of concept and discovery phase to prove the benefit to the organization. </li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Pay as you go</span>. SaaS business software gives you the benefit of predictable costs both for the subscription and to some extent, the administration. Even as you scale, you can have a clear idea of what your costs will be. This allows for much more accurate budgeting, especially as compared to the costs of internal IT to manage upgrades and address issues for an owned instance.</li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">The SaaS vendor is responsible for upgrades, uptime and security</span>. Under the SaaS model, since the software is hosted by the vendor, they take on the responsibility for maintaining the software and upgrading it, ensuring that it is reliable and meeting agreed-upon service level agreements, and keeping the application and its data secure.&nbsp; While some IT people worry about Software as a Service security outside of the enterprise walls, the likely truth is that the vendor has a much higher level of security than the enterprise itself would provide. Many will have redundant instances in very secure data centers in multiple geographies.&nbsp; Also, the data is being automatically backed up by the vendor, providing additional security and peace of mind. Because of the data center hosting, you’re getting the added benefit of at least some disaster recovery. Lastly, the vendor manages these issues as part of their core competencies—let them.</li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Integration and scalability.</span> Most SaaS apps are designed to support some amount of customization for the way you do business. SaaS vendors create APIs to allow connections not only to internal applications like ERPs or CRMs but also to other SaaS providers. One of the terrific aspects of integration is that orders written in the field can be automatically sent to the ERP. Now a salesperson in the field can check inventory through the catalog, write the order in front of the customer for approval, send it and receive confirmation, all in minutes. And as you scale with a SaaS vendor, there’s no need to invest in server capacity and software licenses. </li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Work anywhere</span>. Since the software is hosted in the cloud and accessible over the internet, users can access it via mobile devices wherever they are connected. This includes checking customer order histories prior to a sales call, as well as having access to real time data and real time order taking with the customer.</li></ul>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\">&nbsp;</p>","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/SaaS__1_.png"},{"id":34,"title":"ITSM - IT Service Management","alias":"itsm-it-service-management","description":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">IT service management (ITSM)</span> is the process of designing, delivering, managing, and improving the IT services an organization provides to its end users. ITSM is focused on aligning IT processes and services with business objectives to help an organization grow.\r\nITSM positions IT services as the key means of delivering and obtaining value, where an internal or external IT service provider works with business customers, at the same time taking responsibility for the associated costs and risks. ITSM works across the whole lifecycle of a service, from the original strategy, through design, transition and into live operation.\r\nTo ensure sustainable quality of IT services, ITSM establishes a set of practices, or processes, constituting a service management system. There are industrial, national and international standards for IT service management solutions, setting up requirements and good practices for the management system. \r\nITSM system is based on a set of principles, such as focusing on value and continual improvement. It is not just a set of processes – it is a cultural mindset to ensure that the desired outcome for the business is achieved. \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">ITIL (IT Infrastructure Library)</span> is a framework of best practices and recommendations for managing an organization's IT operations and services. IT service management processes, when built based on the ITIL framework, pave the way for better IT service operations management and improved business. To summarize, ITIL is a set of guidelines for effective IT service management best practices. ITIL has evolved beyond the delivery of services to providing end-to-end value delivery. The focus is now on the co-creation of value through service relationships. \r\n<p class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">ITSM processes typically include five stages, all based on the ITIL framework:</span></p>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">ITSM strategy.</span> This stage forms the foundation or the framework of an organization's ITSM process building. It involves defining the services that the organization will offer, strategically planning processes, and recognizing and developing the required assets to keep processes moving. \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Service design.</span> This stage's main aim is planning and designing the IT services the organization offers to meet business demands. It involves creating and designing new services as well as assessing current services and making relevant improvements.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Service transition.</span> Once the designs for IT services and their processes have been finalized, it's important to build them and test them out to ensure that processes flow. IT teams need to ensure that the designs don't disrupt services in any way, especially when existing IT service processes are upgraded or redesigned. This calls for change management, evaluation, and risk management. \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Service operation. </span>This phase involves implementing the tried and tested new or modified designs in a live environment. While in this stage, the processes have already been tested and the issues fixed, but new processes are bound to have hiccups—especially when customers start using the services. \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Continual service improvement (CSI).</span> Implementing IT processes successfully shouldn't be the final stage in any organization. There's always room for improvement and new development based on issues that pop up, customer needs and demands, and user feedback.\r\n\r\n","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\">Benefits of efficient ITSM processes</h1>\r\nIrrespective of the size of business, every organization is involved in IT service management in some way. ITSM ensures that incidents, service requests, problems, changes, and IT assets—in addition to other aspects of IT services—are managed in a streamlined way.\r\nIT teams in your organization can employ various workflows and best practices in ITSM, as outlined in ITIL. Effective IT service management can have positive effects on an IT organization's overall function.\r\nHere are the 10 key benefits of ITSM:\r\n<ul><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Lower costs for IT operations</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Higher returns on IT investments</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Minimal service outages</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Ability to establish well-defined, repeatable, and manageable IT processes</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Efficient analysis of IT problems to reduce repeat incidents</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Improved efficiency of IT help desk teams</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Well-defined roles and responsibilities</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Clear expectations on service levels and service availability</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Risk-free implementation of IT changes</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Better transparency into IT processes and services</li></ul>\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\">How to choose an ITSM tool?</h1>\r\nWith a competent IT service management goal in mind, it's important to invest in a service desk solution that caters to your business needs. It goes without saying, with more than 150 service desk tools to choose from, selecting the right one is easier said than done. Here are a few things to keep in mind when choosing an ITSM products:\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Identify key processes and their dependencies. </span>Based on business goals, decide which key ITSM processes need to be implemented and chart out the integrations that need to be established to achieve those goals. \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Consult with ITSM experts.</span> Participate in business expos, webinars, demos, etc., and educate yourself about the various options that are available in the market. Reports from expert analysts such as Gartner and Forrester are particularly useful as they include reviews of almost every solution, ranked based on multiple criteria.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Choose a deployment option.</span> Every business has a different IT infrastructure model. Selecting an on-premises or software as a service (SaaS IT service management) tool depends on whether your business prefers to host its applications and data on its own servers or use a public or private cloud.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Plan ahead for the future.</span> Although it's important to consider the &quot;needs&quot; primarily, you shouldn't rule out the secondary or luxury capabilities. If the ITSM tool doesn't have the potential to adapt to your needs as your organization grows, it can pull you back from progressing. Draw a clear picture of where your business is headed and choose an service ITSM that is flexible and technology-driven.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Don't stop with the capabilities of the ITSM tool.</span> It might be tempting to assess an ITSM tool based on its capabilities and features but it's important to evaluate the vendor of the tool. A good IT support team, and a vendor that is endorsed for their customer-vendor relationship can take your IT services far. Check Gartner's magic quadrant and other analyst reports, along with product and support reviews to ensure that the said tool provides good customer support.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_ITSM.png"}],"characteristics":[],"concurentProducts":[],"jobRoles":[],"organizationalFeatures":[],"complementaryCategories":[],"solutions":[],"materials":[],"useCases":[],"best_practices":[],"values":[],"implementations":[]},"forcepoint-secure-enterprise-sd-wan":{"id":3337,"logoURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/forcepoint_logo.png","logo":true,"scheme":false,"title":"Forcepoint Secure Enterprise SD-WAN","vendorVerified":0,"rating":"2.00","implementationsCount":0,"suppliersCount":0,"supplierPartnersCount":8,"alias":"forcepoint-secure-enterprise-sd-wan","companyTitle":"Forcepoint","companyTypes":["supplier","vendor"],"companyId":178,"companyAlias":"forcepoint","description":"Forcepoint’s network security products combine the latest in software-defined wide area networking (SD-WAN) with the industry’s top-rated next-generation firewall (NGFW) security, all managed at enterprise scale from a single policy-based console. It is used by organizations of all sizes in retail, hospitality, and financial services around the globe.\r\nForcepoint is depended upon by distributed organizations around the world to safely and efficiently connect and protect their remote stores, branches, and office buildings. Our SD-WAN technology enables sites to seamlessly use multiple connections from different ISPs, secure each of those links with the industry’s top-rated security, and manage all of it together from one console.\r\nWhether you’re a global organization that needs unified visibility and control, a growing business aspiring to have many locations, or a smaller organization that administers remote locations from a central office, Forcepoint’s enterprise-grade approach helps untangle unnecessary complexity to achieve new levels of operational efficiency.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Zero-Touch Deployment</span>\r\nSave time and money by deploying Forcepoint to remote offices and branch locations without an on-site technician. Devices can automatically download their initial configuration from Forcepoint’s Installation Cloud, eliminating the need for manual setup.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Smarter Policies &amp; Updates</span>\r\nForcepoint’s Smart Policies express your business processes in familiar terms, such as users, applications, locations and more. Easy grouping replaces hardcoded values, enabling policies to be dynamically reused throughout your network. Administrators can quickly update and publish policies to all affected devices, globally with a single click.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Faster Incident Response</span>\r\nForcepoint SMC makes it easy to visualize and analyze what’s happening throughout your network.Network admins can interactively drill into the corresponding data to rapidly investigate patterns and anomalies and turn insights into immediate actions.","shortDescription":"Forcepoint Secure Enterprise SD-WAN allows you to safely and efficiently extend your network from your data centers and headquarters out to your remote branch offices and into the cloud.","type":null,"isRoiCalculatorAvaliable":false,"isConfiguratorAvaliable":false,"bonus":100,"usingCount":11,"sellingCount":0,"discontinued":0,"rebateForPoc":0,"rebate":0,"seo":{"title":"Forcepoint Secure Enterprise SD-WAN","keywords":"","description":"Forcepoint’s network security products combine the latest in software-defined wide area networking (SD-WAN) with the industry’s top-rated next-generation firewall (NGFW) security, all managed at enterprise scale from a single policy-based console. It is used b","og:title":"Forcepoint Secure Enterprise SD-WAN","og:description":"Forcepoint’s network security products combine the latest in software-defined wide area networking (SD-WAN) with the industry’s top-rated next-generation firewall (NGFW) security, all managed at enterprise scale from a single policy-based console. It is used b","og:image":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/forcepoint_logo.png"},"eventUrl":"","translationId":3338,"dealDetails":null,"roi":null,"price":null,"bonusForReference":null,"templateData":[{"id":93,"title":"Software-Defined WAN (SD-WAN)"}],"testingArea":"","categories":[{"id":499,"title":"SDN Software-Defined Network","alias":"sdn-software-defined-network","description":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Software-defined networking (SDN)</span> technology is an approach to network management that enables dynamic, programmatically efficient network configuration in order to improve network performance and monitoring, making it more like cloud computing than traditional network management.\r\nSDN encompasses several types of technologies, including functional separation, network virtualization and automation through programmability. SDN solution is meant to address the fact that the static architecture of traditional networks is decentralized and complex while current networks require more flexibility and easy troubleshooting. \r\nSDN technology attempts to centralize network intelligence in one network component by disassociating the forwarding process of network packets (<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">data plane</span>) from the routing process (<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">control plane</span>). The control plane consists of one or more controllers which are considered as the brain of SDN network where the whole intelligence is incorporated. Originally, software defined technology focused solely on separation of the network control plane from the data plane. While the control plane makes decisions about how packets should flow through the network, the data plane actually moves packets from place to place. \r\nIn a classic SDN scenario, a packet arrives at a network switch, and rules built into the switch's proprietary firmware tell the switch where to forward the packet. These packet-handling rules are sent to the switch from the centralized controller. The switch - also known as a <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">data plane device</span> - queries the controller for guidance as needed, and it provides the controller with information about traffic it handles. The switch sends every packet going to the same destination along the same path and treats all the packets the exact same way.\r\nSoftware defined networking solutions use an operation mode that is sometimes called adaptive or dynamic, in which a switch issues a route request to a controller for a packet that does not have a specific route. This process is separate from adaptive routing, which issues route requests through routers and algorithms based on the network topology, not through a controller.\r\nThe <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">virtualization</span> aspect of SDN comes into play through a virtual overlay, which is a logically separate network on top of the physical network. Users can implement end-to-end overlays to abstract the underlying network and segment network traffic. This microsegmentation is especially useful for service providers and operators with multi-tenant cloud environments and cloud services, as they can provision a separate virtual network with specific policies for each tenant.","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\">Benefits of Software Defined Networking</h1>\r\nWith SDN software, an <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">administrator can change any network switch's rules when necessary</span> - prioritizing, deprioritizing or even blocking specific types of packets with a granular level of control and security. This is especially helpful in a cloud computing multi-tenant architecture, because it enables the administrator to manage traffic loads in a flexible and more efficient manner. Essentially, this enables the administrator to use less expensive commodity switches and have more control over network traffic flow than ever before.\r\nOther benefits of SDN are <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">network management</span> and <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">end-to-end visibility.</span>A network administrator need only deal with one centralized controller to distribute policies to the connected switches, instead of configuring multiple individual devices. This capability is also a security advantage because the controller can monitor traffic and deploy security policies. If the controller deems traffic suspicious, for example, it can reroute or drop the packets.\r\nSoftware defined networking software also <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">virtualizes hardware</span> and <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">services </span>that were previously carried out by dedicated hardware, resulting in the touted benefits of a reduced hardware footprint and lower operational costs.\r\nAdditionally, SDN contributed to the emergence of <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN)</span> technology. SD-WAN employs the virtual overlay aspect of SDN technology, abstracting an organization's connectivity links throughout its WAN and creating a virtual network that can use whichever connection the controller deems fit to send traffic.\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\">Are there any SDN security benefits?</h1>\r\nAs security issues become more complex at the edge of the network, it’s no wonder that network and security professionals are looking for new ways to approach network protection. Nowadays, it seems like SDN is going to be the answer. \r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Centralized Network Control </span></li></ul>\r\nIn a traditional network, devices (router/switches) make their own decisions locally about where and how best to send traffic.&nbsp; In terms of network security, SDN can be used to route data packets through a single firewall and make IDS and IPS data capture more efficient.\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Simplify Configuration</span></li></ul>\r\nThe SDN makes it easier to automate configuration and improves the traceability of those configurations. The introduction of SDN network management allows dynamic programming and restructuring of network settings, which reduces the risk of DDoS attacks. It is also worth adding that SDN has automatic quarantine capabilities. \r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Creation of High-level Network Policies</span></li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"color: rgb(97, 97, 97); \">Rather than physically configuring security solutions, SDN facilitates the central management of security policies to make network operator roles more efficient and flexible. Moreover, SDN helps to move away from current management approaches such as SNMP/CLI and build more effective policy management. </span>\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \"><span style=\"color: rgb(97, 97, 97); \">Easy to use Application Programming Interfaces (APIs)</span></span></li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"color: rgb(97, 97, 97); \">Cloud APIs are interfaces presented by software and play a vital role in SDN controllers and applications. Easy to use APIs help to manage network resources, improve the efficiency of IT resources, and aid integration with IT tools. Additionally, a number of good cloud security practices have been introduced recently. </span>","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_SDN_Software_Defined_Network.png"},{"id":52,"title":"SaaS - software as a service","alias":"saas-software-as-a-service","description":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Software as a service (SaaS)</span> is a software licensing and delivery model in which software is licensed on a subscription basis and is centrally hosted. It is sometimes referred to as &quot;on-demand software&quot;, and was formerly referred to as &quot;software plus services&quot; by Microsoft.\r\n SaaS services is typically accessed by users using a thin client, e.g. via a web browser. SaaS software solutions has become a common delivery model for many business applications, including office software, messaging software, payroll processing software, DBMS software, management software, CAD software, development software, gamification, virtualization, accounting, collaboration, customer relationship management (CRM), Management Information Systems (MIS), enterprise resource planning (ERP), invoicing, human resource management (HRM), talent acquisition, learning management systems, content management (CM), Geographic Information Systems (GIS), and service desk management. SaaS has been incorporated into the strategy of nearly all leading enterprise software companies.\r\nSaaS applications are also known as <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Web-based software</span>, <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">on-demand software</span> and<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\"> hosted software</span>.\r\nThe term &quot;Software as a Service&quot; (SaaS) is considered to be part of the nomenclature of cloud computing, along with Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), Desktop as a Service (DaaS),managed software as a service (MSaaS), mobile backend as a service (MBaaS), and information technology management as a service (ITMaaS).\r\nBecause SaaS is based on cloud computing it saves organizations from installing and running applications on their own systems. That eliminates or at least reduces the associated costs of hardware purchases and maintenance and of software and support. The initial setup cost for a SaaS application is also generally lower than it for equivalent enterprise software purchased via a site license.\r\nSometimes, the use of SaaS cloud software can also reduce the long-term costs of software licensing, though that depends on the pricing model for the individual SaaS offering and the enterprise’s usage patterns. In fact, it’s possible for SaaS to cost more than traditional software licenses. This is an area IT organizations should explore carefully.<br />SaaS also provides enterprises the flexibility inherent with cloud services: they can subscribe to a SaaS offering as needed rather than having to buy software licenses and install the software on a variety of computers. The savings can be substantial in the case of applications that require new hardware purchases to support the software.<br /><br /><br /><br />","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: normal;\">Who uses SaaS?</span></h1>\r\nIndustry analyst Forrester Research notes that SaaS adoption has so far been concentrated mostly in human resource management (HRM), customer relationship management (CRM), collaboration software (e.g., email), and procurement solutions, but is poised to widen. Today it’s possible to have a data warehouse in the cloud that you can access with business intelligence software running as a service and connect to your cloud-based ERP like NetSuite or Microsoft Dynamics.The dollar savings can run into the millions. And SaaS installations are often installed and working in a fraction of the time of on-premises deployments—some can be ready in hours. \r\nSales and marketing people are likely familiar with Salesforce.com, the leading SaaS CRM software, with millions of users across more than 100,000 customers. Sales is going SaaS too, with apps available to support sales in order management, compensation, quote production and configure, price, quoting, electronic signatures, contract management and more.\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: normal;\">Why SaaS? Benefits of software as a service</span></h1>\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Lower cost of entry</span>. With SaaS solution, you pay for what you need, without having to buy hardware to host your new applications. Instead of provisioning internal resources to install the software, the vendor provides APIs and performs much of the work to get their software working for you. The time to a working solution can drop from months in the traditional model to weeks, days or hours with the SaaS model. In some businesses, IT wants nothing to do with installing and running a sales app. In the case of funding software and its implementation, this can be a make-or-break issue for the sales and marketing budget, so the lower cost really makes the difference.</li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Reduced time to benefit/rapid prototyping</span>. In the SaaS model, the software application is already installed and configured. Users can provision the server for the cloud and quickly have the application ready for use. This cuts the time to benefit and allows for rapid demonstrations and prototyping. With many SaaS companies offering free trials, this means a painless proof of concept and discovery phase to prove the benefit to the organization. </li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Pay as you go</span>. SaaS business software gives you the benefit of predictable costs both for the subscription and to some extent, the administration. Even as you scale, you can have a clear idea of what your costs will be. This allows for much more accurate budgeting, especially as compared to the costs of internal IT to manage upgrades and address issues for an owned instance.</li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">The SaaS vendor is responsible for upgrades, uptime and security</span>. Under the SaaS model, since the software is hosted by the vendor, they take on the responsibility for maintaining the software and upgrading it, ensuring that it is reliable and meeting agreed-upon service level agreements, and keeping the application and its data secure.&nbsp; While some IT people worry about Software as a Service security outside of the enterprise walls, the likely truth is that the vendor has a much higher level of security than the enterprise itself would provide. Many will have redundant instances in very secure data centers in multiple geographies.&nbsp; Also, the data is being automatically backed up by the vendor, providing additional security and peace of mind. Because of the data center hosting, you’re getting the added benefit of at least some disaster recovery. Lastly, the vendor manages these issues as part of their core competencies—let them.</li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Integration and scalability.</span> Most SaaS apps are designed to support some amount of customization for the way you do business. SaaS vendors create APIs to allow connections not only to internal applications like ERPs or CRMs but also to other SaaS providers. One of the terrific aspects of integration is that orders written in the field can be automatically sent to the ERP. Now a salesperson in the field can check inventory through the catalog, write the order in front of the customer for approval, send it and receive confirmation, all in minutes. And as you scale with a SaaS vendor, there’s no need to invest in server capacity and software licenses. </li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Work anywhere</span>. Since the software is hosted in the cloud and accessible over the internet, users can access it via mobile devices wherever they are connected. This includes checking customer order histories prior to a sales call, as well as having access to real time data and real time order taking with the customer.</li></ul>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\">&nbsp;</p>","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/SaaS__1_.png"},{"id":34,"title":"ITSM - IT Service Management","alias":"itsm-it-service-management","description":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">IT service management (ITSM)</span> is the process of designing, delivering, managing, and improving the IT services an organization provides to its end users. ITSM is focused on aligning IT processes and services with business objectives to help an organization grow.\r\nITSM positions IT services as the key means of delivering and obtaining value, where an internal or external IT service provider works with business customers, at the same time taking responsibility for the associated costs and risks. ITSM works across the whole lifecycle of a service, from the original strategy, through design, transition and into live operation.\r\nTo ensure sustainable quality of IT services, ITSM establishes a set of practices, or processes, constituting a service management system. There are industrial, national and international standards for IT service management solutions, setting up requirements and good practices for the management system. \r\nITSM system is based on a set of principles, such as focusing on value and continual improvement. It is not just a set of processes – it is a cultural mindset to ensure that the desired outcome for the business is achieved. \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">ITIL (IT Infrastructure Library)</span> is a framework of best practices and recommendations for managing an organization's IT operations and services. IT service management processes, when built based on the ITIL framework, pave the way for better IT service operations management and improved business. To summarize, ITIL is a set of guidelines for effective IT service management best practices. ITIL has evolved beyond the delivery of services to providing end-to-end value delivery. The focus is now on the co-creation of value through service relationships. \r\n<p class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">ITSM processes typically include five stages, all based on the ITIL framework:</span></p>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">ITSM strategy.</span> This stage forms the foundation or the framework of an organization's ITSM process building. It involves defining the services that the organization will offer, strategically planning processes, and recognizing and developing the required assets to keep processes moving. \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Service design.</span> This stage's main aim is planning and designing the IT services the organization offers to meet business demands. It involves creating and designing new services as well as assessing current services and making relevant improvements.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Service transition.</span> Once the designs for IT services and their processes have been finalized, it's important to build them and test them out to ensure that processes flow. IT teams need to ensure that the designs don't disrupt services in any way, especially when existing IT service processes are upgraded or redesigned. This calls for change management, evaluation, and risk management. \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Service operation. </span>This phase involves implementing the tried and tested new or modified designs in a live environment. While in this stage, the processes have already been tested and the issues fixed, but new processes are bound to have hiccups—especially when customers start using the services. \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Continual service improvement (CSI).</span> Implementing IT processes successfully shouldn't be the final stage in any organization. There's always room for improvement and new development based on issues that pop up, customer needs and demands, and user feedback.\r\n\r\n","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\">Benefits of efficient ITSM processes</h1>\r\nIrrespective of the size of business, every organization is involved in IT service management in some way. ITSM ensures that incidents, service requests, problems, changes, and IT assets—in addition to other aspects of IT services—are managed in a streamlined way.\r\nIT teams in your organization can employ various workflows and best practices in ITSM, as outlined in ITIL. Effective IT service management can have positive effects on an IT organization's overall function.\r\nHere are the 10 key benefits of ITSM:\r\n<ul><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Lower costs for IT operations</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Higher returns on IT investments</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Minimal service outages</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Ability to establish well-defined, repeatable, and manageable IT processes</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Efficient analysis of IT problems to reduce repeat incidents</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Improved efficiency of IT help desk teams</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Well-defined roles and responsibilities</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Clear expectations on service levels and service availability</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Risk-free implementation of IT changes</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Better transparency into IT processes and services</li></ul>\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\">How to choose an ITSM tool?</h1>\r\nWith a competent IT service management goal in mind, it's important to invest in a service desk solution that caters to your business needs. It goes without saying, with more than 150 service desk tools to choose from, selecting the right one is easier said than done. Here are a few things to keep in mind when choosing an ITSM products:\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Identify key processes and their dependencies. </span>Based on business goals, decide which key ITSM processes need to be implemented and chart out the integrations that need to be established to achieve those goals. \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Consult with ITSM experts.</span> Participate in business expos, webinars, demos, etc., and educate yourself about the various options that are available in the market. Reports from expert analysts such as Gartner and Forrester are particularly useful as they include reviews of almost every solution, ranked based on multiple criteria.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Choose a deployment option.</span> Every business has a different IT infrastructure model. Selecting an on-premises or software as a service (SaaS IT service management) tool depends on whether your business prefers to host its applications and data on its own servers or use a public or private cloud.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Plan ahead for the future.</span> Although it's important to consider the &quot;needs&quot; primarily, you shouldn't rule out the secondary or luxury capabilities. If the ITSM tool doesn't have the potential to adapt to your needs as your organization grows, it can pull you back from progressing. Draw a clear picture of where your business is headed and choose an service ITSM that is flexible and technology-driven.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Don't stop with the capabilities of the ITSM tool.</span> It might be tempting to assess an ITSM tool based on its capabilities and features but it's important to evaluate the vendor of the tool. A good IT support team, and a vendor that is endorsed for their customer-vendor relationship can take your IT services far. Check Gartner's magic quadrant and other analyst reports, along with product and support reviews to ensure that the said tool provides good customer support.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_ITSM.png"}],"characteristics":[],"concurentProducts":[],"jobRoles":[],"organizationalFeatures":[],"complementaryCategories":[],"solutions":[],"materials":[],"useCases":[],"best_practices":[],"values":[],"implementations":[]},"fortinet-fortigate-sd-wan":{"id":3339,"logoURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/Fortinet.png","logo":true,"scheme":false,"title":"Fortinet FortiGate SD-WAN","vendorVerified":0,"rating":"2.00","implementationsCount":0,"suppliersCount":0,"supplierPartnersCount":21,"alias":"fortinet-fortigate-sd-wan","companyTitle":"Fortinet","companyTypes":["vendor"],"companyId":690,"companyAlias":"fortinet","description":"As the use of business-critical, cloud-based applications and tools continue to increase, distributed organizations with multiple remote offices are switching from performance-inhibited wide-area networks (WANs) to software-defined WAN (SD-WAN) architectures. SD-WAN offers business application steering, cost savings, and performance for Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) applications, as well as unified communication services. However, SD-WAN has its own shortcomings—especially when it comes to security with direct internet access.\r\nFortinet FortiGate Secure SD-WAN includes best-of-breed next-generation firewall (NGFW) security, SD-WAN, advanced routing, and WAN optimization capabilities, delivering a security-driven networking WAN edge transformation in a unified offering. Fortinet has received a “Recommended” rating in the first ever test conducted by NSS Labs for Software-Defined Wide Area Networking. Fortinet was ranked highly for delivering excellent quality of experience for voice and video, high overlay VPN throughput, and best price/performance.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">FortiGate Secure SD-WAN Product Details:</span>\r\n<ul> <li>Best WAN Edge Price/Performance</li> <li>WAN Path Controller with Remediation</li> <li>Fastest Application Identification and Steering</li> <li>Advance Routing Capabilities and WAN Optimization</li> </ul>","shortDescription":"FortiGate Secure SD-WAN includes NGFW security, SD-WAN, advanced routing, and WAN optimization capabilities, delivering a security-driven networking WAN edge transformation in a unified offering.","type":null,"isRoiCalculatorAvaliable":false,"isConfiguratorAvaliable":false,"bonus":100,"usingCount":9,"sellingCount":20,"discontinued":0,"rebateForPoc":0,"rebate":0,"seo":{"title":"Fortinet FortiGate SD-WAN","keywords":"","description":"As the use of business-critical, cloud-based applications and tools continue to increase, distributed organizations with multiple remote offices are switching from performance-inhibited wide-area networks (WANs) to software-defined WAN (SD-WAN) architectures. ","og:title":"Fortinet FortiGate SD-WAN","og:description":"As the use of business-critical, cloud-based applications and tools continue to increase, distributed organizations with multiple remote offices are switching from performance-inhibited wide-area networks (WANs) to software-defined WAN (SD-WAN) architectures. ","og:image":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/Fortinet.png"},"eventUrl":"","translationId":3340,"dealDetails":null,"roi":null,"price":null,"bonusForReference":null,"templateData":[{"id":93,"title":"Software-Defined WAN (SD-WAN)"}],"testingArea":"","categories":[{"id":499,"title":"SDN Software-Defined Network","alias":"sdn-software-defined-network","description":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Software-defined networking (SDN)</span> technology is an approach to network management that enables dynamic, programmatically efficient network configuration in order to improve network performance and monitoring, making it more like cloud computing than traditional network management.\r\nSDN encompasses several types of technologies, including functional separation, network virtualization and automation through programmability. SDN solution is meant to address the fact that the static architecture of traditional networks is decentralized and complex while current networks require more flexibility and easy troubleshooting. \r\nSDN technology attempts to centralize network intelligence in one network component by disassociating the forwarding process of network packets (<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">data plane</span>) from the routing process (<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">control plane</span>). The control plane consists of one or more controllers which are considered as the brain of SDN network where the whole intelligence is incorporated. Originally, software defined technology focused solely on separation of the network control plane from the data plane. While the control plane makes decisions about how packets should flow through the network, the data plane actually moves packets from place to place. \r\nIn a classic SDN scenario, a packet arrives at a network switch, and rules built into the switch's proprietary firmware tell the switch where to forward the packet. These packet-handling rules are sent to the switch from the centralized controller. The switch - also known as a <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">data plane device</span> - queries the controller for guidance as needed, and it provides the controller with information about traffic it handles. The switch sends every packet going to the same destination along the same path and treats all the packets the exact same way.\r\nSoftware defined networking solutions use an operation mode that is sometimes called adaptive or dynamic, in which a switch issues a route request to a controller for a packet that does not have a specific route. This process is separate from adaptive routing, which issues route requests through routers and algorithms based on the network topology, not through a controller.\r\nThe <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">virtualization</span> aspect of SDN comes into play through a virtual overlay, which is a logically separate network on top of the physical network. Users can implement end-to-end overlays to abstract the underlying network and segment network traffic. This microsegmentation is especially useful for service providers and operators with multi-tenant cloud environments and cloud services, as they can provision a separate virtual network with specific policies for each tenant.","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\">Benefits of Software Defined Networking</h1>\r\nWith SDN software, an <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">administrator can change any network switch's rules when necessary</span> - prioritizing, deprioritizing or even blocking specific types of packets with a granular level of control and security. This is especially helpful in a cloud computing multi-tenant architecture, because it enables the administrator to manage traffic loads in a flexible and more efficient manner. Essentially, this enables the administrator to use less expensive commodity switches and have more control over network traffic flow than ever before.\r\nOther benefits of SDN are <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">network management</span> and <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">end-to-end visibility.</span>A network administrator need only deal with one centralized controller to distribute policies to the connected switches, instead of configuring multiple individual devices. This capability is also a security advantage because the controller can monitor traffic and deploy security policies. If the controller deems traffic suspicious, for example, it can reroute or drop the packets.\r\nSoftware defined networking software also <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">virtualizes hardware</span> and <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">services </span>that were previously carried out by dedicated hardware, resulting in the touted benefits of a reduced hardware footprint and lower operational costs.\r\nAdditionally, SDN contributed to the emergence of <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN)</span> technology. SD-WAN employs the virtual overlay aspect of SDN technology, abstracting an organization's connectivity links throughout its WAN and creating a virtual network that can use whichever connection the controller deems fit to send traffic.\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\">Are there any SDN security benefits?</h1>\r\nAs security issues become more complex at the edge of the network, it’s no wonder that network and security professionals are looking for new ways to approach network protection. Nowadays, it seems like SDN is going to be the answer. \r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Centralized Network Control </span></li></ul>\r\nIn a traditional network, devices (router/switches) make their own decisions locally about where and how best to send traffic.&nbsp; In terms of network security, SDN can be used to route data packets through a single firewall and make IDS and IPS data capture more efficient.\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Simplify Configuration</span></li></ul>\r\nThe SDN makes it easier to automate configuration and improves the traceability of those configurations. The introduction of SDN network management allows dynamic programming and restructuring of network settings, which reduces the risk of DDoS attacks. It is also worth adding that SDN has automatic quarantine capabilities. \r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Creation of High-level Network Policies</span></li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"color: rgb(97, 97, 97); \">Rather than physically configuring security solutions, SDN facilitates the central management of security policies to make network operator roles more efficient and flexible. Moreover, SDN helps to move away from current management approaches such as SNMP/CLI and build more effective policy management. </span>\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \"><span style=\"color: rgb(97, 97, 97); \">Easy to use Application Programming Interfaces (APIs)</span></span></li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"color: rgb(97, 97, 97); \">Cloud APIs are interfaces presented by software and play a vital role in SDN controllers and applications. Easy to use APIs help to manage network resources, improve the efficiency of IT resources, and aid integration with IT tools. Additionally, a number of good cloud security practices have been introduced recently. </span>","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_SDN_Software_Defined_Network.png"},{"id":52,"title":"SaaS - software as a service","alias":"saas-software-as-a-service","description":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Software as a service (SaaS)</span> is a software licensing and delivery model in which software is licensed on a subscription basis and is centrally hosted. It is sometimes referred to as &quot;on-demand software&quot;, and was formerly referred to as &quot;software plus services&quot; by Microsoft.\r\n SaaS services is typically accessed by users using a thin client, e.g. via a web browser. SaaS software solutions has become a common delivery model for many business applications, including office software, messaging software, payroll processing software, DBMS software, management software, CAD software, development software, gamification, virtualization, accounting, collaboration, customer relationship management (CRM), Management Information Systems (MIS), enterprise resource planning (ERP), invoicing, human resource management (HRM), talent acquisition, learning management systems, content management (CM), Geographic Information Systems (GIS), and service desk management. SaaS has been incorporated into the strategy of nearly all leading enterprise software companies.\r\nSaaS applications are also known as <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Web-based software</span>, <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">on-demand software</span> and<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\"> hosted software</span>.\r\nThe term &quot;Software as a Service&quot; (SaaS) is considered to be part of the nomenclature of cloud computing, along with Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), Desktop as a Service (DaaS),managed software as a service (MSaaS), mobile backend as a service (MBaaS), and information technology management as a service (ITMaaS).\r\nBecause SaaS is based on cloud computing it saves organizations from installing and running applications on their own systems. That eliminates or at least reduces the associated costs of hardware purchases and maintenance and of software and support. The initial setup cost for a SaaS application is also generally lower than it for equivalent enterprise software purchased via a site license.\r\nSometimes, the use of SaaS cloud software can also reduce the long-term costs of software licensing, though that depends on the pricing model for the individual SaaS offering and the enterprise’s usage patterns. In fact, it’s possible for SaaS to cost more than traditional software licenses. This is an area IT organizations should explore carefully.<br />SaaS also provides enterprises the flexibility inherent with cloud services: they can subscribe to a SaaS offering as needed rather than having to buy software licenses and install the software on a variety of computers. The savings can be substantial in the case of applications that require new hardware purchases to support the software.<br /><br /><br /><br />","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: normal;\">Who uses SaaS?</span></h1>\r\nIndustry analyst Forrester Research notes that SaaS adoption has so far been concentrated mostly in human resource management (HRM), customer relationship management (CRM), collaboration software (e.g., email), and procurement solutions, but is poised to widen. Today it’s possible to have a data warehouse in the cloud that you can access with business intelligence software running as a service and connect to your cloud-based ERP like NetSuite or Microsoft Dynamics.The dollar savings can run into the millions. And SaaS installations are often installed and working in a fraction of the time of on-premises deployments—some can be ready in hours. \r\nSales and marketing people are likely familiar with Salesforce.com, the leading SaaS CRM software, with millions of users across more than 100,000 customers. Sales is going SaaS too, with apps available to support sales in order management, compensation, quote production and configure, price, quoting, electronic signatures, contract management and more.\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: normal;\">Why SaaS? Benefits of software as a service</span></h1>\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Lower cost of entry</span>. With SaaS solution, you pay for what you need, without having to buy hardware to host your new applications. Instead of provisioning internal resources to install the software, the vendor provides APIs and performs much of the work to get their software working for you. The time to a working solution can drop from months in the traditional model to weeks, days or hours with the SaaS model. In some businesses, IT wants nothing to do with installing and running a sales app. In the case of funding software and its implementation, this can be a make-or-break issue for the sales and marketing budget, so the lower cost really makes the difference.</li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Reduced time to benefit/rapid prototyping</span>. In the SaaS model, the software application is already installed and configured. Users can provision the server for the cloud and quickly have the application ready for use. This cuts the time to benefit and allows for rapid demonstrations and prototyping. With many SaaS companies offering free trials, this means a painless proof of concept and discovery phase to prove the benefit to the organization. </li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Pay as you go</span>. SaaS business software gives you the benefit of predictable costs both for the subscription and to some extent, the administration. Even as you scale, you can have a clear idea of what your costs will be. This allows for much more accurate budgeting, especially as compared to the costs of internal IT to manage upgrades and address issues for an owned instance.</li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">The SaaS vendor is responsible for upgrades, uptime and security</span>. Under the SaaS model, since the software is hosted by the vendor, they take on the responsibility for maintaining the software and upgrading it, ensuring that it is reliable and meeting agreed-upon service level agreements, and keeping the application and its data secure.&nbsp; While some IT people worry about Software as a Service security outside of the enterprise walls, the likely truth is that the vendor has a much higher level of security than the enterprise itself would provide. Many will have redundant instances in very secure data centers in multiple geographies.&nbsp; Also, the data is being automatically backed up by the vendor, providing additional security and peace of mind. Because of the data center hosting, you’re getting the added benefit of at least some disaster recovery. Lastly, the vendor manages these issues as part of their core competencies—let them.</li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Integration and scalability.</span> Most SaaS apps are designed to support some amount of customization for the way you do business. SaaS vendors create APIs to allow connections not only to internal applications like ERPs or CRMs but also to other SaaS providers. One of the terrific aspects of integration is that orders written in the field can be automatically sent to the ERP. Now a salesperson in the field can check inventory through the catalog, write the order in front of the customer for approval, send it and receive confirmation, all in minutes. And as you scale with a SaaS vendor, there’s no need to invest in server capacity and software licenses. </li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Work anywhere</span>. Since the software is hosted in the cloud and accessible over the internet, users can access it via mobile devices wherever they are connected. This includes checking customer order histories prior to a sales call, as well as having access to real time data and real time order taking with the customer.</li></ul>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\">&nbsp;</p>","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/SaaS__1_.png"},{"id":34,"title":"ITSM - IT Service Management","alias":"itsm-it-service-management","description":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">IT service management (ITSM)</span> is the process of designing, delivering, managing, and improving the IT services an organization provides to its end users. ITSM is focused on aligning IT processes and services with business objectives to help an organization grow.\r\nITSM positions IT services as the key means of delivering and obtaining value, where an internal or external IT service provider works with business customers, at the same time taking responsibility for the associated costs and risks. ITSM works across the whole lifecycle of a service, from the original strategy, through design, transition and into live operation.\r\nTo ensure sustainable quality of IT services, ITSM establishes a set of practices, or processes, constituting a service management system. There are industrial, national and international standards for IT service management solutions, setting up requirements and good practices for the management system. \r\nITSM system is based on a set of principles, such as focusing on value and continual improvement. It is not just a set of processes – it is a cultural mindset to ensure that the desired outcome for the business is achieved. \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">ITIL (IT Infrastructure Library)</span> is a framework of best practices and recommendations for managing an organization's IT operations and services. IT service management processes, when built based on the ITIL framework, pave the way for better IT service operations management and improved business. To summarize, ITIL is a set of guidelines for effective IT service management best practices. ITIL has evolved beyond the delivery of services to providing end-to-end value delivery. The focus is now on the co-creation of value through service relationships. \r\n<p class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">ITSM processes typically include five stages, all based on the ITIL framework:</span></p>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">ITSM strategy.</span> This stage forms the foundation or the framework of an organization's ITSM process building. It involves defining the services that the organization will offer, strategically planning processes, and recognizing and developing the required assets to keep processes moving. \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Service design.</span> This stage's main aim is planning and designing the IT services the organization offers to meet business demands. It involves creating and designing new services as well as assessing current services and making relevant improvements.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Service transition.</span> Once the designs for IT services and their processes have been finalized, it's important to build them and test them out to ensure that processes flow. IT teams need to ensure that the designs don't disrupt services in any way, especially when existing IT service processes are upgraded or redesigned. This calls for change management, evaluation, and risk management. \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Service operation. </span>This phase involves implementing the tried and tested new or modified designs in a live environment. While in this stage, the processes have already been tested and the issues fixed, but new processes are bound to have hiccups—especially when customers start using the services. \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Continual service improvement (CSI).</span> Implementing IT processes successfully shouldn't be the final stage in any organization. There's always room for improvement and new development based on issues that pop up, customer needs and demands, and user feedback.\r\n\r\n","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\">Benefits of efficient ITSM processes</h1>\r\nIrrespective of the size of business, every organization is involved in IT service management in some way. ITSM ensures that incidents, service requests, problems, changes, and IT assets—in addition to other aspects of IT services—are managed in a streamlined way.\r\nIT teams in your organization can employ various workflows and best practices in ITSM, as outlined in ITIL. Effective IT service management can have positive effects on an IT organization's overall function.\r\nHere are the 10 key benefits of ITSM:\r\n<ul><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Lower costs for IT operations</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Higher returns on IT investments</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Minimal service outages</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Ability to establish well-defined, repeatable, and manageable IT processes</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Efficient analysis of IT problems to reduce repeat incidents</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Improved efficiency of IT help desk teams</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Well-defined roles and responsibilities</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Clear expectations on service levels and service availability</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Risk-free implementation of IT changes</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Better transparency into IT processes and services</li></ul>\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\">How to choose an ITSM tool?</h1>\r\nWith a competent IT service management goal in mind, it's important to invest in a service desk solution that caters to your business needs. It goes without saying, with more than 150 service desk tools to choose from, selecting the right one is easier said than done. Here are a few things to keep in mind when choosing an ITSM products:\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Identify key processes and their dependencies. </span>Based on business goals, decide which key ITSM processes need to be implemented and chart out the integrations that need to be established to achieve those goals. \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Consult with ITSM experts.</span> Participate in business expos, webinars, demos, etc., and educate yourself about the various options that are available in the market. Reports from expert analysts such as Gartner and Forrester are particularly useful as they include reviews of almost every solution, ranked based on multiple criteria.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Choose a deployment option.</span> Every business has a different IT infrastructure model. Selecting an on-premises or software as a service (SaaS IT service management) tool depends on whether your business prefers to host its applications and data on its own servers or use a public or private cloud.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Plan ahead for the future.</span> Although it's important to consider the &quot;needs&quot; primarily, you shouldn't rule out the secondary or luxury capabilities. If the ITSM tool doesn't have the potential to adapt to your needs as your organization grows, it can pull you back from progressing. Draw a clear picture of where your business is headed and choose an service ITSM that is flexible and technology-driven.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Don't stop with the capabilities of the ITSM tool.</span> It might be tempting to assess an ITSM tool based on its capabilities and features but it's important to evaluate the vendor of the tool. A good IT support team, and a vendor that is endorsed for their customer-vendor relationship can take your IT services far. Check Gartner's magic quadrant and other analyst reports, along with product and support reviews to ensure that the said tool provides good customer support.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_ITSM.png"}],"characteristics":[],"concurentProducts":[],"jobRoles":[],"organizationalFeatures":[],"complementaryCategories":[],"solutions":[],"materials":[],"useCases":[],"best_practices":[],"values":[],"implementations":[]},"juniper-cloud-cpe-with-sd-wan":{"id":3330,"logoURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/juniper_networks.png","logo":true,"scheme":false,"title":"Juniper Cloud CPE with SD-WAN","vendorVerified":0,"rating":"1.40","implementationsCount":0,"suppliersCount":0,"supplierPartnersCount":2,"alias":"juniper-cloud-cpe-with-sd-wan","companyTitle":"Juniper Networks","companyTypes":["supplier","vendor"],"companyId":2784,"companyAlias":"juniper-networks","description":"The Juniper Networks Cloud Customer premises equipment (CPE) and SD-WAN solutions use the Contrail Service Orchestration (CSO) to transform traditional branch networks, offering opportunities for high flexibility of the network, rapid introduction of new services, automation of network administration, and cost savings. The solutions can be implemented by service providers for their customers or by Enterprise IT departments in a campus and branch environment. In this documentation, service providers and Enterprise IT departments are called service providers, and the consumers of their services are called customers.\r\nThe Cloud CPE solution supports both Juniper Networks and third-party virtualized network functions (VNFs) that network providers use to create network services. The following deployment models are available:\r\n<ul> <li>Cloud CPE Centralized Deployment Model (centralized deployment). In the centralized deployment, customers access network services in a service provider’s cloud. Sites that access network services in this way are called service edge sites in this documentation.</li> <li>Cloud CPE Distributed Deployment Model (distributed deployment), also known as a hybrid WAN deployment. In the distributed deployment, customers access network services on a CPE device, located at a customer’s site. These sites are called on-premise sites in this documentation.</li> <li>A combined centralized and distributed deployment. In this deployment, the network contains both service edge sites and on-premise sites. A customer can have both cloud sites and tenant sites; however, you cannot share a network service between the centralized and distributed deployments. If you require the same network service for the centralized deployment and the distributed deployment, you must create two identical network services with different names.</li> </ul>\r\nYou must consider several issues when choosing whether to employ one or both types of deployment. The centralized deployment offers a fast migration route and this deployment is the recommended model for sites that can accommodate network services—particularly security services—in the cloud. In contrast, the distributed deployment supports private hosting of network services on a CPE device at a customer’s site and can be extended to offer software-defined wide area networking (SD-WAN) capabilities. Implementing a combination network in which some sites use the centralized deployment and some sites use the distributed deployment provides appropriate access for different sites.\r\nThe SD-WAN solution offers a flexible and automated way to route traffic through the cloud. Similar to a distributed deployment, this implementation uses CPE devices located at on-premise sites to connect to the LAN segments. Hub-and-spoke and full mesh topologies are supported. The CSO software uses SD-WAN policies and service-level agreement measurements to differentiate and route traffic for different applications.\r\nOne CSO installation can support a combined centralized and distributed deployment and an SD-WAN solution simultaneously. The same set of CPE devices can be used for the distributed deployment and the SD-WAN solution. Alternatively, you can implement only the deployments that you need.\r\nYou can either use the solutions as turnkey implementations or connect to other operational support and business support systems (OSS/BSS) through northbound Representational State Transfer (REST) APIs.","shortDescription":"Junipers’ SD-WAN joins the company’s expanding portfolio of cloud-delivered networking products while simultaneously overtaking rival SD-WAN solutions by including branch universal CPE, LAN and Wi-Fi\r\n","type":null,"isRoiCalculatorAvaliable":false,"isConfiguratorAvaliable":false,"bonus":100,"usingCount":20,"sellingCount":8,"discontinued":0,"rebateForPoc":0,"rebate":0,"seo":{"title":"Juniper Cloud CPE with SD-WAN","keywords":"","description":"The Juniper Networks Cloud Customer premises equipment (CPE) and SD-WAN solutions use the Contrail Service Orchestration (CSO) to transform traditional branch networks, offering opportunities for high flexibility of the network, rapid introduction of new servi","og:title":"Juniper Cloud CPE with SD-WAN","og:description":"The Juniper Networks Cloud Customer premises equipment (CPE) and SD-WAN solutions use the Contrail Service Orchestration (CSO) to transform traditional branch networks, offering opportunities for high flexibility of the network, rapid introduction of new servi","og:image":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/juniper_networks.png"},"eventUrl":"","translationId":3331,"dealDetails":null,"roi":null,"price":null,"bonusForReference":null,"templateData":[{"id":93,"title":"Software-Defined WAN (SD-WAN)"}],"testingArea":"","categories":[{"id":499,"title":"SDN Software-Defined Network","alias":"sdn-software-defined-network","description":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Software-defined networking (SDN)</span> technology is an approach to network management that enables dynamic, programmatically efficient network configuration in order to improve network performance and monitoring, making it more like cloud computing than traditional network management.\r\nSDN encompasses several types of technologies, including functional separation, network virtualization and automation through programmability. SDN solution is meant to address the fact that the static architecture of traditional networks is decentralized and complex while current networks require more flexibility and easy troubleshooting. \r\nSDN technology attempts to centralize network intelligence in one network component by disassociating the forwarding process of network packets (<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">data plane</span>) from the routing process (<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">control plane</span>). The control plane consists of one or more controllers which are considered as the brain of SDN network where the whole intelligence is incorporated. Originally, software defined technology focused solely on separation of the network control plane from the data plane. While the control plane makes decisions about how packets should flow through the network, the data plane actually moves packets from place to place. \r\nIn a classic SDN scenario, a packet arrives at a network switch, and rules built into the switch's proprietary firmware tell the switch where to forward the packet. These packet-handling rules are sent to the switch from the centralized controller. The switch - also known as a <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">data plane device</span> - queries the controller for guidance as needed, and it provides the controller with information about traffic it handles. The switch sends every packet going to the same destination along the same path and treats all the packets the exact same way.\r\nSoftware defined networking solutions use an operation mode that is sometimes called adaptive or dynamic, in which a switch issues a route request to a controller for a packet that does not have a specific route. This process is separate from adaptive routing, which issues route requests through routers and algorithms based on the network topology, not through a controller.\r\nThe <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">virtualization</span> aspect of SDN comes into play through a virtual overlay, which is a logically separate network on top of the physical network. Users can implement end-to-end overlays to abstract the underlying network and segment network traffic. This microsegmentation is especially useful for service providers and operators with multi-tenant cloud environments and cloud services, as they can provision a separate virtual network with specific policies for each tenant.","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\">Benefits of Software Defined Networking</h1>\r\nWith SDN software, an <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">administrator can change any network switch's rules when necessary</span> - prioritizing, deprioritizing or even blocking specific types of packets with a granular level of control and security. This is especially helpful in a cloud computing multi-tenant architecture, because it enables the administrator to manage traffic loads in a flexible and more efficient manner. Essentially, this enables the administrator to use less expensive commodity switches and have more control over network traffic flow than ever before.\r\nOther benefits of SDN are <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">network management</span> and <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">end-to-end visibility.</span>A network administrator need only deal with one centralized controller to distribute policies to the connected switches, instead of configuring multiple individual devices. This capability is also a security advantage because the controller can monitor traffic and deploy security policies. If the controller deems traffic suspicious, for example, it can reroute or drop the packets.\r\nSoftware defined networking software also <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">virtualizes hardware</span> and <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">services </span>that were previously carried out by dedicated hardware, resulting in the touted benefits of a reduced hardware footprint and lower operational costs.\r\nAdditionally, SDN contributed to the emergence of <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN)</span> technology. SD-WAN employs the virtual overlay aspect of SDN technology, abstracting an organization's connectivity links throughout its WAN and creating a virtual network that can use whichever connection the controller deems fit to send traffic.\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\">Are there any SDN security benefits?</h1>\r\nAs security issues become more complex at the edge of the network, it’s no wonder that network and security professionals are looking for new ways to approach network protection. Nowadays, it seems like SDN is going to be the answer. \r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Centralized Network Control </span></li></ul>\r\nIn a traditional network, devices (router/switches) make their own decisions locally about where and how best to send traffic.&nbsp; In terms of network security, SDN can be used to route data packets through a single firewall and make IDS and IPS data capture more efficient.\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Simplify Configuration</span></li></ul>\r\nThe SDN makes it easier to automate configuration and improves the traceability of those configurations. The introduction of SDN network management allows dynamic programming and restructuring of network settings, which reduces the risk of DDoS attacks. It is also worth adding that SDN has automatic quarantine capabilities. \r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Creation of High-level Network Policies</span></li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"color: rgb(97, 97, 97); \">Rather than physically configuring security solutions, SDN facilitates the central management of security policies to make network operator roles more efficient and flexible. Moreover, SDN helps to move away from current management approaches such as SNMP/CLI and build more effective policy management. </span>\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \"><span style=\"color: rgb(97, 97, 97); \">Easy to use Application Programming Interfaces (APIs)</span></span></li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"color: rgb(97, 97, 97); \">Cloud APIs are interfaces presented by software and play a vital role in SDN controllers and applications. Easy to use APIs help to manage network resources, improve the efficiency of IT resources, and aid integration with IT tools. Additionally, a number of good cloud security practices have been introduced recently. </span>","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_SDN_Software_Defined_Network.png"},{"id":52,"title":"SaaS - software as a service","alias":"saas-software-as-a-service","description":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Software as a service (SaaS)</span> is a software licensing and delivery model in which software is licensed on a subscription basis and is centrally hosted. It is sometimes referred to as &quot;on-demand software&quot;, and was formerly referred to as &quot;software plus services&quot; by Microsoft.\r\n SaaS services is typically accessed by users using a thin client, e.g. via a web browser. SaaS software solutions has become a common delivery model for many business applications, including office software, messaging software, payroll processing software, DBMS software, management software, CAD software, development software, gamification, virtualization, accounting, collaboration, customer relationship management (CRM), Management Information Systems (MIS), enterprise resource planning (ERP), invoicing, human resource management (HRM), talent acquisition, learning management systems, content management (CM), Geographic Information Systems (GIS), and service desk management. SaaS has been incorporated into the strategy of nearly all leading enterprise software companies.\r\nSaaS applications are also known as <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Web-based software</span>, <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">on-demand software</span> and<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\"> hosted software</span>.\r\nThe term &quot;Software as a Service&quot; (SaaS) is considered to be part of the nomenclature of cloud computing, along with Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), Desktop as a Service (DaaS),managed software as a service (MSaaS), mobile backend as a service (MBaaS), and information technology management as a service (ITMaaS).\r\nBecause SaaS is based on cloud computing it saves organizations from installing and running applications on their own systems. That eliminates or at least reduces the associated costs of hardware purchases and maintenance and of software and support. The initial setup cost for a SaaS application is also generally lower than it for equivalent enterprise software purchased via a site license.\r\nSometimes, the use of SaaS cloud software can also reduce the long-term costs of software licensing, though that depends on the pricing model for the individual SaaS offering and the enterprise’s usage patterns. In fact, it’s possible for SaaS to cost more than traditional software licenses. This is an area IT organizations should explore carefully.<br />SaaS also provides enterprises the flexibility inherent with cloud services: they can subscribe to a SaaS offering as needed rather than having to buy software licenses and install the software on a variety of computers. The savings can be substantial in the case of applications that require new hardware purchases to support the software.<br /><br /><br /><br />","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: normal;\">Who uses SaaS?</span></h1>\r\nIndustry analyst Forrester Research notes that SaaS adoption has so far been concentrated mostly in human resource management (HRM), customer relationship management (CRM), collaboration software (e.g., email), and procurement solutions, but is poised to widen. Today it’s possible to have a data warehouse in the cloud that you can access with business intelligence software running as a service and connect to your cloud-based ERP like NetSuite or Microsoft Dynamics.The dollar savings can run into the millions. And SaaS installations are often installed and working in a fraction of the time of on-premises deployments—some can be ready in hours. \r\nSales and marketing people are likely familiar with Salesforce.com, the leading SaaS CRM software, with millions of users across more than 100,000 customers. Sales is going SaaS too, with apps available to support sales in order management, compensation, quote production and configure, price, quoting, electronic signatures, contract management and more.\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: normal;\">Why SaaS? Benefits of software as a service</span></h1>\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Lower cost of entry</span>. With SaaS solution, you pay for what you need, without having to buy hardware to host your new applications. Instead of provisioning internal resources to install the software, the vendor provides APIs and performs much of the work to get their software working for you. The time to a working solution can drop from months in the traditional model to weeks, days or hours with the SaaS model. In some businesses, IT wants nothing to do with installing and running a sales app. In the case of funding software and its implementation, this can be a make-or-break issue for the sales and marketing budget, so the lower cost really makes the difference.</li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Reduced time to benefit/rapid prototyping</span>. In the SaaS model, the software application is already installed and configured. Users can provision the server for the cloud and quickly have the application ready for use. This cuts the time to benefit and allows for rapid demonstrations and prototyping. With many SaaS companies offering free trials, this means a painless proof of concept and discovery phase to prove the benefit to the organization. </li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Pay as you go</span>. SaaS business software gives you the benefit of predictable costs both for the subscription and to some extent, the administration. Even as you scale, you can have a clear idea of what your costs will be. This allows for much more accurate budgeting, especially as compared to the costs of internal IT to manage upgrades and address issues for an owned instance.</li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">The SaaS vendor is responsible for upgrades, uptime and security</span>. Under the SaaS model, since the software is hosted by the vendor, they take on the responsibility for maintaining the software and upgrading it, ensuring that it is reliable and meeting agreed-upon service level agreements, and keeping the application and its data secure.&nbsp; While some IT people worry about Software as a Service security outside of the enterprise walls, the likely truth is that the vendor has a much higher level of security than the enterprise itself would provide. Many will have redundant instances in very secure data centers in multiple geographies.&nbsp; Also, the data is being automatically backed up by the vendor, providing additional security and peace of mind. Because of the data center hosting, you’re getting the added benefit of at least some disaster recovery. Lastly, the vendor manages these issues as part of their core competencies—let them.</li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Integration and scalability.</span> Most SaaS apps are designed to support some amount of customization for the way you do business. SaaS vendors create APIs to allow connections not only to internal applications like ERPs or CRMs but also to other SaaS providers. One of the terrific aspects of integration is that orders written in the field can be automatically sent to the ERP. Now a salesperson in the field can check inventory through the catalog, write the order in front of the customer for approval, send it and receive confirmation, all in minutes. And as you scale with a SaaS vendor, there’s no need to invest in server capacity and software licenses. </li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Work anywhere</span>. Since the software is hosted in the cloud and accessible over the internet, users can access it via mobile devices wherever they are connected. This includes checking customer order histories prior to a sales call, as well as having access to real time data and real time order taking with the customer.</li></ul>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\">&nbsp;</p>","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/SaaS__1_.png"},{"id":34,"title":"ITSM - IT Service Management","alias":"itsm-it-service-management","description":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">IT service management (ITSM)</span> is the process of designing, delivering, managing, and improving the IT services an organization provides to its end users. ITSM is focused on aligning IT processes and services with business objectives to help an organization grow.\r\nITSM positions IT services as the key means of delivering and obtaining value, where an internal or external IT service provider works with business customers, at the same time taking responsibility for the associated costs and risks. ITSM works across the whole lifecycle of a service, from the original strategy, through design, transition and into live operation.\r\nTo ensure sustainable quality of IT services, ITSM establishes a set of practices, or processes, constituting a service management system. There are industrial, national and international standards for IT service management solutions, setting up requirements and good practices for the management system. \r\nITSM system is based on a set of principles, such as focusing on value and continual improvement. It is not just a set of processes – it is a cultural mindset to ensure that the desired outcome for the business is achieved. \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">ITIL (IT Infrastructure Library)</span> is a framework of best practices and recommendations for managing an organization's IT operations and services. IT service management processes, when built based on the ITIL framework, pave the way for better IT service operations management and improved business. To summarize, ITIL is a set of guidelines for effective IT service management best practices. ITIL has evolved beyond the delivery of services to providing end-to-end value delivery. The focus is now on the co-creation of value through service relationships. \r\n<p class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">ITSM processes typically include five stages, all based on the ITIL framework:</span></p>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">ITSM strategy.</span> This stage forms the foundation or the framework of an organization's ITSM process building. It involves defining the services that the organization will offer, strategically planning processes, and recognizing and developing the required assets to keep processes moving. \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Service design.</span> This stage's main aim is planning and designing the IT services the organization offers to meet business demands. It involves creating and designing new services as well as assessing current services and making relevant improvements.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Service transition.</span> Once the designs for IT services and their processes have been finalized, it's important to build them and test them out to ensure that processes flow. IT teams need to ensure that the designs don't disrupt services in any way, especially when existing IT service processes are upgraded or redesigned. This calls for change management, evaluation, and risk management. \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Service operation. </span>This phase involves implementing the tried and tested new or modified designs in a live environment. While in this stage, the processes have already been tested and the issues fixed, but new processes are bound to have hiccups—especially when customers start using the services. \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Continual service improvement (CSI).</span> Implementing IT processes successfully shouldn't be the final stage in any organization. There's always room for improvement and new development based on issues that pop up, customer needs and demands, and user feedback.\r\n\r\n","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\">Benefits of efficient ITSM processes</h1>\r\nIrrespective of the size of business, every organization is involved in IT service management in some way. ITSM ensures that incidents, service requests, problems, changes, and IT assets—in addition to other aspects of IT services—are managed in a streamlined way.\r\nIT teams in your organization can employ various workflows and best practices in ITSM, as outlined in ITIL. Effective IT service management can have positive effects on an IT organization's overall function.\r\nHere are the 10 key benefits of ITSM:\r\n<ul><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Lower costs for IT operations</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Higher returns on IT investments</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Minimal service outages</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Ability to establish well-defined, repeatable, and manageable IT processes</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Efficient analysis of IT problems to reduce repeat incidents</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Improved efficiency of IT help desk teams</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Well-defined roles and responsibilities</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Clear expectations on service levels and service availability</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Risk-free implementation of IT changes</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Better transparency into IT processes and services</li></ul>\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\">How to choose an ITSM tool?</h1>\r\nWith a competent IT service management goal in mind, it's important to invest in a service desk solution that caters to your business needs. It goes without saying, with more than 150 service desk tools to choose from, selecting the right one is easier said than done. Here are a few things to keep in mind when choosing an ITSM products:\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Identify key processes and their dependencies. </span>Based on business goals, decide which key ITSM processes need to be implemented and chart out the integrations that need to be established to achieve those goals. \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Consult with ITSM experts.</span> Participate in business expos, webinars, demos, etc., and educate yourself about the various options that are available in the market. Reports from expert analysts such as Gartner and Forrester are particularly useful as they include reviews of almost every solution, ranked based on multiple criteria.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Choose a deployment option.</span> Every business has a different IT infrastructure model. Selecting an on-premises or software as a service (SaaS IT service management) tool depends on whether your business prefers to host its applications and data on its own servers or use a public or private cloud.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Plan ahead for the future.</span> Although it's important to consider the &quot;needs&quot; primarily, you shouldn't rule out the secondary or luxury capabilities. If the ITSM tool doesn't have the potential to adapt to your needs as your organization grows, it can pull you back from progressing. Draw a clear picture of where your business is headed and choose an service ITSM that is flexible and technology-driven.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Don't stop with the capabilities of the ITSM tool.</span> It might be tempting to assess an ITSM tool based on its capabilities and features but it's important to evaluate the vendor of the tool. A good IT support team, and a vendor that is endorsed for their customer-vendor relationship can take your IT services far. Check Gartner's magic quadrant and other analyst reports, along with product and support reviews to ensure that the said tool provides good customer support.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_ITSM.png"}],"characteristics":[],"concurentProducts":[],"jobRoles":[],"organizationalFeatures":[],"complementaryCategories":[],"solutions":[],"materials":[],"useCases":[],"best_practices":[],"values":[],"implementations":[]},"nsx-sd-wan-by-velocloud":{"id":3314,"logoURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/VMware_NSX_SD-WAN.png","logo":true,"scheme":false,"title":"NSX SD-WAN by VeloCloud","vendorVerified":0,"rating":"2.00","implementationsCount":0,"suppliersCount":0,"supplierPartnersCount":97,"alias":"nsx-sd-wan-by-velocloud","companyTitle":"VMware","companyTypes":["vendor"],"companyId":168,"companyAlias":"vmware","description":"VMware NSX SD-WAN by VeloCloud enables enterprises to support application growth, network agility and simplified branch implementations while delivering optimized access to cloud services, private data centers and enterprise applications simultaneously over both ordinary broadband Internet and private links.\r\nNSXSD-WAN combines the economics and flexibility of a hybrid WAN with the deployment speed and low maintenance of a cloud-based service. It includes policy-based network-wide application performance, visibility and control while dramatically simplifying the WAN by delivering virtualized services from the cloud to branch offices.\r\nThe VMware NSX SD-WAN Edge by VeloCloud appliance is a compact, thin edge device that is zero-touch provisioned from the cloud for secure,optimized connectivity to applications and data. The NSX SD-WANEdge is also available as a VNF (virtual network function) for instantiation on a virtual CPE platform. The NSX SD-WAN Edge with Dynamic Multi-Path Optimization (DMPO) and deep application recognition aggregates multiple links (e.g. Private, Cable, DSL, 4G-LTE) and steers traffic over the optimal links to other on-premises NSX SD-WAN Edges in branch offices, private data centers, campuses, and headquarters. The NSX SD-WAN Edge can also optionally connect to the system of global VMware NSX SD-WAN Gateway by VeloCloud to provide performance, security,and visibility for cloud services (SaaS, IaaS, B2B Internet).\r\nThis system of NSX SD-WAN Gateways is deployed globally at top-tier cloud data centers to provide scalable and on-demand cloud network services. NSX SD-WAN Gateways implement NSX SD-WAN DMPO, cloud VPN and NSX SD-WAN Multisource Inbound Quality of Service between global cloud services (SaaS, IaaS, network services) and each NSX SD-WAN Edge, enabling multiple broadband and private leased lines to appear as a single, high-performance WAN. The cloud-based VMware NSX SD-WAN Orchestrator by VeloCloud is used to provision network-wide business policy, enable services insertion, perform real-time monitoring,and analyze application performance.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Deploy in Minutes</span>\r\nUsing NSX SD-WAN’s zero-touch deployment capability, NSX SD-WAN can be quickly installed. The NSX SD-WAN Edge is shipped to the branch office where a non-technical person simply plugs in power and a few cables. Activation, configuration, and ongoing management are all handled in the cloud.\r\nEnterprise-wide Business Policies NSX SD-WAN makes setting policy as simple as a single click. Enterprises or their managed service providers can define business level policies that apply enterprise wide across many Edges, all througha centralized, cloud based NSX SD-WAN Orchestrator. Link steering, link remediation and QoS are all applied automatically based on the business policies; however specific configuration overrides may also be applied. The centralized NSX SD-WAN Orchestratoralso provides an enterprise wide view and configurability of routing in an overlay flow control table, eliminating complex node by node route configurations.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">SDN for the WAN</span>\r\nNSX SD-WAN brings SDN concepts to the enterprise branch WAN. Business policies implemented across the logical overlay deliver abstraction of application flows from the underlying physical transport. Agility is achieved based on adjusting forwarding to meet policy as well as real-time link conditions. NSX SD-WAN has a distributed control plane for forwarding decisions to be made locally with context, so there are no latency issues nor points of failure across the WAN. Yet each NSX SD-WAN node receives centralized control policies for easy programmability and enterprise wide visibility.\r\nA software based approach enables the flexibility and portability of deploying virtual NSX SD-WAN Edges on off-the-shelf x86 based hardware or as virtual network functions (VNFs) on virtual CPEs. Management is configurable via both a GUI and a Rest API.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Solution Benefits</span>\r\nThe WAN is in transition as enterprises seek to improve agility and economics, and adapt to the shift of applications to the cloud. NSX SD-WAN offers enterprise-grade performance, security, visibility, and control over both public Internet and private networks.NSX SD-WAN dramatically simplifies the WAN with zero touch deployment, one-click business policy and services insertion, and cloud-based network as a service.","shortDescription":"NSX SD-WAN increases agility and cost effectiveness, while assuring application performance across the WAN.","type":null,"isRoiCalculatorAvaliable":false,"isConfiguratorAvaliable":false,"bonus":100,"usingCount":17,"sellingCount":17,"discontinued":0,"rebateForPoc":0,"rebate":0,"seo":{"title":"NSX SD-WAN by VeloCloud","keywords":"","description":"VMware NSX SD-WAN by VeloCloud enables enterprises to support application growth, network agility and simplified branch implementations while delivering optimized access to cloud services, private data centers and enterprise applications simultaneously over bo","og:title":"NSX SD-WAN by VeloCloud","og:description":"VMware NSX SD-WAN by VeloCloud enables enterprises to support application growth, network agility and simplified branch implementations while delivering optimized access to cloud services, private data centers and enterprise applications simultaneously over bo","og:image":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/VMware_NSX_SD-WAN.png"},"eventUrl":"","translationId":3315,"dealDetails":null,"roi":null,"price":null,"bonusForReference":null,"templateData":[{"id":93,"title":"Software-Defined WAN (SD-WAN)"}],"testingArea":"","categories":[{"id":499,"title":"SDN Software-Defined Network","alias":"sdn-software-defined-network","description":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Software-defined networking (SDN)</span> technology is an approach to network management that enables dynamic, programmatically efficient network configuration in order to improve network performance and monitoring, making it more like cloud computing than traditional network management.\r\nSDN encompasses several types of technologies, including functional separation, network virtualization and automation through programmability. SDN solution is meant to address the fact that the static architecture of traditional networks is decentralized and complex while current networks require more flexibility and easy troubleshooting. \r\nSDN technology attempts to centralize network intelligence in one network component by disassociating the forwarding process of network packets (<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">data plane</span>) from the routing process (<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">control plane</span>). The control plane consists of one or more controllers which are considered as the brain of SDN network where the whole intelligence is incorporated. Originally, software defined technology focused solely on separation of the network control plane from the data plane. While the control plane makes decisions about how packets should flow through the network, the data plane actually moves packets from place to place. \r\nIn a classic SDN scenario, a packet arrives at a network switch, and rules built into the switch's proprietary firmware tell the switch where to forward the packet. These packet-handling rules are sent to the switch from the centralized controller. The switch - also known as a <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">data plane device</span> - queries the controller for guidance as needed, and it provides the controller with information about traffic it handles. The switch sends every packet going to the same destination along the same path and treats all the packets the exact same way.\r\nSoftware defined networking solutions use an operation mode that is sometimes called adaptive or dynamic, in which a switch issues a route request to a controller for a packet that does not have a specific route. This process is separate from adaptive routing, which issues route requests through routers and algorithms based on the network topology, not through a controller.\r\nThe <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">virtualization</span> aspect of SDN comes into play through a virtual overlay, which is a logically separate network on top of the physical network. Users can implement end-to-end overlays to abstract the underlying network and segment network traffic. This microsegmentation is especially useful for service providers and operators with multi-tenant cloud environments and cloud services, as they can provision a separate virtual network with specific policies for each tenant.","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\">Benefits of Software Defined Networking</h1>\r\nWith SDN software, an <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">administrator can change any network switch's rules when necessary</span> - prioritizing, deprioritizing or even blocking specific types of packets with a granular level of control and security. This is especially helpful in a cloud computing multi-tenant architecture, because it enables the administrator to manage traffic loads in a flexible and more efficient manner. Essentially, this enables the administrator to use less expensive commodity switches and have more control over network traffic flow than ever before.\r\nOther benefits of SDN are <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">network management</span> and <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">end-to-end visibility.</span>A network administrator need only deal with one centralized controller to distribute policies to the connected switches, instead of configuring multiple individual devices. This capability is also a security advantage because the controller can monitor traffic and deploy security policies. If the controller deems traffic suspicious, for example, it can reroute or drop the packets.\r\nSoftware defined networking software also <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">virtualizes hardware</span> and <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">services </span>that were previously carried out by dedicated hardware, resulting in the touted benefits of a reduced hardware footprint and lower operational costs.\r\nAdditionally, SDN contributed to the emergence of <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN)</span> technology. SD-WAN employs the virtual overlay aspect of SDN technology, abstracting an organization's connectivity links throughout its WAN and creating a virtual network that can use whichever connection the controller deems fit to send traffic.\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\">Are there any SDN security benefits?</h1>\r\nAs security issues become more complex at the edge of the network, it’s no wonder that network and security professionals are looking for new ways to approach network protection. Nowadays, it seems like SDN is going to be the answer. \r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Centralized Network Control </span></li></ul>\r\nIn a traditional network, devices (router/switches) make their own decisions locally about where and how best to send traffic.&nbsp; In terms of network security, SDN can be used to route data packets through a single firewall and make IDS and IPS data capture more efficient.\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Simplify Configuration</span></li></ul>\r\nThe SDN makes it easier to automate configuration and improves the traceability of those configurations. The introduction of SDN network management allows dynamic programming and restructuring of network settings, which reduces the risk of DDoS attacks. It is also worth adding that SDN has automatic quarantine capabilities. \r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Creation of High-level Network Policies</span></li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"color: rgb(97, 97, 97); \">Rather than physically configuring security solutions, SDN facilitates the central management of security policies to make network operator roles more efficient and flexible. Moreover, SDN helps to move away from current management approaches such as SNMP/CLI and build more effective policy management. </span>\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \"><span style=\"color: rgb(97, 97, 97); \">Easy to use Application Programming Interfaces (APIs)</span></span></li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"color: rgb(97, 97, 97); \">Cloud APIs are interfaces presented by software and play a vital role in SDN controllers and applications. Easy to use APIs help to manage network resources, improve the efficiency of IT resources, and aid integration with IT tools. Additionally, a number of good cloud security practices have been introduced recently. </span>","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_SDN_Software_Defined_Network.png"},{"id":52,"title":"SaaS - software as a service","alias":"saas-software-as-a-service","description":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Software as a service (SaaS)</span> is a software licensing and delivery model in which software is licensed on a subscription basis and is centrally hosted. It is sometimes referred to as &quot;on-demand software&quot;, and was formerly referred to as &quot;software plus services&quot; by Microsoft.\r\n SaaS services is typically accessed by users using a thin client, e.g. via a web browser. SaaS software solutions has become a common delivery model for many business applications, including office software, messaging software, payroll processing software, DBMS software, management software, CAD software, development software, gamification, virtualization, accounting, collaboration, customer relationship management (CRM), Management Information Systems (MIS), enterprise resource planning (ERP), invoicing, human resource management (HRM), talent acquisition, learning management systems, content management (CM), Geographic Information Systems (GIS), and service desk management. SaaS has been incorporated into the strategy of nearly all leading enterprise software companies.\r\nSaaS applications are also known as <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Web-based software</span>, <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">on-demand software</span> and<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\"> hosted software</span>.\r\nThe term &quot;Software as a Service&quot; (SaaS) is considered to be part of the nomenclature of cloud computing, along with Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), Desktop as a Service (DaaS),managed software as a service (MSaaS), mobile backend as a service (MBaaS), and information technology management as a service (ITMaaS).\r\nBecause SaaS is based on cloud computing it saves organizations from installing and running applications on their own systems. That eliminates or at least reduces the associated costs of hardware purchases and maintenance and of software and support. The initial setup cost for a SaaS application is also generally lower than it for equivalent enterprise software purchased via a site license.\r\nSometimes, the use of SaaS cloud software can also reduce the long-term costs of software licensing, though that depends on the pricing model for the individual SaaS offering and the enterprise’s usage patterns. In fact, it’s possible for SaaS to cost more than traditional software licenses. This is an area IT organizations should explore carefully.<br />SaaS also provides enterprises the flexibility inherent with cloud services: they can subscribe to a SaaS offering as needed rather than having to buy software licenses and install the software on a variety of computers. The savings can be substantial in the case of applications that require new hardware purchases to support the software.<br /><br /><br /><br />","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: normal;\">Who uses SaaS?</span></h1>\r\nIndustry analyst Forrester Research notes that SaaS adoption has so far been concentrated mostly in human resource management (HRM), customer relationship management (CRM), collaboration software (e.g., email), and procurement solutions, but is poised to widen. Today it’s possible to have a data warehouse in the cloud that you can access with business intelligence software running as a service and connect to your cloud-based ERP like NetSuite or Microsoft Dynamics.The dollar savings can run into the millions. And SaaS installations are often installed and working in a fraction of the time of on-premises deployments—some can be ready in hours. \r\nSales and marketing people are likely familiar with Salesforce.com, the leading SaaS CRM software, with millions of users across more than 100,000 customers. Sales is going SaaS too, with apps available to support sales in order management, compensation, quote production and configure, price, quoting, electronic signatures, contract management and more.\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: normal;\">Why SaaS? Benefits of software as a service</span></h1>\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Lower cost of entry</span>. With SaaS solution, you pay for what you need, without having to buy hardware to host your new applications. Instead of provisioning internal resources to install the software, the vendor provides APIs and performs much of the work to get their software working for you. The time to a working solution can drop from months in the traditional model to weeks, days or hours with the SaaS model. In some businesses, IT wants nothing to do with installing and running a sales app. In the case of funding software and its implementation, this can be a make-or-break issue for the sales and marketing budget, so the lower cost really makes the difference.</li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Reduced time to benefit/rapid prototyping</span>. In the SaaS model, the software application is already installed and configured. Users can provision the server for the cloud and quickly have the application ready for use. This cuts the time to benefit and allows for rapid demonstrations and prototyping. With many SaaS companies offering free trials, this means a painless proof of concept and discovery phase to prove the benefit to the organization. </li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Pay as you go</span>. SaaS business software gives you the benefit of predictable costs both for the subscription and to some extent, the administration. Even as you scale, you can have a clear idea of what your costs will be. This allows for much more accurate budgeting, especially as compared to the costs of internal IT to manage upgrades and address issues for an owned instance.</li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">The SaaS vendor is responsible for upgrades, uptime and security</span>. Under the SaaS model, since the software is hosted by the vendor, they take on the responsibility for maintaining the software and upgrading it, ensuring that it is reliable and meeting agreed-upon service level agreements, and keeping the application and its data secure.&nbsp; While some IT people worry about Software as a Service security outside of the enterprise walls, the likely truth is that the vendor has a much higher level of security than the enterprise itself would provide. Many will have redundant instances in very secure data centers in multiple geographies.&nbsp; Also, the data is being automatically backed up by the vendor, providing additional security and peace of mind. Because of the data center hosting, you’re getting the added benefit of at least some disaster recovery. Lastly, the vendor manages these issues as part of their core competencies—let them.</li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Integration and scalability.</span> Most SaaS apps are designed to support some amount of customization for the way you do business. SaaS vendors create APIs to allow connections not only to internal applications like ERPs or CRMs but also to other SaaS providers. One of the terrific aspects of integration is that orders written in the field can be automatically sent to the ERP. Now a salesperson in the field can check inventory through the catalog, write the order in front of the customer for approval, send it and receive confirmation, all in minutes. And as you scale with a SaaS vendor, there’s no need to invest in server capacity and software licenses. </li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Work anywhere</span>. Since the software is hosted in the cloud and accessible over the internet, users can access it via mobile devices wherever they are connected. This includes checking customer order histories prior to a sales call, as well as having access to real time data and real time order taking with the customer.</li></ul>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\">&nbsp;</p>","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/SaaS__1_.png"},{"id":34,"title":"ITSM - IT Service Management","alias":"itsm-it-service-management","description":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">IT service management (ITSM)</span> is the process of designing, delivering, managing, and improving the IT services an organization provides to its end users. ITSM is focused on aligning IT processes and services with business objectives to help an organization grow.\r\nITSM positions IT services as the key means of delivering and obtaining value, where an internal or external IT service provider works with business customers, at the same time taking responsibility for the associated costs and risks. ITSM works across the whole lifecycle of a service, from the original strategy, through design, transition and into live operation.\r\nTo ensure sustainable quality of IT services, ITSM establishes a set of practices, or processes, constituting a service management system. There are industrial, national and international standards for IT service management solutions, setting up requirements and good practices for the management system. \r\nITSM system is based on a set of principles, such as focusing on value and continual improvement. It is not just a set of processes – it is a cultural mindset to ensure that the desired outcome for the business is achieved. \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">ITIL (IT Infrastructure Library)</span> is a framework of best practices and recommendations for managing an organization's IT operations and services. IT service management processes, when built based on the ITIL framework, pave the way for better IT service operations management and improved business. To summarize, ITIL is a set of guidelines for effective IT service management best practices. ITIL has evolved beyond the delivery of services to providing end-to-end value delivery. The focus is now on the co-creation of value through service relationships. \r\n<p class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">ITSM processes typically include five stages, all based on the ITIL framework:</span></p>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">ITSM strategy.</span> This stage forms the foundation or the framework of an organization's ITSM process building. It involves defining the services that the organization will offer, strategically planning processes, and recognizing and developing the required assets to keep processes moving. \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Service design.</span> This stage's main aim is planning and designing the IT services the organization offers to meet business demands. It involves creating and designing new services as well as assessing current services and making relevant improvements.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Service transition.</span> Once the designs for IT services and their processes have been finalized, it's important to build them and test them out to ensure that processes flow. IT teams need to ensure that the designs don't disrupt services in any way, especially when existing IT service processes are upgraded or redesigned. This calls for change management, evaluation, and risk management. \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Service operation. </span>This phase involves implementing the tried and tested new or modified designs in a live environment. While in this stage, the processes have already been tested and the issues fixed, but new processes are bound to have hiccups—especially when customers start using the services. \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Continual service improvement (CSI).</span> Implementing IT processes successfully shouldn't be the final stage in any organization. There's always room for improvement and new development based on issues that pop up, customer needs and demands, and user feedback.\r\n\r\n","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\">Benefits of efficient ITSM processes</h1>\r\nIrrespective of the size of business, every organization is involved in IT service management in some way. ITSM ensures that incidents, service requests, problems, changes, and IT assets—in addition to other aspects of IT services—are managed in a streamlined way.\r\nIT teams in your organization can employ various workflows and best practices in ITSM, as outlined in ITIL. Effective IT service management can have positive effects on an IT organization's overall function.\r\nHere are the 10 key benefits of ITSM:\r\n<ul><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Lower costs for IT operations</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Higher returns on IT investments</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Minimal service outages</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Ability to establish well-defined, repeatable, and manageable IT processes</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Efficient analysis of IT problems to reduce repeat incidents</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Improved efficiency of IT help desk teams</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Well-defined roles and responsibilities</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Clear expectations on service levels and service availability</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Risk-free implementation of IT changes</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Better transparency into IT processes and services</li></ul>\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\">How to choose an ITSM tool?</h1>\r\nWith a competent IT service management goal in mind, it's important to invest in a service desk solution that caters to your business needs. It goes without saying, with more than 150 service desk tools to choose from, selecting the right one is easier said than done. Here are a few things to keep in mind when choosing an ITSM products:\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Identify key processes and their dependencies. </span>Based on business goals, decide which key ITSM processes need to be implemented and chart out the integrations that need to be established to achieve those goals. \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Consult with ITSM experts.</span> Participate in business expos, webinars, demos, etc., and educate yourself about the various options that are available in the market. Reports from expert analysts such as Gartner and Forrester are particularly useful as they include reviews of almost every solution, ranked based on multiple criteria.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Choose a deployment option.</span> Every business has a different IT infrastructure model. Selecting an on-premises or software as a service (SaaS IT service management) tool depends on whether your business prefers to host its applications and data on its own servers or use a public or private cloud.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Plan ahead for the future.</span> Although it's important to consider the &quot;needs&quot; primarily, you shouldn't rule out the secondary or luxury capabilities. If the ITSM tool doesn't have the potential to adapt to your needs as your organization grows, it can pull you back from progressing. Draw a clear picture of where your business is headed and choose an service ITSM that is flexible and technology-driven.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Don't stop with the capabilities of the ITSM tool.</span> It might be tempting to assess an ITSM tool based on its capabilities and features but it's important to evaluate the vendor of the tool. A good IT support team, and a vendor that is endorsed for their customer-vendor relationship can take your IT services far. Check Gartner's magic quadrant and other analyst reports, along with product and support reviews to ensure that the said tool provides good customer support.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_ITSM.png"}],"characteristics":[],"concurentProducts":[],"jobRoles":[],"organizationalFeatures":[],"complementaryCategories":[],"solutions":[],"materials":[],"useCases":[],"best_practices":[],"values":[],"implementations":[]},"nuage-vns":{"id":3328,"logoURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/Nuage_Networks_logo.png","logo":true,"scheme":false,"title":"Nuage VNS","vendorVerified":0,"rating":"1.00","implementationsCount":0,"suppliersCount":0,"supplierPartnersCount":0,"alias":"nuage-vns","companyTitle":"Nuage Networks","companyTypes":["vendor"],"companyId":5235,"companyAlias":"nuage-networks","description":"Nuage Networks Virtualized Network Services (VNS) is a fresh approach to business networking that seamlessly links your enterprise customers’ locations regardless of size or geography while reducing the requirement for custom networking.\r\nWith Nuage Networks VNS the network that underpins customer locations is unshackled to deliver services where enterprises need them when they need them. Your customers gain the flexibility and functionality they need to drive their business into the cloud era.\r\nNuage Networks VNS provides a comprehensive networking service that removes the limitations that exist with traditional Virtual Private Networks (VPNs). Solution benefits include:\r\n<ul> <li>Customer self-service management and control of the network service tailored to the individual requirements of their businesses</li> <li>Separation of the network service from the network transport, which provides you with flexibility to utilize any access network within your footprint</li> <li>Customer-driven quick and simple move, add and change requests to ensure their network service matches their dynamic business environment</li> <li>Advanced functionality that can reduce the requirement for specialist security and network devices at customers’ locations</li> <li>Enhanced customer monitoring and service visibility to reduce the costs associated with service assurance</li> </ul>","shortDescription":"Nuage Networks Virtualized Network Services (VNS) automate branch site connectivity to help service providers and enterprises reduce operational overhead and launch new services faster.","type":null,"isRoiCalculatorAvaliable":false,"isConfiguratorAvaliable":false,"bonus":100,"usingCount":20,"sellingCount":6,"discontinued":0,"rebateForPoc":0,"rebate":0,"seo":{"title":"Nuage VNS","keywords":"","description":"Nuage Networks Virtualized Network Services (VNS) is a fresh approach to business networking that seamlessly links your enterprise customers’ locations regardless of size or geography while reducing the requirement for custom networking.\r\nWith Nuage Networks V","og:title":"Nuage VNS","og:description":"Nuage Networks Virtualized Network Services (VNS) is a fresh approach to business networking that seamlessly links your enterprise customers’ locations regardless of size or geography while reducing the requirement for custom networking.\r\nWith Nuage Networks V","og:image":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/Nuage_Networks_logo.png"},"eventUrl":"","translationId":3329,"dealDetails":null,"roi":null,"price":null,"bonusForReference":null,"templateData":[{"id":93,"title":"Software-Defined WAN (SD-WAN)"}],"testingArea":"","categories":[{"id":499,"title":"SDN Software-Defined Network","alias":"sdn-software-defined-network","description":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Software-defined networking (SDN)</span> technology is an approach to network management that enables dynamic, programmatically efficient network configuration in order to improve network performance and monitoring, making it more like cloud computing than traditional network management.\r\nSDN encompasses several types of technologies, including functional separation, network virtualization and automation through programmability. SDN solution is meant to address the fact that the static architecture of traditional networks is decentralized and complex while current networks require more flexibility and easy troubleshooting. \r\nSDN technology attempts to centralize network intelligence in one network component by disassociating the forwarding process of network packets (<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">data plane</span>) from the routing process (<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">control plane</span>). The control plane consists of one or more controllers which are considered as the brain of SDN network where the whole intelligence is incorporated. Originally, software defined technology focused solely on separation of the network control plane from the data plane. While the control plane makes decisions about how packets should flow through the network, the data plane actually moves packets from place to place. \r\nIn a classic SDN scenario, a packet arrives at a network switch, and rules built into the switch's proprietary firmware tell the switch where to forward the packet. These packet-handling rules are sent to the switch from the centralized controller. The switch - also known as a <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">data plane device</span> - queries the controller for guidance as needed, and it provides the controller with information about traffic it handles. The switch sends every packet going to the same destination along the same path and treats all the packets the exact same way.\r\nSoftware defined networking solutions use an operation mode that is sometimes called adaptive or dynamic, in which a switch issues a route request to a controller for a packet that does not have a specific route. This process is separate from adaptive routing, which issues route requests through routers and algorithms based on the network topology, not through a controller.\r\nThe <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">virtualization</span> aspect of SDN comes into play through a virtual overlay, which is a logically separate network on top of the physical network. Users can implement end-to-end overlays to abstract the underlying network and segment network traffic. This microsegmentation is especially useful for service providers and operators with multi-tenant cloud environments and cloud services, as they can provision a separate virtual network with specific policies for each tenant.","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\">Benefits of Software Defined Networking</h1>\r\nWith SDN software, an <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">administrator can change any network switch's rules when necessary</span> - prioritizing, deprioritizing or even blocking specific types of packets with a granular level of control and security. This is especially helpful in a cloud computing multi-tenant architecture, because it enables the administrator to manage traffic loads in a flexible and more efficient manner. Essentially, this enables the administrator to use less expensive commodity switches and have more control over network traffic flow than ever before.\r\nOther benefits of SDN are <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">network management</span> and <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">end-to-end visibility.</span>A network administrator need only deal with one centralized controller to distribute policies to the connected switches, instead of configuring multiple individual devices. This capability is also a security advantage because the controller can monitor traffic and deploy security policies. If the controller deems traffic suspicious, for example, it can reroute or drop the packets.\r\nSoftware defined networking software also <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">virtualizes hardware</span> and <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">services </span>that were previously carried out by dedicated hardware, resulting in the touted benefits of a reduced hardware footprint and lower operational costs.\r\nAdditionally, SDN contributed to the emergence of <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN)</span> technology. SD-WAN employs the virtual overlay aspect of SDN technology, abstracting an organization's connectivity links throughout its WAN and creating a virtual network that can use whichever connection the controller deems fit to send traffic.\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\">Are there any SDN security benefits?</h1>\r\nAs security issues become more complex at the edge of the network, it’s no wonder that network and security professionals are looking for new ways to approach network protection. Nowadays, it seems like SDN is going to be the answer. \r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Centralized Network Control </span></li></ul>\r\nIn a traditional network, devices (router/switches) make their own decisions locally about where and how best to send traffic.&nbsp; In terms of network security, SDN can be used to route data packets through a single firewall and make IDS and IPS data capture more efficient.\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Simplify Configuration</span></li></ul>\r\nThe SDN makes it easier to automate configuration and improves the traceability of those configurations. The introduction of SDN network management allows dynamic programming and restructuring of network settings, which reduces the risk of DDoS attacks. It is also worth adding that SDN has automatic quarantine capabilities. \r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Creation of High-level Network Policies</span></li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"color: rgb(97, 97, 97); \">Rather than physically configuring security solutions, SDN facilitates the central management of security policies to make network operator roles more efficient and flexible. Moreover, SDN helps to move away from current management approaches such as SNMP/CLI and build more effective policy management. </span>\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \"><span style=\"color: rgb(97, 97, 97); \">Easy to use Application Programming Interfaces (APIs)</span></span></li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"color: rgb(97, 97, 97); \">Cloud APIs are interfaces presented by software and play a vital role in SDN controllers and applications. Easy to use APIs help to manage network resources, improve the efficiency of IT resources, and aid integration with IT tools. Additionally, a number of good cloud security practices have been introduced recently. </span>","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_SDN_Software_Defined_Network.png"},{"id":52,"title":"SaaS - software as a service","alias":"saas-software-as-a-service","description":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Software as a service (SaaS)</span> is a software licensing and delivery model in which software is licensed on a subscription basis and is centrally hosted. It is sometimes referred to as &quot;on-demand software&quot;, and was formerly referred to as &quot;software plus services&quot; by Microsoft.\r\n SaaS services is typically accessed by users using a thin client, e.g. via a web browser. SaaS software solutions has become a common delivery model for many business applications, including office software, messaging software, payroll processing software, DBMS software, management software, CAD software, development software, gamification, virtualization, accounting, collaboration, customer relationship management (CRM), Management Information Systems (MIS), enterprise resource planning (ERP), invoicing, human resource management (HRM), talent acquisition, learning management systems, content management (CM), Geographic Information Systems (GIS), and service desk management. SaaS has been incorporated into the strategy of nearly all leading enterprise software companies.\r\nSaaS applications are also known as <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Web-based software</span>, <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">on-demand software</span> and<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\"> hosted software</span>.\r\nThe term &quot;Software as a Service&quot; (SaaS) is considered to be part of the nomenclature of cloud computing, along with Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), Desktop as a Service (DaaS),managed software as a service (MSaaS), mobile backend as a service (MBaaS), and information technology management as a service (ITMaaS).\r\nBecause SaaS is based on cloud computing it saves organizations from installing and running applications on their own systems. That eliminates or at least reduces the associated costs of hardware purchases and maintenance and of software and support. The initial setup cost for a SaaS application is also generally lower than it for equivalent enterprise software purchased via a site license.\r\nSometimes, the use of SaaS cloud software can also reduce the long-term costs of software licensing, though that depends on the pricing model for the individual SaaS offering and the enterprise’s usage patterns. In fact, it’s possible for SaaS to cost more than traditional software licenses. This is an area IT organizations should explore carefully.<br />SaaS also provides enterprises the flexibility inherent with cloud services: they can subscribe to a SaaS offering as needed rather than having to buy software licenses and install the software on a variety of computers. The savings can be substantial in the case of applications that require new hardware purchases to support the software.<br /><br /><br /><br />","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: normal;\">Who uses SaaS?</span></h1>\r\nIndustry analyst Forrester Research notes that SaaS adoption has so far been concentrated mostly in human resource management (HRM), customer relationship management (CRM), collaboration software (e.g., email), and procurement solutions, but is poised to widen. Today it’s possible to have a data warehouse in the cloud that you can access with business intelligence software running as a service and connect to your cloud-based ERP like NetSuite or Microsoft Dynamics.The dollar savings can run into the millions. And SaaS installations are often installed and working in a fraction of the time of on-premises deployments—some can be ready in hours. \r\nSales and marketing people are likely familiar with Salesforce.com, the leading SaaS CRM software, with millions of users across more than 100,000 customers. Sales is going SaaS too, with apps available to support sales in order management, compensation, quote production and configure, price, quoting, electronic signatures, contract management and more.\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: normal;\">Why SaaS? Benefits of software as a service</span></h1>\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Lower cost of entry</span>. With SaaS solution, you pay for what you need, without having to buy hardware to host your new applications. Instead of provisioning internal resources to install the software, the vendor provides APIs and performs much of the work to get their software working for you. The time to a working solution can drop from months in the traditional model to weeks, days or hours with the SaaS model. In some businesses, IT wants nothing to do with installing and running a sales app. In the case of funding software and its implementation, this can be a make-or-break issue for the sales and marketing budget, so the lower cost really makes the difference.</li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Reduced time to benefit/rapid prototyping</span>. In the SaaS model, the software application is already installed and configured. Users can provision the server for the cloud and quickly have the application ready for use. This cuts the time to benefit and allows for rapid demonstrations and prototyping. With many SaaS companies offering free trials, this means a painless proof of concept and discovery phase to prove the benefit to the organization. </li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Pay as you go</span>. SaaS business software gives you the benefit of predictable costs both for the subscription and to some extent, the administration. Even as you scale, you can have a clear idea of what your costs will be. This allows for much more accurate budgeting, especially as compared to the costs of internal IT to manage upgrades and address issues for an owned instance.</li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">The SaaS vendor is responsible for upgrades, uptime and security</span>. Under the SaaS model, since the software is hosted by the vendor, they take on the responsibility for maintaining the software and upgrading it, ensuring that it is reliable and meeting agreed-upon service level agreements, and keeping the application and its data secure.&nbsp; While some IT people worry about Software as a Service security outside of the enterprise walls, the likely truth is that the vendor has a much higher level of security than the enterprise itself would provide. Many will have redundant instances in very secure data centers in multiple geographies.&nbsp; Also, the data is being automatically backed up by the vendor, providing additional security and peace of mind. Because of the data center hosting, you’re getting the added benefit of at least some disaster recovery. Lastly, the vendor manages these issues as part of their core competencies—let them.</li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Integration and scalability.</span> Most SaaS apps are designed to support some amount of customization for the way you do business. SaaS vendors create APIs to allow connections not only to internal applications like ERPs or CRMs but also to other SaaS providers. One of the terrific aspects of integration is that orders written in the field can be automatically sent to the ERP. Now a salesperson in the field can check inventory through the catalog, write the order in front of the customer for approval, send it and receive confirmation, all in minutes. And as you scale with a SaaS vendor, there’s no need to invest in server capacity and software licenses. </li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Work anywhere</span>. Since the software is hosted in the cloud and accessible over the internet, users can access it via mobile devices wherever they are connected. This includes checking customer order histories prior to a sales call, as well as having access to real time data and real time order taking with the customer.</li></ul>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\">&nbsp;</p>","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/SaaS__1_.png"},{"id":34,"title":"ITSM - IT Service Management","alias":"itsm-it-service-management","description":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">IT service management (ITSM)</span> is the process of designing, delivering, managing, and improving the IT services an organization provides to its end users. ITSM is focused on aligning IT processes and services with business objectives to help an organization grow.\r\nITSM positions IT services as the key means of delivering and obtaining value, where an internal or external IT service provider works with business customers, at the same time taking responsibility for the associated costs and risks. ITSM works across the whole lifecycle of a service, from the original strategy, through design, transition and into live operation.\r\nTo ensure sustainable quality of IT services, ITSM establishes a set of practices, or processes, constituting a service management system. There are industrial, national and international standards for IT service management solutions, setting up requirements and good practices for the management system. \r\nITSM system is based on a set of principles, such as focusing on value and continual improvement. It is not just a set of processes – it is a cultural mindset to ensure that the desired outcome for the business is achieved. \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">ITIL (IT Infrastructure Library)</span> is a framework of best practices and recommendations for managing an organization's IT operations and services. IT service management processes, when built based on the ITIL framework, pave the way for better IT service operations management and improved business. To summarize, ITIL is a set of guidelines for effective IT service management best practices. ITIL has evolved beyond the delivery of services to providing end-to-end value delivery. The focus is now on the co-creation of value through service relationships. \r\n<p class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">ITSM processes typically include five stages, all based on the ITIL framework:</span></p>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">ITSM strategy.</span> This stage forms the foundation or the framework of an organization's ITSM process building. It involves defining the services that the organization will offer, strategically planning processes, and recognizing and developing the required assets to keep processes moving. \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Service design.</span> This stage's main aim is planning and designing the IT services the organization offers to meet business demands. It involves creating and designing new services as well as assessing current services and making relevant improvements.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Service transition.</span> Once the designs for IT services and their processes have been finalized, it's important to build them and test them out to ensure that processes flow. IT teams need to ensure that the designs don't disrupt services in any way, especially when existing IT service processes are upgraded or redesigned. This calls for change management, evaluation, and risk management. \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Service operation. </span>This phase involves implementing the tried and tested new or modified designs in a live environment. While in this stage, the processes have already been tested and the issues fixed, but new processes are bound to have hiccups—especially when customers start using the services. \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Continual service improvement (CSI).</span> Implementing IT processes successfully shouldn't be the final stage in any organization. There's always room for improvement and new development based on issues that pop up, customer needs and demands, and user feedback.\r\n\r\n","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\">Benefits of efficient ITSM processes</h1>\r\nIrrespective of the size of business, every organization is involved in IT service management in some way. ITSM ensures that incidents, service requests, problems, changes, and IT assets—in addition to other aspects of IT services—are managed in a streamlined way.\r\nIT teams in your organization can employ various workflows and best practices in ITSM, as outlined in ITIL. Effective IT service management can have positive effects on an IT organization's overall function.\r\nHere are the 10 key benefits of ITSM:\r\n<ul><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Lower costs for IT operations</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Higher returns on IT investments</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Minimal service outages</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Ability to establish well-defined, repeatable, and manageable IT processes</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Efficient analysis of IT problems to reduce repeat incidents</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Improved efficiency of IT help desk teams</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Well-defined roles and responsibilities</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Clear expectations on service levels and service availability</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Risk-free implementation of IT changes</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Better transparency into IT processes and services</li></ul>\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\">How to choose an ITSM tool?</h1>\r\nWith a competent IT service management goal in mind, it's important to invest in a service desk solution that caters to your business needs. It goes without saying, with more than 150 service desk tools to choose from, selecting the right one is easier said than done. Here are a few things to keep in mind when choosing an ITSM products:\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Identify key processes and their dependencies. </span>Based on business goals, decide which key ITSM processes need to be implemented and chart out the integrations that need to be established to achieve those goals. \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Consult with ITSM experts.</span> Participate in business expos, webinars, demos, etc., and educate yourself about the various options that are available in the market. Reports from expert analysts such as Gartner and Forrester are particularly useful as they include reviews of almost every solution, ranked based on multiple criteria.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Choose a deployment option.</span> Every business has a different IT infrastructure model. Selecting an on-premises or software as a service (SaaS IT service management) tool depends on whether your business prefers to host its applications and data on its own servers or use a public or private cloud.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Plan ahead for the future.</span> Although it's important to consider the &quot;needs&quot; primarily, you shouldn't rule out the secondary or luxury capabilities. If the ITSM tool doesn't have the potential to adapt to your needs as your organization grows, it can pull you back from progressing. Draw a clear picture of where your business is headed and choose an service ITSM that is flexible and technology-driven.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Don't stop with the capabilities of the ITSM tool.</span> It might be tempting to assess an ITSM tool based on its capabilities and features but it's important to evaluate the vendor of the tool. A good IT support team, and a vendor that is endorsed for their customer-vendor relationship can take your IT services far. Check Gartner's magic quadrant and other analyst reports, along with product and support reviews to ensure that the said tool provides good customer support.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_ITSM.png"}],"characteristics":[],"concurentProducts":[],"jobRoles":[],"organizationalFeatures":[],"complementaryCategories":[],"solutions":[],"materials":[],"useCases":[],"best_practices":[],"values":[],"implementations":[]},"riverbed-steelconnect":{"id":3324,"logoURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/riverbed_SteelConnect_logo.jpg","logo":true,"scheme":false,"title":"Riverbed SteelConnect","vendorVerified":0,"rating":"1.00","implementationsCount":0,"suppliersCount":0,"supplierPartnersCount":0,"alias":"riverbed-steelconnect","companyTitle":"Riverbed","companyTypes":["supplier","vendor"],"companyId":2779,"companyAlias":"riverbed","description":"Riverbed SteelConnect is the cornerstone of Riverbed’s strategy for next-generation, application-defined enterprise networking. SteelConnect is a complete SD-WAN system for securely connecting users and business to the applications they need, wherever they reside - on a remote LAN, in a data center, or in the cloud.\r\nSteelConnect offers several differentiators - ubiquitous and unified connectivity across LAN, WAN, and the Cloud; business aligned orchestration for fast, agile, and secure application delivery; and unique cloud-centric workflow, easy menu-driven network design of sites, zones, uplinks, and rules, and centralized, business intent-based policy management—all within a simple graphical user interface - for ease of use and greater business agility.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">SteelConnect provides:</span>\r\n<ul> <li>WAN optimization and SD-WAN capabilities</li> <li>Identification and classification of over 1300 applications with deep packet inspection</li> <li>Optimization and acceleration of applications—on-premises and cloud—leveraging data (scalable data referencing or SDR), transport, and application streamlining</li> <li>Centralized network management capabilities based on a single intent-and user-based “plain-language” global business policy</li> <li>The ability to enforce application policy (path quality, path selection, network QoS, and security)</li> <li>Pre-defined Application Groups (for example, business critical) for traffic path rule and security policy creation, as well as scalability with fewer policy rules. Add custom applications and leverage a constantly updated catalog of public applications to identify applications for advanced classification</li> <li>Instant, single-click provisioning to the cloud with SteelHead™ CX for Cloud to automate cloud networking and accelerate cloud performance</li> <li>Automated zero-touch provisioning of devices</li> <li>Dynamic Native Routing – branch-&nbsp; and WAN-side—to eliminate routers and reduce complexity</li> <li>Path monitoring and quality-based, Hybrid WAN path selection</li> <li>Integrated and third-party security providers</li> <li>Scalability (up to 1000 branches/sites)</li> <li>Cloud (AWS and Microsoft Azure) and self-hosting in a physical or virtual data center (for example, VMware)</li> <li>End-to-end visibility with unified views, plus reporting and troubleshooting of application and network performance</li> </ul>\r\nWith SteelConnect, Riverbed is integrating its centralized, policy-based management and core SD-WAN capabilities with its industry-leading network and application optimization, enterprise-class scalability and end-to-end visibility into clouds, thus extending Riverbed’s Application-Defined Networking and End-to-End Unified Visibility for large-scale enterprises.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Benefits:</span>\r\n<ul> <li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Agility:</span> Faster IT response times based on deep automation and intuitive GUI design.</li> <li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Efficiency:</span> High ROI and quick payback delivered through network infrastructure savings and operational ease.</li> <li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Security:</span> Native security capabilities supplemented with deep automation with 3rd party security vendors for cloud-first security.</li> <li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Flexibility:</span> Ability to integrate into complex, secure, enterprise environments while catalyzing successful digital transformations.</li> </ul>","shortDescription":"SteelConnect offers a single, unified orchestration and connectivity fabric across the entire distributed enterprise network.","type":null,"isRoiCalculatorAvaliable":false,"isConfiguratorAvaliable":false,"bonus":100,"usingCount":0,"sellingCount":2,"discontinued":0,"rebateForPoc":0,"rebate":0,"seo":{"title":"Riverbed SteelConnect","keywords":"","description":"Riverbed SteelConnect is the cornerstone of Riverbed’s strategy for next-generation, application-defined enterprise networking. SteelConnect is a complete SD-WAN system for securely connecting users and business to the applications they need, wherever they res","og:title":"Riverbed SteelConnect","og:description":"Riverbed SteelConnect is the cornerstone of Riverbed’s strategy for next-generation, application-defined enterprise networking. SteelConnect is a complete SD-WAN system for securely connecting users and business to the applications they need, wherever they res","og:image":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/riverbed_SteelConnect_logo.jpg"},"eventUrl":"","translationId":3325,"dealDetails":null,"roi":null,"price":null,"bonusForReference":null,"templateData":[{"id":93,"title":"Software-Defined WAN (SD-WAN)"}],"testingArea":"","categories":[{"id":499,"title":"SDN Software-Defined Network","alias":"sdn-software-defined-network","description":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Software-defined networking (SDN)</span> technology is an approach to network management that enables dynamic, programmatically efficient network configuration in order to improve network performance and monitoring, making it more like cloud computing than traditional network management.\r\nSDN encompasses several types of technologies, including functional separation, network virtualization and automation through programmability. SDN solution is meant to address the fact that the static architecture of traditional networks is decentralized and complex while current networks require more flexibility and easy troubleshooting. \r\nSDN technology attempts to centralize network intelligence in one network component by disassociating the forwarding process of network packets (<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">data plane</span>) from the routing process (<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">control plane</span>). The control plane consists of one or more controllers which are considered as the brain of SDN network where the whole intelligence is incorporated. Originally, software defined technology focused solely on separation of the network control plane from the data plane. While the control plane makes decisions about how packets should flow through the network, the data plane actually moves packets from place to place. \r\nIn a classic SDN scenario, a packet arrives at a network switch, and rules built into the switch's proprietary firmware tell the switch where to forward the packet. These packet-handling rules are sent to the switch from the centralized controller. The switch - also known as a <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">data plane device</span> - queries the controller for guidance as needed, and it provides the controller with information about traffic it handles. The switch sends every packet going to the same destination along the same path and treats all the packets the exact same way.\r\nSoftware defined networking solutions use an operation mode that is sometimes called adaptive or dynamic, in which a switch issues a route request to a controller for a packet that does not have a specific route. This process is separate from adaptive routing, which issues route requests through routers and algorithms based on the network topology, not through a controller.\r\nThe <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">virtualization</span> aspect of SDN comes into play through a virtual overlay, which is a logically separate network on top of the physical network. Users can implement end-to-end overlays to abstract the underlying network and segment network traffic. This microsegmentation is especially useful for service providers and operators with multi-tenant cloud environments and cloud services, as they can provision a separate virtual network with specific policies for each tenant.","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\">Benefits of Software Defined Networking</h1>\r\nWith SDN software, an <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">administrator can change any network switch's rules when necessary</span> - prioritizing, deprioritizing or even blocking specific types of packets with a granular level of control and security. This is especially helpful in a cloud computing multi-tenant architecture, because it enables the administrator to manage traffic loads in a flexible and more efficient manner. Essentially, this enables the administrator to use less expensive commodity switches and have more control over network traffic flow than ever before.\r\nOther benefits of SDN are <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">network management</span> and <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">end-to-end visibility.</span>A network administrator need only deal with one centralized controller to distribute policies to the connected switches, instead of configuring multiple individual devices. This capability is also a security advantage because the controller can monitor traffic and deploy security policies. If the controller deems traffic suspicious, for example, it can reroute or drop the packets.\r\nSoftware defined networking software also <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">virtualizes hardware</span> and <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">services </span>that were previously carried out by dedicated hardware, resulting in the touted benefits of a reduced hardware footprint and lower operational costs.\r\nAdditionally, SDN contributed to the emergence of <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN)</span> technology. SD-WAN employs the virtual overlay aspect of SDN technology, abstracting an organization's connectivity links throughout its WAN and creating a virtual network that can use whichever connection the controller deems fit to send traffic.\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\">Are there any SDN security benefits?</h1>\r\nAs security issues become more complex at the edge of the network, it’s no wonder that network and security professionals are looking for new ways to approach network protection. Nowadays, it seems like SDN is going to be the answer. \r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Centralized Network Control </span></li></ul>\r\nIn a traditional network, devices (router/switches) make their own decisions locally about where and how best to send traffic.&nbsp; In terms of network security, SDN can be used to route data packets through a single firewall and make IDS and IPS data capture more efficient.\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Simplify Configuration</span></li></ul>\r\nThe SDN makes it easier to automate configuration and improves the traceability of those configurations. The introduction of SDN network management allows dynamic programming and restructuring of network settings, which reduces the risk of DDoS attacks. It is also worth adding that SDN has automatic quarantine capabilities. \r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Creation of High-level Network Policies</span></li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"color: rgb(97, 97, 97); \">Rather than physically configuring security solutions, SDN facilitates the central management of security policies to make network operator roles more efficient and flexible. Moreover, SDN helps to move away from current management approaches such as SNMP/CLI and build more effective policy management. </span>\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \"><span style=\"color: rgb(97, 97, 97); \">Easy to use Application Programming Interfaces (APIs)</span></span></li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"color: rgb(97, 97, 97); \">Cloud APIs are interfaces presented by software and play a vital role in SDN controllers and applications. Easy to use APIs help to manage network resources, improve the efficiency of IT resources, and aid integration with IT tools. Additionally, a number of good cloud security practices have been introduced recently. </span>","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_SDN_Software_Defined_Network.png"},{"id":52,"title":"SaaS - software as a service","alias":"saas-software-as-a-service","description":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Software as a service (SaaS)</span> is a software licensing and delivery model in which software is licensed on a subscription basis and is centrally hosted. It is sometimes referred to as &quot;on-demand software&quot;, and was formerly referred to as &quot;software plus services&quot; by Microsoft.\r\n SaaS services is typically accessed by users using a thin client, e.g. via a web browser. SaaS software solutions has become a common delivery model for many business applications, including office software, messaging software, payroll processing software, DBMS software, management software, CAD software, development software, gamification, virtualization, accounting, collaboration, customer relationship management (CRM), Management Information Systems (MIS), enterprise resource planning (ERP), invoicing, human resource management (HRM), talent acquisition, learning management systems, content management (CM), Geographic Information Systems (GIS), and service desk management. SaaS has been incorporated into the strategy of nearly all leading enterprise software companies.\r\nSaaS applications are also known as <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Web-based software</span>, <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">on-demand software</span> and<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\"> hosted software</span>.\r\nThe term &quot;Software as a Service&quot; (SaaS) is considered to be part of the nomenclature of cloud computing, along with Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), Desktop as a Service (DaaS),managed software as a service (MSaaS), mobile backend as a service (MBaaS), and information technology management as a service (ITMaaS).\r\nBecause SaaS is based on cloud computing it saves organizations from installing and running applications on their own systems. That eliminates or at least reduces the associated costs of hardware purchases and maintenance and of software and support. The initial setup cost for a SaaS application is also generally lower than it for equivalent enterprise software purchased via a site license.\r\nSometimes, the use of SaaS cloud software can also reduce the long-term costs of software licensing, though that depends on the pricing model for the individual SaaS offering and the enterprise’s usage patterns. In fact, it’s possible for SaaS to cost more than traditional software licenses. This is an area IT organizations should explore carefully.<br />SaaS also provides enterprises the flexibility inherent with cloud services: they can subscribe to a SaaS offering as needed rather than having to buy software licenses and install the software on a variety of computers. The savings can be substantial in the case of applications that require new hardware purchases to support the software.<br /><br /><br /><br />","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: normal;\">Who uses SaaS?</span></h1>\r\nIndustry analyst Forrester Research notes that SaaS adoption has so far been concentrated mostly in human resource management (HRM), customer relationship management (CRM), collaboration software (e.g., email), and procurement solutions, but is poised to widen. Today it’s possible to have a data warehouse in the cloud that you can access with business intelligence software running as a service and connect to your cloud-based ERP like NetSuite or Microsoft Dynamics.The dollar savings can run into the millions. And SaaS installations are often installed and working in a fraction of the time of on-premises deployments—some can be ready in hours. \r\nSales and marketing people are likely familiar with Salesforce.com, the leading SaaS CRM software, with millions of users across more than 100,000 customers. Sales is going SaaS too, with apps available to support sales in order management, compensation, quote production and configure, price, quoting, electronic signatures, contract management and more.\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: normal;\">Why SaaS? Benefits of software as a service</span></h1>\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Lower cost of entry</span>. With SaaS solution, you pay for what you need, without having to buy hardware to host your new applications. Instead of provisioning internal resources to install the software, the vendor provides APIs and performs much of the work to get their software working for you. The time to a working solution can drop from months in the traditional model to weeks, days or hours with the SaaS model. In some businesses, IT wants nothing to do with installing and running a sales app. In the case of funding software and its implementation, this can be a make-or-break issue for the sales and marketing budget, so the lower cost really makes the difference.</li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Reduced time to benefit/rapid prototyping</span>. In the SaaS model, the software application is already installed and configured. Users can provision the server for the cloud and quickly have the application ready for use. This cuts the time to benefit and allows for rapid demonstrations and prototyping. With many SaaS companies offering free trials, this means a painless proof of concept and discovery phase to prove the benefit to the organization. </li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Pay as you go</span>. SaaS business software gives you the benefit of predictable costs both for the subscription and to some extent, the administration. Even as you scale, you can have a clear idea of what your costs will be. This allows for much more accurate budgeting, especially as compared to the costs of internal IT to manage upgrades and address issues for an owned instance.</li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">The SaaS vendor is responsible for upgrades, uptime and security</span>. Under the SaaS model, since the software is hosted by the vendor, they take on the responsibility for maintaining the software and upgrading it, ensuring that it is reliable and meeting agreed-upon service level agreements, and keeping the application and its data secure.&nbsp; While some IT people worry about Software as a Service security outside of the enterprise walls, the likely truth is that the vendor has a much higher level of security than the enterprise itself would provide. Many will have redundant instances in very secure data centers in multiple geographies.&nbsp; Also, the data is being automatically backed up by the vendor, providing additional security and peace of mind. Because of the data center hosting, you’re getting the added benefit of at least some disaster recovery. Lastly, the vendor manages these issues as part of their core competencies—let them.</li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Integration and scalability.</span> Most SaaS apps are designed to support some amount of customization for the way you do business. SaaS vendors create APIs to allow connections not only to internal applications like ERPs or CRMs but also to other SaaS providers. One of the terrific aspects of integration is that orders written in the field can be automatically sent to the ERP. Now a salesperson in the field can check inventory through the catalog, write the order in front of the customer for approval, send it and receive confirmation, all in minutes. And as you scale with a SaaS vendor, there’s no need to invest in server capacity and software licenses. </li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Work anywhere</span>. Since the software is hosted in the cloud and accessible over the internet, users can access it via mobile devices wherever they are connected. This includes checking customer order histories prior to a sales call, as well as having access to real time data and real time order taking with the customer.</li></ul>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\">&nbsp;</p>","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/SaaS__1_.png"},{"id":34,"title":"ITSM - IT Service Management","alias":"itsm-it-service-management","description":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">IT service management (ITSM)</span> is the process of designing, delivering, managing, and improving the IT services an organization provides to its end users. ITSM is focused on aligning IT processes and services with business objectives to help an organization grow.\r\nITSM positions IT services as the key means of delivering and obtaining value, where an internal or external IT service provider works with business customers, at the same time taking responsibility for the associated costs and risks. ITSM works across the whole lifecycle of a service, from the original strategy, through design, transition and into live operation.\r\nTo ensure sustainable quality of IT services, ITSM establishes a set of practices, or processes, constituting a service management system. There are industrial, national and international standards for IT service management solutions, setting up requirements and good practices for the management system. \r\nITSM system is based on a set of principles, such as focusing on value and continual improvement. It is not just a set of processes – it is a cultural mindset to ensure that the desired outcome for the business is achieved. \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">ITIL (IT Infrastructure Library)</span> is a framework of best practices and recommendations for managing an organization's IT operations and services. IT service management processes, when built based on the ITIL framework, pave the way for better IT service operations management and improved business. To summarize, ITIL is a set of guidelines for effective IT service management best practices. ITIL has evolved beyond the delivery of services to providing end-to-end value delivery. The focus is now on the co-creation of value through service relationships. \r\n<p class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">ITSM processes typically include five stages, all based on the ITIL framework:</span></p>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">ITSM strategy.</span> This stage forms the foundation or the framework of an organization's ITSM process building. It involves defining the services that the organization will offer, strategically planning processes, and recognizing and developing the required assets to keep processes moving. \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Service design.</span> This stage's main aim is planning and designing the IT services the organization offers to meet business demands. It involves creating and designing new services as well as assessing current services and making relevant improvements.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Service transition.</span> Once the designs for IT services and their processes have been finalized, it's important to build them and test them out to ensure that processes flow. IT teams need to ensure that the designs don't disrupt services in any way, especially when existing IT service processes are upgraded or redesigned. This calls for change management, evaluation, and risk management. \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Service operation. </span>This phase involves implementing the tried and tested new or modified designs in a live environment. While in this stage, the processes have already been tested and the issues fixed, but new processes are bound to have hiccups—especially when customers start using the services. \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Continual service improvement (CSI).</span> Implementing IT processes successfully shouldn't be the final stage in any organization. There's always room for improvement and new development based on issues that pop up, customer needs and demands, and user feedback.\r\n\r\n","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\">Benefits of efficient ITSM processes</h1>\r\nIrrespective of the size of business, every organization is involved in IT service management in some way. ITSM ensures that incidents, service requests, problems, changes, and IT assets—in addition to other aspects of IT services—are managed in a streamlined way.\r\nIT teams in your organization can employ various workflows and best practices in ITSM, as outlined in ITIL. Effective IT service management can have positive effects on an IT organization's overall function.\r\nHere are the 10 key benefits of ITSM:\r\n<ul><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Lower costs for IT operations</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Higher returns on IT investments</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Minimal service outages</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Ability to establish well-defined, repeatable, and manageable IT processes</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Efficient analysis of IT problems to reduce repeat incidents</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Improved efficiency of IT help desk teams</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Well-defined roles and responsibilities</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Clear expectations on service levels and service availability</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Risk-free implementation of IT changes</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Better transparency into IT processes and services</li></ul>\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\">How to choose an ITSM tool?</h1>\r\nWith a competent IT service management goal in mind, it's important to invest in a service desk solution that caters to your business needs. It goes without saying, with more than 150 service desk tools to choose from, selecting the right one is easier said than done. Here are a few things to keep in mind when choosing an ITSM products:\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Identify key processes and their dependencies. </span>Based on business goals, decide which key ITSM processes need to be implemented and chart out the integrations that need to be established to achieve those goals. \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Consult with ITSM experts.</span> Participate in business expos, webinars, demos, etc., and educate yourself about the various options that are available in the market. Reports from expert analysts such as Gartner and Forrester are particularly useful as they include reviews of almost every solution, ranked based on multiple criteria.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Choose a deployment option.</span> Every business has a different IT infrastructure model. Selecting an on-premises or software as a service (SaaS IT service management) tool depends on whether your business prefers to host its applications and data on its own servers or use a public or private cloud.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Plan ahead for the future.</span> Although it's important to consider the &quot;needs&quot; primarily, you shouldn't rule out the secondary or luxury capabilities. If the ITSM tool doesn't have the potential to adapt to your needs as your organization grows, it can pull you back from progressing. Draw a clear picture of where your business is headed and choose an service ITSM that is flexible and technology-driven.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Don't stop with the capabilities of the ITSM tool.</span> It might be tempting to assess an ITSM tool based on its capabilities and features but it's important to evaluate the vendor of the tool. A good IT support team, and a vendor that is endorsed for their customer-vendor relationship can take your IT services far. Check Gartner's magic quadrant and other analyst reports, along with product and support reviews to ensure that the said tool provides good customer support.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_ITSM.png"}],"characteristics":[],"concurentProducts":[],"jobRoles":[],"organizationalFeatures":[],"complementaryCategories":[],"solutions":[],"materials":[],"useCases":[],"best_practices":[],"values":[],"implementations":[]},"silver-peak-unity-edgeconnect-sd-wan-solution":{"id":3318,"logoURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/Silver_Peak_logo.png","logo":true,"scheme":false,"title":"Silver Peak Unity EdgeConnect SD-WAN Solution","vendorVerified":0,"rating":"1.00","implementationsCount":0,"suppliersCount":0,"supplierPartnersCount":0,"alias":"silver-peak-unity-edgeconnect-sd-wan-solution","companyTitle":"Silver Peak","companyTypes":["supplier","vendor"],"companyId":5230,"companyAlias":"silver-peak","description":"Unlike router-centric and basic SD-WAN solutions, EdgeConnect enables you to shift to a business-first networking model.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Built for Today’s Cloud-First Enterprise</span>\r\nUnity EdgeConnect physical or virtual appliances deliver:\r\n<ul> <li>Always-consistent, always-available application performance</li> <li>The highest quality of voice and video, across any combination of transport services</li> </ul>\r\nUnity Orchestrator enables IT to rapidly and centrally define:\r\n<ul> <li>Application Quality of Service and security policies to 1000s of sites</li> <li>Simplified service chaining to third-party network and security services</li> </ul>\r\nUnity Boost optional WAN optimization performance pack:\r\n<ul> <li>Improves the performance of latency-sensitive applications</li> <li>Reduces transmission of repetitive data</li> </ul>","shortDescription":"Silver Peak Unity EdgeConnect SD-WAN solutions enable enterprises to dramatically reduce the cost and complexity of building a WAN by leveraging broadband to connect users to applications.","type":null,"isRoiCalculatorAvaliable":false,"isConfiguratorAvaliable":false,"bonus":100,"usingCount":3,"sellingCount":9,"discontinued":0,"rebateForPoc":0,"rebate":0,"seo":{"title":"Silver Peak Unity EdgeConnect SD-WAN Solution","keywords":"","description":"Unlike router-centric and basic SD-WAN solutions, EdgeConnect enables you to shift to a business-first networking model.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Built for Today’s Cloud-First Enterprise</span>\r\nUnity EdgeConnect physical or virtual appliances deliver","og:title":"Silver Peak Unity EdgeConnect SD-WAN Solution","og:description":"Unlike router-centric and basic SD-WAN solutions, EdgeConnect enables you to shift to a business-first networking model.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Built for Today’s Cloud-First Enterprise</span>\r\nUnity EdgeConnect physical or virtual appliances deliver","og:image":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/Silver_Peak_logo.png"},"eventUrl":"","translationId":3319,"dealDetails":null,"roi":null,"price":null,"bonusForReference":null,"templateData":[{"id":93,"title":"Software-Defined WAN (SD-WAN)"}],"testingArea":"","categories":[{"id":499,"title":"SDN Software-Defined Network","alias":"sdn-software-defined-network","description":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Software-defined networking (SDN)</span> technology is an approach to network management that enables dynamic, programmatically efficient network configuration in order to improve network performance and monitoring, making it more like cloud computing than traditional network management.\r\nSDN encompasses several types of technologies, including functional separation, network virtualization and automation through programmability. SDN solution is meant to address the fact that the static architecture of traditional networks is decentralized and complex while current networks require more flexibility and easy troubleshooting. \r\nSDN technology attempts to centralize network intelligence in one network component by disassociating the forwarding process of network packets (<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">data plane</span>) from the routing process (<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">control plane</span>). The control plane consists of one or more controllers which are considered as the brain of SDN network where the whole intelligence is incorporated. Originally, software defined technology focused solely on separation of the network control plane from the data plane. While the control plane makes decisions about how packets should flow through the network, the data plane actually moves packets from place to place. \r\nIn a classic SDN scenario, a packet arrives at a network switch, and rules built into the switch's proprietary firmware tell the switch where to forward the packet. These packet-handling rules are sent to the switch from the centralized controller. The switch - also known as a <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">data plane device</span> - queries the controller for guidance as needed, and it provides the controller with information about traffic it handles. The switch sends every packet going to the same destination along the same path and treats all the packets the exact same way.\r\nSoftware defined networking solutions use an operation mode that is sometimes called adaptive or dynamic, in which a switch issues a route request to a controller for a packet that does not have a specific route. This process is separate from adaptive routing, which issues route requests through routers and algorithms based on the network topology, not through a controller.\r\nThe <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">virtualization</span> aspect of SDN comes into play through a virtual overlay, which is a logically separate network on top of the physical network. Users can implement end-to-end overlays to abstract the underlying network and segment network traffic. This microsegmentation is especially useful for service providers and operators with multi-tenant cloud environments and cloud services, as they can provision a separate virtual network with specific policies for each tenant.","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\">Benefits of Software Defined Networking</h1>\r\nWith SDN software, an <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">administrator can change any network switch's rules when necessary</span> - prioritizing, deprioritizing or even blocking specific types of packets with a granular level of control and security. This is especially helpful in a cloud computing multi-tenant architecture, because it enables the administrator to manage traffic loads in a flexible and more efficient manner. Essentially, this enables the administrator to use less expensive commodity switches and have more control over network traffic flow than ever before.\r\nOther benefits of SDN are <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">network management</span> and <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">end-to-end visibility.</span>A network administrator need only deal with one centralized controller to distribute policies to the connected switches, instead of configuring multiple individual devices. This capability is also a security advantage because the controller can monitor traffic and deploy security policies. If the controller deems traffic suspicious, for example, it can reroute or drop the packets.\r\nSoftware defined networking software also <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">virtualizes hardware</span> and <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">services </span>that were previously carried out by dedicated hardware, resulting in the touted benefits of a reduced hardware footprint and lower operational costs.\r\nAdditionally, SDN contributed to the emergence of <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN)</span> technology. SD-WAN employs the virtual overlay aspect of SDN technology, abstracting an organization's connectivity links throughout its WAN and creating a virtual network that can use whichever connection the controller deems fit to send traffic.\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\">Are there any SDN security benefits?</h1>\r\nAs security issues become more complex at the edge of the network, it’s no wonder that network and security professionals are looking for new ways to approach network protection. Nowadays, it seems like SDN is going to be the answer. \r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Centralized Network Control </span></li></ul>\r\nIn a traditional network, devices (router/switches) make their own decisions locally about where and how best to send traffic.&nbsp; In terms of network security, SDN can be used to route data packets through a single firewall and make IDS and IPS data capture more efficient.\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Simplify Configuration</span></li></ul>\r\nThe SDN makes it easier to automate configuration and improves the traceability of those configurations. The introduction of SDN network management allows dynamic programming and restructuring of network settings, which reduces the risk of DDoS attacks. It is also worth adding that SDN has automatic quarantine capabilities. \r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Creation of High-level Network Policies</span></li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"color: rgb(97, 97, 97); \">Rather than physically configuring security solutions, SDN facilitates the central management of security policies to make network operator roles more efficient and flexible. Moreover, SDN helps to move away from current management approaches such as SNMP/CLI and build more effective policy management. </span>\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \"><span style=\"color: rgb(97, 97, 97); \">Easy to use Application Programming Interfaces (APIs)</span></span></li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"color: rgb(97, 97, 97); \">Cloud APIs are interfaces presented by software and play a vital role in SDN controllers and applications. Easy to use APIs help to manage network resources, improve the efficiency of IT resources, and aid integration with IT tools. Additionally, a number of good cloud security practices have been introduced recently. </span>","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_SDN_Software_Defined_Network.png"},{"id":52,"title":"SaaS - software as a service","alias":"saas-software-as-a-service","description":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Software as a service (SaaS)</span> is a software licensing and delivery model in which software is licensed on a subscription basis and is centrally hosted. It is sometimes referred to as &quot;on-demand software&quot;, and was formerly referred to as &quot;software plus services&quot; by Microsoft.\r\n SaaS services is typically accessed by users using a thin client, e.g. via a web browser. SaaS software solutions has become a common delivery model for many business applications, including office software, messaging software, payroll processing software, DBMS software, management software, CAD software, development software, gamification, virtualization, accounting, collaboration, customer relationship management (CRM), Management Information Systems (MIS), enterprise resource planning (ERP), invoicing, human resource management (HRM), talent acquisition, learning management systems, content management (CM), Geographic Information Systems (GIS), and service desk management. SaaS has been incorporated into the strategy of nearly all leading enterprise software companies.\r\nSaaS applications are also known as <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Web-based software</span>, <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">on-demand software</span> and<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\"> hosted software</span>.\r\nThe term &quot;Software as a Service&quot; (SaaS) is considered to be part of the nomenclature of cloud computing, along with Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), Desktop as a Service (DaaS),managed software as a service (MSaaS), mobile backend as a service (MBaaS), and information technology management as a service (ITMaaS).\r\nBecause SaaS is based on cloud computing it saves organizations from installing and running applications on their own systems. That eliminates or at least reduces the associated costs of hardware purchases and maintenance and of software and support. The initial setup cost for a SaaS application is also generally lower than it for equivalent enterprise software purchased via a site license.\r\nSometimes, the use of SaaS cloud software can also reduce the long-term costs of software licensing, though that depends on the pricing model for the individual SaaS offering and the enterprise’s usage patterns. In fact, it’s possible for SaaS to cost more than traditional software licenses. This is an area IT organizations should explore carefully.<br />SaaS also provides enterprises the flexibility inherent with cloud services: they can subscribe to a SaaS offering as needed rather than having to buy software licenses and install the software on a variety of computers. The savings can be substantial in the case of applications that require new hardware purchases to support the software.<br /><br /><br /><br />","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: normal;\">Who uses SaaS?</span></h1>\r\nIndustry analyst Forrester Research notes that SaaS adoption has so far been concentrated mostly in human resource management (HRM), customer relationship management (CRM), collaboration software (e.g., email), and procurement solutions, but is poised to widen. Today it’s possible to have a data warehouse in the cloud that you can access with business intelligence software running as a service and connect to your cloud-based ERP like NetSuite or Microsoft Dynamics.The dollar savings can run into the millions. And SaaS installations are often installed and working in a fraction of the time of on-premises deployments—some can be ready in hours. \r\nSales and marketing people are likely familiar with Salesforce.com, the leading SaaS CRM software, with millions of users across more than 100,000 customers. Sales is going SaaS too, with apps available to support sales in order management, compensation, quote production and configure, price, quoting, electronic signatures, contract management and more.\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: normal;\">Why SaaS? Benefits of software as a service</span></h1>\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Lower cost of entry</span>. With SaaS solution, you pay for what you need, without having to buy hardware to host your new applications. Instead of provisioning internal resources to install the software, the vendor provides APIs and performs much of the work to get their software working for you. The time to a working solution can drop from months in the traditional model to weeks, days or hours with the SaaS model. In some businesses, IT wants nothing to do with installing and running a sales app. In the case of funding software and its implementation, this can be a make-or-break issue for the sales and marketing budget, so the lower cost really makes the difference.</li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Reduced time to benefit/rapid prototyping</span>. In the SaaS model, the software application is already installed and configured. Users can provision the server for the cloud and quickly have the application ready for use. This cuts the time to benefit and allows for rapid demonstrations and prototyping. With many SaaS companies offering free trials, this means a painless proof of concept and discovery phase to prove the benefit to the organization. </li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Pay as you go</span>. SaaS business software gives you the benefit of predictable costs both for the subscription and to some extent, the administration. Even as you scale, you can have a clear idea of what your costs will be. This allows for much more accurate budgeting, especially as compared to the costs of internal IT to manage upgrades and address issues for an owned instance.</li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">The SaaS vendor is responsible for upgrades, uptime and security</span>. Under the SaaS model, since the software is hosted by the vendor, they take on the responsibility for maintaining the software and upgrading it, ensuring that it is reliable and meeting agreed-upon service level agreements, and keeping the application and its data secure.&nbsp; While some IT people worry about Software as a Service security outside of the enterprise walls, the likely truth is that the vendor has a much higher level of security than the enterprise itself would provide. Many will have redundant instances in very secure data centers in multiple geographies.&nbsp; Also, the data is being automatically backed up by the vendor, providing additional security and peace of mind. Because of the data center hosting, you’re getting the added benefit of at least some disaster recovery. Lastly, the vendor manages these issues as part of their core competencies—let them.</li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Integration and scalability.</span> Most SaaS apps are designed to support some amount of customization for the way you do business. SaaS vendors create APIs to allow connections not only to internal applications like ERPs or CRMs but also to other SaaS providers. One of the terrific aspects of integration is that orders written in the field can be automatically sent to the ERP. Now a salesperson in the field can check inventory through the catalog, write the order in front of the customer for approval, send it and receive confirmation, all in minutes. And as you scale with a SaaS vendor, there’s no need to invest in server capacity and software licenses. </li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Work anywhere</span>. Since the software is hosted in the cloud and accessible over the internet, users can access it via mobile devices wherever they are connected. This includes checking customer order histories prior to a sales call, as well as having access to real time data and real time order taking with the customer.</li></ul>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\">&nbsp;</p>","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/SaaS__1_.png"},{"id":34,"title":"ITSM - IT Service Management","alias":"itsm-it-service-management","description":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">IT service management (ITSM)</span> is the process of designing, delivering, managing, and improving the IT services an organization provides to its end users. ITSM is focused on aligning IT processes and services with business objectives to help an organization grow.\r\nITSM positions IT services as the key means of delivering and obtaining value, where an internal or external IT service provider works with business customers, at the same time taking responsibility for the associated costs and risks. ITSM works across the whole lifecycle of a service, from the original strategy, through design, transition and into live operation.\r\nTo ensure sustainable quality of IT services, ITSM establishes a set of practices, or processes, constituting a service management system. There are industrial, national and international standards for IT service management solutions, setting up requirements and good practices for the management system. \r\nITSM system is based on a set of principles, such as focusing on value and continual improvement. It is not just a set of processes – it is a cultural mindset to ensure that the desired outcome for the business is achieved. \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">ITIL (IT Infrastructure Library)</span> is a framework of best practices and recommendations for managing an organization's IT operations and services. IT service management processes, when built based on the ITIL framework, pave the way for better IT service operations management and improved business. To summarize, ITIL is a set of guidelines for effective IT service management best practices. ITIL has evolved beyond the delivery of services to providing end-to-end value delivery. The focus is now on the co-creation of value through service relationships. \r\n<p class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">ITSM processes typically include five stages, all based on the ITIL framework:</span></p>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">ITSM strategy.</span> This stage forms the foundation or the framework of an organization's ITSM process building. It involves defining the services that the organization will offer, strategically planning processes, and recognizing and developing the required assets to keep processes moving. \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Service design.</span> This stage's main aim is planning and designing the IT services the organization offers to meet business demands. It involves creating and designing new services as well as assessing current services and making relevant improvements.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Service transition.</span> Once the designs for IT services and their processes have been finalized, it's important to build them and test them out to ensure that processes flow. IT teams need to ensure that the designs don't disrupt services in any way, especially when existing IT service processes are upgraded or redesigned. This calls for change management, evaluation, and risk management. \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Service operation. </span>This phase involves implementing the tried and tested new or modified designs in a live environment. While in this stage, the processes have already been tested and the issues fixed, but new processes are bound to have hiccups—especially when customers start using the services. \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Continual service improvement (CSI).</span> Implementing IT processes successfully shouldn't be the final stage in any organization. There's always room for improvement and new development based on issues that pop up, customer needs and demands, and user feedback.\r\n\r\n","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\">Benefits of efficient ITSM processes</h1>\r\nIrrespective of the size of business, every organization is involved in IT service management in some way. ITSM ensures that incidents, service requests, problems, changes, and IT assets—in addition to other aspects of IT services—are managed in a streamlined way.\r\nIT teams in your organization can employ various workflows and best practices in ITSM, as outlined in ITIL. Effective IT service management can have positive effects on an IT organization's overall function.\r\nHere are the 10 key benefits of ITSM:\r\n<ul><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Lower costs for IT operations</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Higher returns on IT investments</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Minimal service outages</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Ability to establish well-defined, repeatable, and manageable IT processes</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Efficient analysis of IT problems to reduce repeat incidents</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Improved efficiency of IT help desk teams</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Well-defined roles and responsibilities</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Clear expectations on service levels and service availability</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Risk-free implementation of IT changes</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Better transparency into IT processes and services</li></ul>\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\">How to choose an ITSM tool?</h1>\r\nWith a competent IT service management goal in mind, it's important to invest in a service desk solution that caters to your business needs. It goes without saying, with more than 150 service desk tools to choose from, selecting the right one is easier said than done. Here are a few things to keep in mind when choosing an ITSM products:\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Identify key processes and their dependencies. </span>Based on business goals, decide which key ITSM processes need to be implemented and chart out the integrations that need to be established to achieve those goals. \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Consult with ITSM experts.</span> Participate in business expos, webinars, demos, etc., and educate yourself about the various options that are available in the market. Reports from expert analysts such as Gartner and Forrester are particularly useful as they include reviews of almost every solution, ranked based on multiple criteria.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Choose a deployment option.</span> Every business has a different IT infrastructure model. Selecting an on-premises or software as a service (SaaS IT service management) tool depends on whether your business prefers to host its applications and data on its own servers or use a public or private cloud.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Plan ahead for the future.</span> Although it's important to consider the &quot;needs&quot; primarily, you shouldn't rule out the secondary or luxury capabilities. If the ITSM tool doesn't have the potential to adapt to your needs as your organization grows, it can pull you back from progressing. Draw a clear picture of where your business is headed and choose an service ITSM that is flexible and technology-driven.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Don't stop with the capabilities of the ITSM tool.</span> It might be tempting to assess an ITSM tool based on its capabilities and features but it's important to evaluate the vendor of the tool. A good IT support team, and a vendor that is endorsed for their customer-vendor relationship can take your IT services far. Check Gartner's magic quadrant and other analyst reports, along with product and support reviews to ensure that the said tool provides good customer support.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_ITSM.png"}],"characteristics":[],"concurentProducts":[],"jobRoles":[],"organizationalFeatures":[],"complementaryCategories":[],"solutions":[],"materials":[],"useCases":[],"best_practices":[],"values":[],"implementations":[]},"talari-sd-wan":{"id":3320,"logoURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/Talari_logo.png","logo":true,"scheme":false,"title":"Talari SD-WAN","vendorVerified":0,"rating":"1.00","implementationsCount":0,"suppliersCount":0,"supplierPartnersCount":0,"alias":"talari-sd-wan","companyTitle":"Talari","companyTypes":["supplier","vendor"],"companyId":5231,"companyAlias":"talari","description":"Talari's SD-WAN solution creates a smart and responsive network, one that adapts in real time to bandwidth demand and actual network conditions, ensuring that presently and regardless of network issues, critical applications have priority and all applications take the best quality path through the network, ensuring uptime so the business can get done.\r\nWhether the WAN is all MPLS, a hybrid WAN of MPLS and broadband, all Internet links, backed up with wireless or extended to the cloud, Talari's Software-Defined or ‘Simplified-Defined’ WAN solution will ensure continuous availability and predictable application performance to keep productivity moving at optimal speed.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">SD-WAN Benefits</span>\r\nFor organizations hampered by expensive and rigid private legacy networks and locked into a single carrier per location, an SD-WAN unlocks untapped WAN connectivity.&nbsp; It achieves this by simplifying network deployments, automating network management, lowering bandwidth and management costs, and enabling service provider independence.\r\nThe Talari SD-WAN takes advantage of existing private network bandwidth (e.g., MPLS), while combining low-cost Internet broadband bandwidth (e.g. cable, DSL, LTE), to enable a more open, reliable, resilient, agile and cost-efficient enterprise WAN. Talari SD-WAN components include:\r\n<ul> <li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Talari Controller</span> – centrally manages and distributes services and application policies</li> <li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Talari Appliances</span> – deliver cost-effective services, and address application needs</li> <li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Talari Overlay Network</span> – securely links all appliances and controller</li> <li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Talari Reporting</span> – Aware provides real-time analytics, visibility for troubleshooting, and capacity planning</li> <li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Talari Cloud Connect</span> - a platform available to service provider partners to enable failsafe, multi-link- multi-path access to cloud services and SaaS for Talari SD-WAN customers.</li> </ul>\r\nTalari SD-WAN enables an open and extensible wide-area network that supports enterprise data centers, remote offices, and cloud services with a new paradigm in which packets are routed deterministically, based on bandwidth suitability for the packet’s protocol. Talari embeds this capability in the packet header to allow low latency applications that are less business-critical to be subordinated in favor of business-critical applications.","shortDescription":"The Talari SD-WAN transforms the Internet and branch office connectivity, to ensure application performance and unparalleled resiliency, when deployed at the physical, virtual edge, or in the cloud.","type":null,"isRoiCalculatorAvaliable":false,"isConfiguratorAvaliable":false,"bonus":100,"usingCount":20,"sellingCount":14,"discontinued":0,"rebateForPoc":0,"rebate":0,"seo":{"title":"Talari SD-WAN","keywords":"","description":"Talari's SD-WAN solution creates a smart and responsive network, one that adapts in real time to bandwidth demand and actual network conditions, ensuring that presently and regardless of network issues, critical applications have priority and all applications ","og:title":"Talari SD-WAN","og:description":"Talari's SD-WAN solution creates a smart and responsive network, one that adapts in real time to bandwidth demand and actual network conditions, ensuring that presently and regardless of network issues, critical applications have priority and all applications ","og:image":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/Talari_logo.png"},"eventUrl":"","translationId":3321,"dealDetails":null,"roi":null,"price":null,"bonusForReference":null,"templateData":[{"id":93,"title":"Software-Defined WAN (SD-WAN)"}],"testingArea":"","categories":[{"id":499,"title":"SDN Software-Defined Network","alias":"sdn-software-defined-network","description":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Software-defined networking (SDN)</span> technology is an approach to network management that enables dynamic, programmatically efficient network configuration in order to improve network performance and monitoring, making it more like cloud computing than traditional network management.\r\nSDN encompasses several types of technologies, including functional separation, network virtualization and automation through programmability. SDN solution is meant to address the fact that the static architecture of traditional networks is decentralized and complex while current networks require more flexibility and easy troubleshooting. \r\nSDN technology attempts to centralize network intelligence in one network component by disassociating the forwarding process of network packets (<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">data plane</span>) from the routing process (<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">control plane</span>). The control plane consists of one or more controllers which are considered as the brain of SDN network where the whole intelligence is incorporated. Originally, software defined technology focused solely on separation of the network control plane from the data plane. While the control plane makes decisions about how packets should flow through the network, the data plane actually moves packets from place to place. \r\nIn a classic SDN scenario, a packet arrives at a network switch, and rules built into the switch's proprietary firmware tell the switch where to forward the packet. These packet-handling rules are sent to the switch from the centralized controller. The switch - also known as a <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">data plane device</span> - queries the controller for guidance as needed, and it provides the controller with information about traffic it handles. The switch sends every packet going to the same destination along the same path and treats all the packets the exact same way.\r\nSoftware defined networking solutions use an operation mode that is sometimes called adaptive or dynamic, in which a switch issues a route request to a controller for a packet that does not have a specific route. This process is separate from adaptive routing, which issues route requests through routers and algorithms based on the network topology, not through a controller.\r\nThe <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">virtualization</span> aspect of SDN comes into play through a virtual overlay, which is a logically separate network on top of the physical network. Users can implement end-to-end overlays to abstract the underlying network and segment network traffic. This microsegmentation is especially useful for service providers and operators with multi-tenant cloud environments and cloud services, as they can provision a separate virtual network with specific policies for each tenant.","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\">Benefits of Software Defined Networking</h1>\r\nWith SDN software, an <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">administrator can change any network switch's rules when necessary</span> - prioritizing, deprioritizing or even blocking specific types of packets with a granular level of control and security. This is especially helpful in a cloud computing multi-tenant architecture, because it enables the administrator to manage traffic loads in a flexible and more efficient manner. Essentially, this enables the administrator to use less expensive commodity switches and have more control over network traffic flow than ever before.\r\nOther benefits of SDN are <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">network management</span> and <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">end-to-end visibility.</span>A network administrator need only deal with one centralized controller to distribute policies to the connected switches, instead of configuring multiple individual devices. This capability is also a security advantage because the controller can monitor traffic and deploy security policies. If the controller deems traffic suspicious, for example, it can reroute or drop the packets.\r\nSoftware defined networking software also <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">virtualizes hardware</span> and <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">services </span>that were previously carried out by dedicated hardware, resulting in the touted benefits of a reduced hardware footprint and lower operational costs.\r\nAdditionally, SDN contributed to the emergence of <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN)</span> technology. SD-WAN employs the virtual overlay aspect of SDN technology, abstracting an organization's connectivity links throughout its WAN and creating a virtual network that can use whichever connection the controller deems fit to send traffic.\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\">Are there any SDN security benefits?</h1>\r\nAs security issues become more complex at the edge of the network, it’s no wonder that network and security professionals are looking for new ways to approach network protection. Nowadays, it seems like SDN is going to be the answer. \r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Centralized Network Control </span></li></ul>\r\nIn a traditional network, devices (router/switches) make their own decisions locally about where and how best to send traffic.&nbsp; In terms of network security, SDN can be used to route data packets through a single firewall and make IDS and IPS data capture more efficient.\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Simplify Configuration</span></li></ul>\r\nThe SDN makes it easier to automate configuration and improves the traceability of those configurations. The introduction of SDN network management allows dynamic programming and restructuring of network settings, which reduces the risk of DDoS attacks. It is also worth adding that SDN has automatic quarantine capabilities. \r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Creation of High-level Network Policies</span></li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"color: rgb(97, 97, 97); \">Rather than physically configuring security solutions, SDN facilitates the central management of security policies to make network operator roles more efficient and flexible. Moreover, SDN helps to move away from current management approaches such as SNMP/CLI and build more effective policy management. </span>\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \"><span style=\"color: rgb(97, 97, 97); \">Easy to use Application Programming Interfaces (APIs)</span></span></li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"color: rgb(97, 97, 97); \">Cloud APIs are interfaces presented by software and play a vital role in SDN controllers and applications. Easy to use APIs help to manage network resources, improve the efficiency of IT resources, and aid integration with IT tools. Additionally, a number of good cloud security practices have been introduced recently. </span>","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_SDN_Software_Defined_Network.png"},{"id":52,"title":"SaaS - software as a service","alias":"saas-software-as-a-service","description":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Software as a service (SaaS)</span> is a software licensing and delivery model in which software is licensed on a subscription basis and is centrally hosted. It is sometimes referred to as &quot;on-demand software&quot;, and was formerly referred to as &quot;software plus services&quot; by Microsoft.\r\n SaaS services is typically accessed by users using a thin client, e.g. via a web browser. SaaS software solutions has become a common delivery model for many business applications, including office software, messaging software, payroll processing software, DBMS software, management software, CAD software, development software, gamification, virtualization, accounting, collaboration, customer relationship management (CRM), Management Information Systems (MIS), enterprise resource planning (ERP), invoicing, human resource management (HRM), talent acquisition, learning management systems, content management (CM), Geographic Information Systems (GIS), and service desk management. SaaS has been incorporated into the strategy of nearly all leading enterprise software companies.\r\nSaaS applications are also known as <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Web-based software</span>, <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">on-demand software</span> and<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\"> hosted software</span>.\r\nThe term &quot;Software as a Service&quot; (SaaS) is considered to be part of the nomenclature of cloud computing, along with Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), Desktop as a Service (DaaS),managed software as a service (MSaaS), mobile backend as a service (MBaaS), and information technology management as a service (ITMaaS).\r\nBecause SaaS is based on cloud computing it saves organizations from installing and running applications on their own systems. That eliminates or at least reduces the associated costs of hardware purchases and maintenance and of software and support. The initial setup cost for a SaaS application is also generally lower than it for equivalent enterprise software purchased via a site license.\r\nSometimes, the use of SaaS cloud software can also reduce the long-term costs of software licensing, though that depends on the pricing model for the individual SaaS offering and the enterprise’s usage patterns. In fact, it’s possible for SaaS to cost more than traditional software licenses. This is an area IT organizations should explore carefully.<br />SaaS also provides enterprises the flexibility inherent with cloud services: they can subscribe to a SaaS offering as needed rather than having to buy software licenses and install the software on a variety of computers. The savings can be substantial in the case of applications that require new hardware purchases to support the software.<br /><br /><br /><br />","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: normal;\">Who uses SaaS?</span></h1>\r\nIndustry analyst Forrester Research notes that SaaS adoption has so far been concentrated mostly in human resource management (HRM), customer relationship management (CRM), collaboration software (e.g., email), and procurement solutions, but is poised to widen. Today it’s possible to have a data warehouse in the cloud that you can access with business intelligence software running as a service and connect to your cloud-based ERP like NetSuite or Microsoft Dynamics.The dollar savings can run into the millions. And SaaS installations are often installed and working in a fraction of the time of on-premises deployments—some can be ready in hours. \r\nSales and marketing people are likely familiar with Salesforce.com, the leading SaaS CRM software, with millions of users across more than 100,000 customers. Sales is going SaaS too, with apps available to support sales in order management, compensation, quote production and configure, price, quoting, electronic signatures, contract management and more.\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: normal;\">Why SaaS? Benefits of software as a service</span></h1>\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Lower cost of entry</span>. With SaaS solution, you pay for what you need, without having to buy hardware to host your new applications. Instead of provisioning internal resources to install the software, the vendor provides APIs and performs much of the work to get their software working for you. The time to a working solution can drop from months in the traditional model to weeks, days or hours with the SaaS model. In some businesses, IT wants nothing to do with installing and running a sales app. In the case of funding software and its implementation, this can be a make-or-break issue for the sales and marketing budget, so the lower cost really makes the difference.</li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Reduced time to benefit/rapid prototyping</span>. In the SaaS model, the software application is already installed and configured. Users can provision the server for the cloud and quickly have the application ready for use. This cuts the time to benefit and allows for rapid demonstrations and prototyping. With many SaaS companies offering free trials, this means a painless proof of concept and discovery phase to prove the benefit to the organization. </li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Pay as you go</span>. SaaS business software gives you the benefit of predictable costs both for the subscription and to some extent, the administration. Even as you scale, you can have a clear idea of what your costs will be. This allows for much more accurate budgeting, especially as compared to the costs of internal IT to manage upgrades and address issues for an owned instance.</li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">The SaaS vendor is responsible for upgrades, uptime and security</span>. Under the SaaS model, since the software is hosted by the vendor, they take on the responsibility for maintaining the software and upgrading it, ensuring that it is reliable and meeting agreed-upon service level agreements, and keeping the application and its data secure.&nbsp; While some IT people worry about Software as a Service security outside of the enterprise walls, the likely truth is that the vendor has a much higher level of security than the enterprise itself would provide. Many will have redundant instances in very secure data centers in multiple geographies.&nbsp; Also, the data is being automatically backed up by the vendor, providing additional security and peace of mind. Because of the data center hosting, you’re getting the added benefit of at least some disaster recovery. Lastly, the vendor manages these issues as part of their core competencies—let them.</li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Integration and scalability.</span> Most SaaS apps are designed to support some amount of customization for the way you do business. SaaS vendors create APIs to allow connections not only to internal applications like ERPs or CRMs but also to other SaaS providers. One of the terrific aspects of integration is that orders written in the field can be automatically sent to the ERP. Now a salesperson in the field can check inventory through the catalog, write the order in front of the customer for approval, send it and receive confirmation, all in minutes. And as you scale with a SaaS vendor, there’s no need to invest in server capacity and software licenses. </li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Work anywhere</span>. Since the software is hosted in the cloud and accessible over the internet, users can access it via mobile devices wherever they are connected. This includes checking customer order histories prior to a sales call, as well as having access to real time data and real time order taking with the customer.</li></ul>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\">&nbsp;</p>","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/SaaS__1_.png"},{"id":34,"title":"ITSM - IT Service Management","alias":"itsm-it-service-management","description":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">IT service management (ITSM)</span> is the process of designing, delivering, managing, and improving the IT services an organization provides to its end users. ITSM is focused on aligning IT processes and services with business objectives to help an organization grow.\r\nITSM positions IT services as the key means of delivering and obtaining value, where an internal or external IT service provider works with business customers, at the same time taking responsibility for the associated costs and risks. ITSM works across the whole lifecycle of a service, from the original strategy, through design, transition and into live operation.\r\nTo ensure sustainable quality of IT services, ITSM establishes a set of practices, or processes, constituting a service management system. There are industrial, national and international standards for IT service management solutions, setting up requirements and good practices for the management system. \r\nITSM system is based on a set of principles, such as focusing on value and continual improvement. It is not just a set of processes – it is a cultural mindset to ensure that the desired outcome for the business is achieved. \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">ITIL (IT Infrastructure Library)</span> is a framework of best practices and recommendations for managing an organization's IT operations and services. IT service management processes, when built based on the ITIL framework, pave the way for better IT service operations management and improved business. To summarize, ITIL is a set of guidelines for effective IT service management best practices. ITIL has evolved beyond the delivery of services to providing end-to-end value delivery. The focus is now on the co-creation of value through service relationships. \r\n<p class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">ITSM processes typically include five stages, all based on the ITIL framework:</span></p>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">ITSM strategy.</span> This stage forms the foundation or the framework of an organization's ITSM process building. It involves defining the services that the organization will offer, strategically planning processes, and recognizing and developing the required assets to keep processes moving. \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Service design.</span> This stage's main aim is planning and designing the IT services the organization offers to meet business demands. It involves creating and designing new services as well as assessing current services and making relevant improvements.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Service transition.</span> Once the designs for IT services and their processes have been finalized, it's important to build them and test them out to ensure that processes flow. IT teams need to ensure that the designs don't disrupt services in any way, especially when existing IT service processes are upgraded or redesigned. This calls for change management, evaluation, and risk management. \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Service operation. </span>This phase involves implementing the tried and tested new or modified designs in a live environment. While in this stage, the processes have already been tested and the issues fixed, but new processes are bound to have hiccups—especially when customers start using the services. \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Continual service improvement (CSI).</span> Implementing IT processes successfully shouldn't be the final stage in any organization. There's always room for improvement and new development based on issues that pop up, customer needs and demands, and user feedback.\r\n\r\n","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\">Benefits of efficient ITSM processes</h1>\r\nIrrespective of the size of business, every organization is involved in IT service management in some way. ITSM ensures that incidents, service requests, problems, changes, and IT assets—in addition to other aspects of IT services—are managed in a streamlined way.\r\nIT teams in your organization can employ various workflows and best practices in ITSM, as outlined in ITIL. Effective IT service management can have positive effects on an IT organization's overall function.\r\nHere are the 10 key benefits of ITSM:\r\n<ul><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Lower costs for IT operations</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Higher returns on IT investments</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Minimal service outages</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Ability to establish well-defined, repeatable, and manageable IT processes</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Efficient analysis of IT problems to reduce repeat incidents</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Improved efficiency of IT help desk teams</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Well-defined roles and responsibilities</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Clear expectations on service levels and service availability</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Risk-free implementation of IT changes</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Better transparency into IT processes and services</li></ul>\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\">How to choose an ITSM tool?</h1>\r\nWith a competent IT service management goal in mind, it's important to invest in a service desk solution that caters to your business needs. It goes without saying, with more than 150 service desk tools to choose from, selecting the right one is easier said than done. Here are a few things to keep in mind when choosing an ITSM products:\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Identify key processes and their dependencies. </span>Based on business goals, decide which key ITSM processes need to be implemented and chart out the integrations that need to be established to achieve those goals. \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Consult with ITSM experts.</span> Participate in business expos, webinars, demos, etc., and educate yourself about the various options that are available in the market. Reports from expert analysts such as Gartner and Forrester are particularly useful as they include reviews of almost every solution, ranked based on multiple criteria.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Choose a deployment option.</span> Every business has a different IT infrastructure model. Selecting an on-premises or software as a service (SaaS IT service management) tool depends on whether your business prefers to host its applications and data on its own servers or use a public or private cloud.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Plan ahead for the future.</span> Although it's important to consider the &quot;needs&quot; primarily, you shouldn't rule out the secondary or luxury capabilities. If the ITSM tool doesn't have the potential to adapt to your needs as your organization grows, it can pull you back from progressing. Draw a clear picture of where your business is headed and choose an service ITSM that is flexible and technology-driven.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Don't stop with the capabilities of the ITSM tool.</span> It might be tempting to assess an ITSM tool based on its capabilities and features but it's important to evaluate the vendor of the tool. A good IT support team, and a vendor that is endorsed for their customer-vendor relationship can take your IT services far. Check Gartner's magic quadrant and other analyst reports, along with product and support reviews to ensure that the said tool provides good customer support.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_ITSM.png"}],"characteristics":[],"concurentProducts":[],"jobRoles":[],"organizationalFeatures":[],"complementaryCategories":[],"solutions":[],"materials":[],"useCases":[],"best_practices":[],"values":[],"implementations":[]},"the-versa-cloud-ip-platform":{"id":3322,"logoURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/Versa_Networks_logo.png","logo":true,"scheme":false,"title":"The Versa Cloud IP Platform","vendorVerified":0,"rating":"1.00","implementationsCount":0,"suppliersCount":0,"supplierPartnersCount":0,"alias":"the-versa-cloud-ip-platform","companyTitle":"Versa Networks","companyTypes":["supplier","vendor"],"companyId":5232,"companyAlias":"versa-networks","description":"Versa’s software-based approach provides unmatched agility, cost savings, and flexibility vs. traditional network hardware.\r\nFor service providers, Versa Cloud IP Platform enables next-generation managed services for virtual customer premises equipment (vCPE), managed software-defined router (SD-Router), managed software-defined WAN (SD-WAN), managed software-defined security (SD-Security) and to fully software-defined the branch (SD-Branch) with a unified multi-service next-generation secure software platform. For enterprises, it provides a secure multi-cloud and multi-site software-defined branch connectivity solution for SD-WAN and branch security projects.","shortDescription":"Cloud IP Platform enables service providers and large enterprises to transform the WAN and branch network to achieve unprecedented business advantages.","type":null,"isRoiCalculatorAvaliable":false,"isConfiguratorAvaliable":false,"bonus":100,"usingCount":6,"sellingCount":3,"discontinued":0,"rebateForPoc":0,"rebate":0,"seo":{"title":"The Versa Cloud IP Platform","keywords":"","description":"Versa’s software-based approach provides unmatched agility, cost savings, and flexibility vs. traditional network hardware.\r\nFor service providers, Versa Cloud IP Platform enables next-generation managed services for virtual customer premises equipment (vCPE),","og:title":"The Versa Cloud IP Platform","og:description":"Versa’s software-based approach provides unmatched agility, cost savings, and flexibility vs. traditional network hardware.\r\nFor service providers, Versa Cloud IP Platform enables next-generation managed services for virtual customer premises equipment (vCPE),","og:image":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/Versa_Networks_logo.png"},"eventUrl":"","translationId":3323,"dealDetails":null,"roi":null,"price":null,"bonusForReference":null,"templateData":[{"id":93,"title":"Software-Defined WAN (SD-WAN)"}],"testingArea":"","categories":[{"id":499,"title":"SDN Software-Defined Network","alias":"sdn-software-defined-network","description":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Software-defined networking (SDN)</span> technology is an approach to network management that enables dynamic, programmatically efficient network configuration in order to improve network performance and monitoring, making it more like cloud computing than traditional network management.\r\nSDN encompasses several types of technologies, including functional separation, network virtualization and automation through programmability. SDN solution is meant to address the fact that the static architecture of traditional networks is decentralized and complex while current networks require more flexibility and easy troubleshooting. \r\nSDN technology attempts to centralize network intelligence in one network component by disassociating the forwarding process of network packets (<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">data plane</span>) from the routing process (<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">control plane</span>). The control plane consists of one or more controllers which are considered as the brain of SDN network where the whole intelligence is incorporated. Originally, software defined technology focused solely on separation of the network control plane from the data plane. While the control plane makes decisions about how packets should flow through the network, the data plane actually moves packets from place to place. \r\nIn a classic SDN scenario, a packet arrives at a network switch, and rules built into the switch's proprietary firmware tell the switch where to forward the packet. These packet-handling rules are sent to the switch from the centralized controller. The switch - also known as a <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">data plane device</span> - queries the controller for guidance as needed, and it provides the controller with information about traffic it handles. The switch sends every packet going to the same destination along the same path and treats all the packets the exact same way.\r\nSoftware defined networking solutions use an operation mode that is sometimes called adaptive or dynamic, in which a switch issues a route request to a controller for a packet that does not have a specific route. This process is separate from adaptive routing, which issues route requests through routers and algorithms based on the network topology, not through a controller.\r\nThe <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">virtualization</span> aspect of SDN comes into play through a virtual overlay, which is a logically separate network on top of the physical network. Users can implement end-to-end overlays to abstract the underlying network and segment network traffic. This microsegmentation is especially useful for service providers and operators with multi-tenant cloud environments and cloud services, as they can provision a separate virtual network with specific policies for each tenant.","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\">Benefits of Software Defined Networking</h1>\r\nWith SDN software, an <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">administrator can change any network switch's rules when necessary</span> - prioritizing, deprioritizing or even blocking specific types of packets with a granular level of control and security. This is especially helpful in a cloud computing multi-tenant architecture, because it enables the administrator to manage traffic loads in a flexible and more efficient manner. Essentially, this enables the administrator to use less expensive commodity switches and have more control over network traffic flow than ever before.\r\nOther benefits of SDN are <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">network management</span> and <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">end-to-end visibility.</span>A network administrator need only deal with one centralized controller to distribute policies to the connected switches, instead of configuring multiple individual devices. This capability is also a security advantage because the controller can monitor traffic and deploy security policies. If the controller deems traffic suspicious, for example, it can reroute or drop the packets.\r\nSoftware defined networking software also <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">virtualizes hardware</span> and <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">services </span>that were previously carried out by dedicated hardware, resulting in the touted benefits of a reduced hardware footprint and lower operational costs.\r\nAdditionally, SDN contributed to the emergence of <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN)</span> technology. SD-WAN employs the virtual overlay aspect of SDN technology, abstracting an organization's connectivity links throughout its WAN and creating a virtual network that can use whichever connection the controller deems fit to send traffic.\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\">Are there any SDN security benefits?</h1>\r\nAs security issues become more complex at the edge of the network, it’s no wonder that network and security professionals are looking for new ways to approach network protection. Nowadays, it seems like SDN is going to be the answer. \r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Centralized Network Control </span></li></ul>\r\nIn a traditional network, devices (router/switches) make their own decisions locally about where and how best to send traffic.&nbsp; In terms of network security, SDN can be used to route data packets through a single firewall and make IDS and IPS data capture more efficient.\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Simplify Configuration</span></li></ul>\r\nThe SDN makes it easier to automate configuration and improves the traceability of those configurations. The introduction of SDN network management allows dynamic programming and restructuring of network settings, which reduces the risk of DDoS attacks. It is also worth adding that SDN has automatic quarantine capabilities. \r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Creation of High-level Network Policies</span></li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"color: rgb(97, 97, 97); \">Rather than physically configuring security solutions, SDN facilitates the central management of security policies to make network operator roles more efficient and flexible. Moreover, SDN helps to move away from current management approaches such as SNMP/CLI and build more effective policy management. </span>\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \"><span style=\"color: rgb(97, 97, 97); \">Easy to use Application Programming Interfaces (APIs)</span></span></li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"color: rgb(97, 97, 97); \">Cloud APIs are interfaces presented by software and play a vital role in SDN controllers and applications. Easy to use APIs help to manage network resources, improve the efficiency of IT resources, and aid integration with IT tools. Additionally, a number of good cloud security practices have been introduced recently. </span>","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_SDN_Software_Defined_Network.png"},{"id":52,"title":"SaaS - software as a service","alias":"saas-software-as-a-service","description":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Software as a service (SaaS)</span> is a software licensing and delivery model in which software is licensed on a subscription basis and is centrally hosted. It is sometimes referred to as &quot;on-demand software&quot;, and was formerly referred to as &quot;software plus services&quot; by Microsoft.\r\n SaaS services is typically accessed by users using a thin client, e.g. via a web browser. SaaS software solutions has become a common delivery model for many business applications, including office software, messaging software, payroll processing software, DBMS software, management software, CAD software, development software, gamification, virtualization, accounting, collaboration, customer relationship management (CRM), Management Information Systems (MIS), enterprise resource planning (ERP), invoicing, human resource management (HRM), talent acquisition, learning management systems, content management (CM), Geographic Information Systems (GIS), and service desk management. SaaS has been incorporated into the strategy of nearly all leading enterprise software companies.\r\nSaaS applications are also known as <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Web-based software</span>, <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">on-demand software</span> and<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\"> hosted software</span>.\r\nThe term &quot;Software as a Service&quot; (SaaS) is considered to be part of the nomenclature of cloud computing, along with Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), Desktop as a Service (DaaS),managed software as a service (MSaaS), mobile backend as a service (MBaaS), and information technology management as a service (ITMaaS).\r\nBecause SaaS is based on cloud computing it saves organizations from installing and running applications on their own systems. That eliminates or at least reduces the associated costs of hardware purchases and maintenance and of software and support. The initial setup cost for a SaaS application is also generally lower than it for equivalent enterprise software purchased via a site license.\r\nSometimes, the use of SaaS cloud software can also reduce the long-term costs of software licensing, though that depends on the pricing model for the individual SaaS offering and the enterprise’s usage patterns. In fact, it’s possible for SaaS to cost more than traditional software licenses. This is an area IT organizations should explore carefully.<br />SaaS also provides enterprises the flexibility inherent with cloud services: they can subscribe to a SaaS offering as needed rather than having to buy software licenses and install the software on a variety of computers. The savings can be substantial in the case of applications that require new hardware purchases to support the software.<br /><br /><br /><br />","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: normal;\">Who uses SaaS?</span></h1>\r\nIndustry analyst Forrester Research notes that SaaS adoption has so far been concentrated mostly in human resource management (HRM), customer relationship management (CRM), collaboration software (e.g., email), and procurement solutions, but is poised to widen. Today it’s possible to have a data warehouse in the cloud that you can access with business intelligence software running as a service and connect to your cloud-based ERP like NetSuite or Microsoft Dynamics.The dollar savings can run into the millions. And SaaS installations are often installed and working in a fraction of the time of on-premises deployments—some can be ready in hours. \r\nSales and marketing people are likely familiar with Salesforce.com, the leading SaaS CRM software, with millions of users across more than 100,000 customers. Sales is going SaaS too, with apps available to support sales in order management, compensation, quote production and configure, price, quoting, electronic signatures, contract management and more.\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: normal;\">Why SaaS? Benefits of software as a service</span></h1>\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Lower cost of entry</span>. With SaaS solution, you pay for what you need, without having to buy hardware to host your new applications. Instead of provisioning internal resources to install the software, the vendor provides APIs and performs much of the work to get their software working for you. The time to a working solution can drop from months in the traditional model to weeks, days or hours with the SaaS model. In some businesses, IT wants nothing to do with installing and running a sales app. In the case of funding software and its implementation, this can be a make-or-break issue for the sales and marketing budget, so the lower cost really makes the difference.</li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Reduced time to benefit/rapid prototyping</span>. In the SaaS model, the software application is already installed and configured. Users can provision the server for the cloud and quickly have the application ready for use. This cuts the time to benefit and allows for rapid demonstrations and prototyping. With many SaaS companies offering free trials, this means a painless proof of concept and discovery phase to prove the benefit to the organization. </li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Pay as you go</span>. SaaS business software gives you the benefit of predictable costs both for the subscription and to some extent, the administration. Even as you scale, you can have a clear idea of what your costs will be. This allows for much more accurate budgeting, especially as compared to the costs of internal IT to manage upgrades and address issues for an owned instance.</li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">The SaaS vendor is responsible for upgrades, uptime and security</span>. Under the SaaS model, since the software is hosted by the vendor, they take on the responsibility for maintaining the software and upgrading it, ensuring that it is reliable and meeting agreed-upon service level agreements, and keeping the application and its data secure.&nbsp; While some IT people worry about Software as a Service security outside of the enterprise walls, the likely truth is that the vendor has a much higher level of security than the enterprise itself would provide. Many will have redundant instances in very secure data centers in multiple geographies.&nbsp; Also, the data is being automatically backed up by the vendor, providing additional security and peace of mind. Because of the data center hosting, you’re getting the added benefit of at least some disaster recovery. Lastly, the vendor manages these issues as part of their core competencies—let them.</li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Integration and scalability.</span> Most SaaS apps are designed to support some amount of customization for the way you do business. SaaS vendors create APIs to allow connections not only to internal applications like ERPs or CRMs but also to other SaaS providers. One of the terrific aspects of integration is that orders written in the field can be automatically sent to the ERP. Now a salesperson in the field can check inventory through the catalog, write the order in front of the customer for approval, send it and receive confirmation, all in minutes. And as you scale with a SaaS vendor, there’s no need to invest in server capacity and software licenses. </li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Work anywhere</span>. Since the software is hosted in the cloud and accessible over the internet, users can access it via mobile devices wherever they are connected. This includes checking customer order histories prior to a sales call, as well as having access to real time data and real time order taking with the customer.</li></ul>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\">&nbsp;</p>","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/SaaS__1_.png"},{"id":34,"title":"ITSM - IT Service Management","alias":"itsm-it-service-management","description":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">IT service management (ITSM)</span> is the process of designing, delivering, managing, and improving the IT services an organization provides to its end users. ITSM is focused on aligning IT processes and services with business objectives to help an organization grow.\r\nITSM positions IT services as the key means of delivering and obtaining value, where an internal or external IT service provider works with business customers, at the same time taking responsibility for the associated costs and risks. ITSM works across the whole lifecycle of a service, from the original strategy, through design, transition and into live operation.\r\nTo ensure sustainable quality of IT services, ITSM establishes a set of practices, or processes, constituting a service management system. There are industrial, national and international standards for IT service management solutions, setting up requirements and good practices for the management system. \r\nITSM system is based on a set of principles, such as focusing on value and continual improvement. It is not just a set of processes – it is a cultural mindset to ensure that the desired outcome for the business is achieved. \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">ITIL (IT Infrastructure Library)</span> is a framework of best practices and recommendations for managing an organization's IT operations and services. IT service management processes, when built based on the ITIL framework, pave the way for better IT service operations management and improved business. To summarize, ITIL is a set of guidelines for effective IT service management best practices. ITIL has evolved beyond the delivery of services to providing end-to-end value delivery. The focus is now on the co-creation of value through service relationships. \r\n<p class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">ITSM processes typically include five stages, all based on the ITIL framework:</span></p>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">ITSM strategy.</span> This stage forms the foundation or the framework of an organization's ITSM process building. It involves defining the services that the organization will offer, strategically planning processes, and recognizing and developing the required assets to keep processes moving. \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Service design.</span> This stage's main aim is planning and designing the IT services the organization offers to meet business demands. It involves creating and designing new services as well as assessing current services and making relevant improvements.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Service transition.</span> Once the designs for IT services and their processes have been finalized, it's important to build them and test them out to ensure that processes flow. IT teams need to ensure that the designs don't disrupt services in any way, especially when existing IT service processes are upgraded or redesigned. This calls for change management, evaluation, and risk management. \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Service operation. </span>This phase involves implementing the tried and tested new or modified designs in a live environment. While in this stage, the processes have already been tested and the issues fixed, but new processes are bound to have hiccups—especially when customers start using the services. \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Continual service improvement (CSI).</span> Implementing IT processes successfully shouldn't be the final stage in any organization. There's always room for improvement and new development based on issues that pop up, customer needs and demands, and user feedback.\r\n\r\n","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\">Benefits of efficient ITSM processes</h1>\r\nIrrespective of the size of business, every organization is involved in IT service management in some way. ITSM ensures that incidents, service requests, problems, changes, and IT assets—in addition to other aspects of IT services—are managed in a streamlined way.\r\nIT teams in your organization can employ various workflows and best practices in ITSM, as outlined in ITIL. Effective IT service management can have positive effects on an IT organization's overall function.\r\nHere are the 10 key benefits of ITSM:\r\n<ul><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Lower costs for IT operations</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Higher returns on IT investments</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Minimal service outages</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Ability to establish well-defined, repeatable, and manageable IT processes</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Efficient analysis of IT problems to reduce repeat incidents</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Improved efficiency of IT help desk teams</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Well-defined roles and responsibilities</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Clear expectations on service levels and service availability</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Risk-free implementation of IT changes</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Better transparency into IT processes and services</li></ul>\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\">How to choose an ITSM tool?</h1>\r\nWith a competent IT service management goal in mind, it's important to invest in a service desk solution that caters to your business needs. It goes without saying, with more than 150 service desk tools to choose from, selecting the right one is easier said than done. Here are a few things to keep in mind when choosing an ITSM products:\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Identify key processes and their dependencies. </span>Based on business goals, decide which key ITSM processes need to be implemented and chart out the integrations that need to be established to achieve those goals. \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Consult with ITSM experts.</span> Participate in business expos, webinars, demos, etc., and educate yourself about the various options that are available in the market. Reports from expert analysts such as Gartner and Forrester are particularly useful as they include reviews of almost every solution, ranked based on multiple criteria.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Choose a deployment option.</span> Every business has a different IT infrastructure model. Selecting an on-premises or software as a service (SaaS IT service management) tool depends on whether your business prefers to host its applications and data on its own servers or use a public or private cloud.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Plan ahead for the future.</span> Although it's important to consider the &quot;needs&quot; primarily, you shouldn't rule out the secondary or luxury capabilities. If the ITSM tool doesn't have the potential to adapt to your needs as your organization grows, it can pull you back from progressing. Draw a clear picture of where your business is headed and choose an service ITSM that is flexible and technology-driven.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Don't stop with the capabilities of the ITSM tool.</span> It might be tempting to assess an ITSM tool based on its capabilities and features but it's important to evaluate the vendor of the tool. A good IT support team, and a vendor that is endorsed for their customer-vendor relationship can take your IT services far. Check Gartner's magic quadrant and other analyst reports, along with product and support reviews to ensure that the said tool provides good customer support.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_ITSM.png"}],"characteristics":[],"concurentProducts":[],"jobRoles":[],"organizationalFeatures":[],"complementaryCategories":[],"solutions":[],"materials":[],"useCases":[],"best_practices":[],"values":[],"implementations":[]},"viptela-secure-extensible-network-sen":{"id":3316,"logoURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/Viptela_Secure_Extensible_Network.png","logo":true,"scheme":false,"title":"Viptela Secure Extensible Network (SEN)","vendorVerified":0,"rating":"2.00","implementationsCount":0,"suppliersCount":0,"supplierPartnersCount":125,"alias":"viptela-secure-extensible-network-sen","companyTitle":"Cisco","companyTypes":["supplier","vendor"],"companyId":170,"companyAlias":"cisco","description":"The Viptela Secure Extensible Network (SEN) solution is an industry-leading platform that delivers secure end-to-end network virtualization. Enterprises can use the SEN solution to build large-scale networks with full integration of routing, security, centralized policy,&nbsp; and orchestration. The end result is a network that is operationally easy to manage and that eliminates disconnects between business and IT.\r\nViptela Secure Extensible Network comprises of five key architectural elements:\r\n<ol> <li>Enables transport independence</li> <li>Automatically secures any routed end-points</li> <li>Provides end-to-end network segmentation</li> <li>Enforces policies with a centralized controller</li> <li>Enables advertisement of network services</li> </ol>\r\nViptela Secure Extensible Network enables your business to:\r\n<ul> <li>Securely extend the enterprise’s footprint anywhere</li> <li>Have the freedom to choose any transport network, independent of the carrier’s service</li> <li>Optimize performance for public clouds and the Internet</li> <li>Centralize enforcement of access control and network policies</li> <li>Achieve network-wide segmentation for lines of business, compliance and business partners</li> <li>Centralize network-based services</li> </ul>\r\nViptela Secure Extensible Network is made up of the following four major components:\r\n<ul> <li>vSmart Controller</li> <li>vEdge Router</li> <li>vBond Orchestrator</li> <li>vManage Configuring and Monitoring System</li> </ul>","shortDescription":"The Viptela Secure Extensible Network (SEN) solution is an industry-leading platform that delivers secure end-to-end network virtualization.","type":null,"isRoiCalculatorAvaliable":false,"isConfiguratorAvaliable":false,"bonus":100,"usingCount":8,"sellingCount":8,"discontinued":0,"rebateForPoc":0,"rebate":0,"seo":{"title":"Viptela Secure Extensible Network (SEN)","keywords":"","description":"The Viptela Secure Extensible Network (SEN) solution is an industry-leading platform that delivers secure end-to-end network virtualization. Enterprises can use the SEN solution to build large-scale networks with full integration of routing, security, centrali","og:title":"Viptela Secure Extensible Network (SEN)","og:description":"The Viptela Secure Extensible Network (SEN) solution is an industry-leading platform that delivers secure end-to-end network virtualization. Enterprises can use the SEN solution to build large-scale networks with full integration of routing, security, centrali","og:image":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/Viptela_Secure_Extensible_Network.png"},"eventUrl":"","translationId":3317,"dealDetails":null,"roi":null,"price":null,"bonusForReference":null,"templateData":[{"id":93,"title":"Software-Defined WAN (SD-WAN)"}],"testingArea":"","categories":[{"id":499,"title":"SDN Software-Defined Network","alias":"sdn-software-defined-network","description":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Software-defined networking (SDN)</span> technology is an approach to network management that enables dynamic, programmatically efficient network configuration in order to improve network performance and monitoring, making it more like cloud computing than traditional network management.\r\nSDN encompasses several types of technologies, including functional separation, network virtualization and automation through programmability. SDN solution is meant to address the fact that the static architecture of traditional networks is decentralized and complex while current networks require more flexibility and easy troubleshooting. \r\nSDN technology attempts to centralize network intelligence in one network component by disassociating the forwarding process of network packets (<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">data plane</span>) from the routing process (<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">control plane</span>). The control plane consists of one or more controllers which are considered as the brain of SDN network where the whole intelligence is incorporated. Originally, software defined technology focused solely on separation of the network control plane from the data plane. While the control plane makes decisions about how packets should flow through the network, the data plane actually moves packets from place to place. \r\nIn a classic SDN scenario, a packet arrives at a network switch, and rules built into the switch's proprietary firmware tell the switch where to forward the packet. These packet-handling rules are sent to the switch from the centralized controller. The switch - also known as a <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">data plane device</span> - queries the controller for guidance as needed, and it provides the controller with information about traffic it handles. The switch sends every packet going to the same destination along the same path and treats all the packets the exact same way.\r\nSoftware defined networking solutions use an operation mode that is sometimes called adaptive or dynamic, in which a switch issues a route request to a controller for a packet that does not have a specific route. This process is separate from adaptive routing, which issues route requests through routers and algorithms based on the network topology, not through a controller.\r\nThe <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">virtualization</span> aspect of SDN comes into play through a virtual overlay, which is a logically separate network on top of the physical network. Users can implement end-to-end overlays to abstract the underlying network and segment network traffic. This microsegmentation is especially useful for service providers and operators with multi-tenant cloud environments and cloud services, as they can provision a separate virtual network with specific policies for each tenant.","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\">Benefits of Software Defined Networking</h1>\r\nWith SDN software, an <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">administrator can change any network switch's rules when necessary</span> - prioritizing, deprioritizing or even blocking specific types of packets with a granular level of control and security. This is especially helpful in a cloud computing multi-tenant architecture, because it enables the administrator to manage traffic loads in a flexible and more efficient manner. Essentially, this enables the administrator to use less expensive commodity switches and have more control over network traffic flow than ever before.\r\nOther benefits of SDN are <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">network management</span> and <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">end-to-end visibility.</span>A network administrator need only deal with one centralized controller to distribute policies to the connected switches, instead of configuring multiple individual devices. This capability is also a security advantage because the controller can monitor traffic and deploy security policies. If the controller deems traffic suspicious, for example, it can reroute or drop the packets.\r\nSoftware defined networking software also <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">virtualizes hardware</span> and <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">services </span>that were previously carried out by dedicated hardware, resulting in the touted benefits of a reduced hardware footprint and lower operational costs.\r\nAdditionally, SDN contributed to the emergence of <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN)</span> technology. SD-WAN employs the virtual overlay aspect of SDN technology, abstracting an organization's connectivity links throughout its WAN and creating a virtual network that can use whichever connection the controller deems fit to send traffic.\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\">Are there any SDN security benefits?</h1>\r\nAs security issues become more complex at the edge of the network, it’s no wonder that network and security professionals are looking for new ways to approach network protection. Nowadays, it seems like SDN is going to be the answer. \r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Centralized Network Control </span></li></ul>\r\nIn a traditional network, devices (router/switches) make their own decisions locally about where and how best to send traffic.&nbsp; In terms of network security, SDN can be used to route data packets through a single firewall and make IDS and IPS data capture more efficient.\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Simplify Configuration</span></li></ul>\r\nThe SDN makes it easier to automate configuration and improves the traceability of those configurations. The introduction of SDN network management allows dynamic programming and restructuring of network settings, which reduces the risk of DDoS attacks. It is also worth adding that SDN has automatic quarantine capabilities. \r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Creation of High-level Network Policies</span></li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"color: rgb(97, 97, 97); \">Rather than physically configuring security solutions, SDN facilitates the central management of security policies to make network operator roles more efficient and flexible. Moreover, SDN helps to move away from current management approaches such as SNMP/CLI and build more effective policy management. </span>\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \"><span style=\"color: rgb(97, 97, 97); \">Easy to use Application Programming Interfaces (APIs)</span></span></li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"color: rgb(97, 97, 97); \">Cloud APIs are interfaces presented by software and play a vital role in SDN controllers and applications. Easy to use APIs help to manage network resources, improve the efficiency of IT resources, and aid integration with IT tools. Additionally, a number of good cloud security practices have been introduced recently. </span>","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_SDN_Software_Defined_Network.png"},{"id":52,"title":"SaaS - software as a service","alias":"saas-software-as-a-service","description":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Software as a service (SaaS)</span> is a software licensing and delivery model in which software is licensed on a subscription basis and is centrally hosted. It is sometimes referred to as &quot;on-demand software&quot;, and was formerly referred to as &quot;software plus services&quot; by Microsoft.\r\n SaaS services is typically accessed by users using a thin client, e.g. via a web browser. SaaS software solutions has become a common delivery model for many business applications, including office software, messaging software, payroll processing software, DBMS software, management software, CAD software, development software, gamification, virtualization, accounting, collaboration, customer relationship management (CRM), Management Information Systems (MIS), enterprise resource planning (ERP), invoicing, human resource management (HRM), talent acquisition, learning management systems, content management (CM), Geographic Information Systems (GIS), and service desk management. SaaS has been incorporated into the strategy of nearly all leading enterprise software companies.\r\nSaaS applications are also known as <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Web-based software</span>, <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">on-demand software</span> and<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\"> hosted software</span>.\r\nThe term &quot;Software as a Service&quot; (SaaS) is considered to be part of the nomenclature of cloud computing, along with Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), Desktop as a Service (DaaS),managed software as a service (MSaaS), mobile backend as a service (MBaaS), and information technology management as a service (ITMaaS).\r\nBecause SaaS is based on cloud computing it saves organizations from installing and running applications on their own systems. That eliminates or at least reduces the associated costs of hardware purchases and maintenance and of software and support. The initial setup cost for a SaaS application is also generally lower than it for equivalent enterprise software purchased via a site license.\r\nSometimes, the use of SaaS cloud software can also reduce the long-term costs of software licensing, though that depends on the pricing model for the individual SaaS offering and the enterprise’s usage patterns. In fact, it’s possible for SaaS to cost more than traditional software licenses. This is an area IT organizations should explore carefully.<br />SaaS also provides enterprises the flexibility inherent with cloud services: they can subscribe to a SaaS offering as needed rather than having to buy software licenses and install the software on a variety of computers. The savings can be substantial in the case of applications that require new hardware purchases to support the software.<br /><br /><br /><br />","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: normal;\">Who uses SaaS?</span></h1>\r\nIndustry analyst Forrester Research notes that SaaS adoption has so far been concentrated mostly in human resource management (HRM), customer relationship management (CRM), collaboration software (e.g., email), and procurement solutions, but is poised to widen. Today it’s possible to have a data warehouse in the cloud that you can access with business intelligence software running as a service and connect to your cloud-based ERP like NetSuite or Microsoft Dynamics.The dollar savings can run into the millions. And SaaS installations are often installed and working in a fraction of the time of on-premises deployments—some can be ready in hours. \r\nSales and marketing people are likely familiar with Salesforce.com, the leading SaaS CRM software, with millions of users across more than 100,000 customers. Sales is going SaaS too, with apps available to support sales in order management, compensation, quote production and configure, price, quoting, electronic signatures, contract management and more.\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: normal;\">Why SaaS? Benefits of software as a service</span></h1>\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Lower cost of entry</span>. With SaaS solution, you pay for what you need, without having to buy hardware to host your new applications. Instead of provisioning internal resources to install the software, the vendor provides APIs and performs much of the work to get their software working for you. The time to a working solution can drop from months in the traditional model to weeks, days or hours with the SaaS model. In some businesses, IT wants nothing to do with installing and running a sales app. In the case of funding software and its implementation, this can be a make-or-break issue for the sales and marketing budget, so the lower cost really makes the difference.</li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Reduced time to benefit/rapid prototyping</span>. In the SaaS model, the software application is already installed and configured. Users can provision the server for the cloud and quickly have the application ready for use. This cuts the time to benefit and allows for rapid demonstrations and prototyping. With many SaaS companies offering free trials, this means a painless proof of concept and discovery phase to prove the benefit to the organization. </li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Pay as you go</span>. SaaS business software gives you the benefit of predictable costs both for the subscription and to some extent, the administration. Even as you scale, you can have a clear idea of what your costs will be. This allows for much more accurate budgeting, especially as compared to the costs of internal IT to manage upgrades and address issues for an owned instance.</li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">The SaaS vendor is responsible for upgrades, uptime and security</span>. Under the SaaS model, since the software is hosted by the vendor, they take on the responsibility for maintaining the software and upgrading it, ensuring that it is reliable and meeting agreed-upon service level agreements, and keeping the application and its data secure.&nbsp; While some IT people worry about Software as a Service security outside of the enterprise walls, the likely truth is that the vendor has a much higher level of security than the enterprise itself would provide. Many will have redundant instances in very secure data centers in multiple geographies.&nbsp; Also, the data is being automatically backed up by the vendor, providing additional security and peace of mind. Because of the data center hosting, you’re getting the added benefit of at least some disaster recovery. Lastly, the vendor manages these issues as part of their core competencies—let them.</li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Integration and scalability.</span> Most SaaS apps are designed to support some amount of customization for the way you do business. SaaS vendors create APIs to allow connections not only to internal applications like ERPs or CRMs but also to other SaaS providers. One of the terrific aspects of integration is that orders written in the field can be automatically sent to the ERP. Now a salesperson in the field can check inventory through the catalog, write the order in front of the customer for approval, send it and receive confirmation, all in minutes. And as you scale with a SaaS vendor, there’s no need to invest in server capacity and software licenses. </li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Work anywhere</span>. Since the software is hosted in the cloud and accessible over the internet, users can access it via mobile devices wherever they are connected. This includes checking customer order histories prior to a sales call, as well as having access to real time data and real time order taking with the customer.</li></ul>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\">&nbsp;</p>","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/SaaS__1_.png"},{"id":34,"title":"ITSM - IT Service Management","alias":"itsm-it-service-management","description":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">IT service management (ITSM)</span> is the process of designing, delivering, managing, and improving the IT services an organization provides to its end users. ITSM is focused on aligning IT processes and services with business objectives to help an organization grow.\r\nITSM positions IT services as the key means of delivering and obtaining value, where an internal or external IT service provider works with business customers, at the same time taking responsibility for the associated costs and risks. ITSM works across the whole lifecycle of a service, from the original strategy, through design, transition and into live operation.\r\nTo ensure sustainable quality of IT services, ITSM establishes a set of practices, or processes, constituting a service management system. There are industrial, national and international standards for IT service management solutions, setting up requirements and good practices for the management system. \r\nITSM system is based on a set of principles, such as focusing on value and continual improvement. It is not just a set of processes – it is a cultural mindset to ensure that the desired outcome for the business is achieved. \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">ITIL (IT Infrastructure Library)</span> is a framework of best practices and recommendations for managing an organization's IT operations and services. IT service management processes, when built based on the ITIL framework, pave the way for better IT service operations management and improved business. To summarize, ITIL is a set of guidelines for effective IT service management best practices. ITIL has evolved beyond the delivery of services to providing end-to-end value delivery. The focus is now on the co-creation of value through service relationships. \r\n<p class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">ITSM processes typically include five stages, all based on the ITIL framework:</span></p>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">ITSM strategy.</span> This stage forms the foundation or the framework of an organization's ITSM process building. It involves defining the services that the organization will offer, strategically planning processes, and recognizing and developing the required assets to keep processes moving. \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Service design.</span> This stage's main aim is planning and designing the IT services the organization offers to meet business demands. It involves creating and designing new services as well as assessing current services and making relevant improvements.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Service transition.</span> Once the designs for IT services and their processes have been finalized, it's important to build them and test them out to ensure that processes flow. IT teams need to ensure that the designs don't disrupt services in any way, especially when existing IT service processes are upgraded or redesigned. This calls for change management, evaluation, and risk management. \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Service operation. </span>This phase involves implementing the tried and tested new or modified designs in a live environment. While in this stage, the processes have already been tested and the issues fixed, but new processes are bound to have hiccups—especially when customers start using the services. \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Continual service improvement (CSI).</span> Implementing IT processes successfully shouldn't be the final stage in any organization. There's always room for improvement and new development based on issues that pop up, customer needs and demands, and user feedback.\r\n\r\n","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\">Benefits of efficient ITSM processes</h1>\r\nIrrespective of the size of business, every organization is involved in IT service management in some way. ITSM ensures that incidents, service requests, problems, changes, and IT assets—in addition to other aspects of IT services—are managed in a streamlined way.\r\nIT teams in your organization can employ various workflows and best practices in ITSM, as outlined in ITIL. Effective IT service management can have positive effects on an IT organization's overall function.\r\nHere are the 10 key benefits of ITSM:\r\n<ul><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Lower costs for IT operations</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Higher returns on IT investments</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Minimal service outages</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Ability to establish well-defined, repeatable, and manageable IT processes</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Efficient analysis of IT problems to reduce repeat incidents</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Improved efficiency of IT help desk teams</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Well-defined roles and responsibilities</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Clear expectations on service levels and service availability</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Risk-free implementation of IT changes</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Better transparency into IT processes and services</li></ul>\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\">How to choose an ITSM tool?</h1>\r\nWith a competent IT service management goal in mind, it's important to invest in a service desk solution that caters to your business needs. It goes without saying, with more than 150 service desk tools to choose from, selecting the right one is easier said than done. Here are a few things to keep in mind when choosing an ITSM products:\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Identify key processes and their dependencies. </span>Based on business goals, decide which key ITSM processes need to be implemented and chart out the integrations that need to be established to achieve those goals. \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Consult with ITSM experts.</span> Participate in business expos, webinars, demos, etc., and educate yourself about the various options that are available in the market. Reports from expert analysts such as Gartner and Forrester are particularly useful as they include reviews of almost every solution, ranked based on multiple criteria.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Choose a deployment option.</span> Every business has a different IT infrastructure model. Selecting an on-premises or software as a service (SaaS IT service management) tool depends on whether your business prefers to host its applications and data on its own servers or use a public or private cloud.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Plan ahead for the future.</span> Although it's important to consider the &quot;needs&quot; primarily, you shouldn't rule out the secondary or luxury capabilities. If the ITSM tool doesn't have the potential to adapt to your needs as your organization grows, it can pull you back from progressing. Draw a clear picture of where your business is headed and choose an service ITSM that is flexible and technology-driven.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Don't stop with the capabilities of the ITSM tool.</span> It might be tempting to assess an ITSM tool based on its capabilities and features but it's important to evaluate the vendor of the tool. A good IT support team, and a vendor that is endorsed for their customer-vendor relationship can take your IT services far. Check Gartner's magic quadrant and other analyst reports, along with product and support reviews to ensure that the said tool provides good customer support.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_ITSM.png"}],"characteristics":[],"concurentProducts":[],"jobRoles":[],"organizationalFeatures":[],"complementaryCategories":[],"solutions":[],"materials":[],"useCases":[],"best_practices":[],"values":[],"implementations":[]},"zyxel-sd-wan":{"id":3334,"logoURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/Zyxel_logo.png","logo":true,"scheme":false,"title":"Zyxel SD-WAN","vendorVerified":0,"rating":"1.00","implementationsCount":0,"suppliersCount":0,"supplierPartnersCount":0,"alias":"zyxel-sd-wan","companyTitle":"Zyxel","companyTypes":["vendor"],"companyId":5237,"companyAlias":"zyxel","description":"Today most of the people in the branch offices are consuming more and more WAN bandwidth as they are collaborating online applications (e.g., Skype, Webex…) and will access large rich-media files. As more Internet communication and cloud-based application adoption, it becomes a critical challenge for how to efficiently optimize the WAN bandwidth, manage Internet application usage, and secure the connection between B2B and B2C.\r\nCombining the flexibility of cloud-based technology and its high-speed deployment benefit, Zyxel SD-WAN solution helps IT administrators to simplify branch network deployment. With the variety of optimization design for internet connectivity and applications, Zyxel SD-WAN also enables ZyWALL VPN Series to support online application growth, efficiency WAN bandwidth usage and increase network agility.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Key Features:</span>\r\n<ul> <li>WAN Optimization</li> <li>Application Prioritized for Assuring Delivery</li> <li>Dynamic Route for Simplifying Configuration</li> <li>Zero Touch Provisioning (ZTP)</li> <li>Dynamic Path Selection</li> <li>Mobile Application</li> </ul>","shortDescription":"Zyxel SD-WAN solution helps IT, administrators, to simplify branch network deployment.","type":null,"isRoiCalculatorAvaliable":false,"isConfiguratorAvaliable":false,"bonus":100,"usingCount":14,"sellingCount":2,"discontinued":0,"rebateForPoc":0,"rebate":0,"seo":{"title":"Zyxel SD-WAN","keywords":"","description":"Today most of the people in the branch offices are consuming more and more WAN bandwidth as they are collaborating online applications (e.g., Skype, Webex…) and will access large rich-media files. As more Internet communication and cloud-based application adop","og:title":"Zyxel SD-WAN","og:description":"Today most of the people in the branch offices are consuming more and more WAN bandwidth as they are collaborating online applications (e.g., Skype, Webex…) and will access large rich-media files. As more Internet communication and cloud-based application adop","og:image":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/Zyxel_logo.png"},"eventUrl":"","translationId":3335,"dealDetails":null,"roi":null,"price":null,"bonusForReference":null,"templateData":[{"id":93,"title":"Software-Defined WAN (SD-WAN)"}],"testingArea":"","categories":[{"id":499,"title":"SDN Software-Defined Network","alias":"sdn-software-defined-network","description":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Software-defined networking (SDN)</span> technology is an approach to network management that enables dynamic, programmatically efficient network configuration in order to improve network performance and monitoring, making it more like cloud computing than traditional network management.\r\nSDN encompasses several types of technologies, including functional separation, network virtualization and automation through programmability. SDN solution is meant to address the fact that the static architecture of traditional networks is decentralized and complex while current networks require more flexibility and easy troubleshooting. \r\nSDN technology attempts to centralize network intelligence in one network component by disassociating the forwarding process of network packets (<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">data plane</span>) from the routing process (<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">control plane</span>). The control plane consists of one or more controllers which are considered as the brain of SDN network where the whole intelligence is incorporated. Originally, software defined technology focused solely on separation of the network control plane from the data plane. While the control plane makes decisions about how packets should flow through the network, the data plane actually moves packets from place to place. \r\nIn a classic SDN scenario, a packet arrives at a network switch, and rules built into the switch's proprietary firmware tell the switch where to forward the packet. These packet-handling rules are sent to the switch from the centralized controller. The switch - also known as a <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">data plane device</span> - queries the controller for guidance as needed, and it provides the controller with information about traffic it handles. The switch sends every packet going to the same destination along the same path and treats all the packets the exact same way.\r\nSoftware defined networking solutions use an operation mode that is sometimes called adaptive or dynamic, in which a switch issues a route request to a controller for a packet that does not have a specific route. This process is separate from adaptive routing, which issues route requests through routers and algorithms based on the network topology, not through a controller.\r\nThe <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">virtualization</span> aspect of SDN comes into play through a virtual overlay, which is a logically separate network on top of the physical network. Users can implement end-to-end overlays to abstract the underlying network and segment network traffic. This microsegmentation is especially useful for service providers and operators with multi-tenant cloud environments and cloud services, as they can provision a separate virtual network with specific policies for each tenant.","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\">Benefits of Software Defined Networking</h1>\r\nWith SDN software, an <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">administrator can change any network switch's rules when necessary</span> - prioritizing, deprioritizing or even blocking specific types of packets with a granular level of control and security. This is especially helpful in a cloud computing multi-tenant architecture, because it enables the administrator to manage traffic loads in a flexible and more efficient manner. Essentially, this enables the administrator to use less expensive commodity switches and have more control over network traffic flow than ever before.\r\nOther benefits of SDN are <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">network management</span> and <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">end-to-end visibility.</span>A network administrator need only deal with one centralized controller to distribute policies to the connected switches, instead of configuring multiple individual devices. This capability is also a security advantage because the controller can monitor traffic and deploy security policies. If the controller deems traffic suspicious, for example, it can reroute or drop the packets.\r\nSoftware defined networking software also <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">virtualizes hardware</span> and <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">services </span>that were previously carried out by dedicated hardware, resulting in the touted benefits of a reduced hardware footprint and lower operational costs.\r\nAdditionally, SDN contributed to the emergence of <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN)</span> technology. SD-WAN employs the virtual overlay aspect of SDN technology, abstracting an organization's connectivity links throughout its WAN and creating a virtual network that can use whichever connection the controller deems fit to send traffic.\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\">Are there any SDN security benefits?</h1>\r\nAs security issues become more complex at the edge of the network, it’s no wonder that network and security professionals are looking for new ways to approach network protection. Nowadays, it seems like SDN is going to be the answer. \r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Centralized Network Control </span></li></ul>\r\nIn a traditional network, devices (router/switches) make their own decisions locally about where and how best to send traffic.&nbsp; In terms of network security, SDN can be used to route data packets through a single firewall and make IDS and IPS data capture more efficient.\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Simplify Configuration</span></li></ul>\r\nThe SDN makes it easier to automate configuration and improves the traceability of those configurations. The introduction of SDN network management allows dynamic programming and restructuring of network settings, which reduces the risk of DDoS attacks. It is also worth adding that SDN has automatic quarantine capabilities. \r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Creation of High-level Network Policies</span></li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"color: rgb(97, 97, 97); \">Rather than physically configuring security solutions, SDN facilitates the central management of security policies to make network operator roles more efficient and flexible. Moreover, SDN helps to move away from current management approaches such as SNMP/CLI and build more effective policy management. </span>\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \"><span style=\"color: rgb(97, 97, 97); \">Easy to use Application Programming Interfaces (APIs)</span></span></li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"color: rgb(97, 97, 97); \">Cloud APIs are interfaces presented by software and play a vital role in SDN controllers and applications. Easy to use APIs help to manage network resources, improve the efficiency of IT resources, and aid integration with IT tools. Additionally, a number of good cloud security practices have been introduced recently. </span>","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_SDN_Software_Defined_Network.png"},{"id":197,"title":"WAN optimization","alias":"wan-optimization","description":" WAN optimization is a collection of techniques for increasing data transfer efficiencies across wide-area networks (WANs). In 2008, the WAN optimization market was estimated to be $1 billion, and was to grow to $4.4 billion by 2014 according to Gartner, a technology research firm. In 2015 Gartner estimated the WAN optimization market to be a $1.1 billion market.\r\nThe most common measures of TCP data-transfer efficiencies (i.e., optimization) are throughput, bandwidth requirements, latency, protocol optimization, and congestion, as manifested in dropped packets. In addition, the WAN itself can be classified with regards to the distance between endpoints and the amounts of data transferred. Two common business WAN topologies are Branch to Headquarters and Data Center to Data Center (DC2DC). In general, &quot;Branch&quot; WAN links are closer, use less bandwidth, support more simultaneous connections, support smaller connections and more short-lived connections, and handle a greater variety of protocols. They are used for business applications such as email, content management systems, database application, and Web delivery. In comparison, &quot;DC2DC&quot; WAN links tend to require more bandwidth, are more distant, and involve fewer connections, but those connections are bigger (100 Mbit/s to 1 Gbit/s flows) and of longer duration. Traffic on a &quot;DC2DC&quot; WAN may include replication, back up, data migration, virtualization, and other Business Continuity/Disaster Recovery (BC/DR) flows.\r\nWAN optimization has been the subject of extensive academic research almost since the advent of the WAN. In the early 2000s, research in both the private and public sectors turned to improving the end-to-end throughput of TCP, and the target of the first proprietary WAN optimization solutions was the Branch WAN. In recent years, however, the rapid growth of digital data, and the concomitant needs to store and protect it, has presented a need for DC2DC WAN optimization. For example, such optimizations can be performed to increase overall network capacity utilization, meet inter-datacenter transfer deadlines, or minimize average completion times of data transfers. As another example, private inter-datacenter WANs can benefit optimizations for fast and efficient geo-replication of data and content, such as newly computed machine learning models or multimedia content.\r\nComponent techniques of Branch WAN Optimization include deduplication, wide area file services (WAFS), SMB proxy, HTTPS Proxy, media multicasting, web caching, and bandwidth management. Requirements for DC2DC WAN Optimization also center around deduplication and TCP acceleration, however these must occur in the context of multi-gigabit data transfer rates.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What Is WAN Optimization?</span>\r\nWAN optimization involves prioritizing specific parts of the network to receive more bandwidth. For example, you might want to allocate more throughput and bandwidth to the parts of the network involved in a critical data-processing task, to make sure it’s completed quickly. Many WAN improvements can be accomplished with either physical or logical changes to your network.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Why Is WAN Optimization Important?</span>\r\nBusinesses are increasingly facing pressures on their WAN setups due to increased use of cloud computing, applications, and other network-wide technologies such as web portals. The associated increase in traffic across the WAN makes WAN optimization even more important, as network slowdowns can become a major issue if you don’t proactively manage this complexity and volume.\r\nNumerous different business processes are affected by a slow network. Even simple actions, like employees accessing files, can become unacceptably slow. If the network is dragging, it might take their business-wide file manager a while to load, and then even longer to open the file. Even though it seems like a small, two-minute task, these problems quickly add up.\r\nMeanwhile, admins may have trouble effectively managing and monitoring their network — and ensuring network security — if they’re fighting against inefficient, high-latency network infrastructure. WAN optimization can potentially allow admins — and their software tools — to more effectively protect all devices and end-users.\r\nWAN optimization also supports remote and mobile workers. When someone works remotely, they’re expanding the WAN and requiring business data to travel further. Without WAN optimization, their connection could be slow. Even simple business processes such as email can become inconvenient to use. If the network is optimized correctly, all employees will be able to access network portals and business information, even if they’re connecting remotely.\r\nFurthermore, even applications not directly affected by optimization processes can benefit when bandwidth is freed up in relation to other parts of the network. All these benefits increase business efficiency and promote cost savings as a result.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/WAN_optimization1.png"},{"id":52,"title":"SaaS - software as a service","alias":"saas-software-as-a-service","description":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Software as a service (SaaS)</span> is a software licensing and delivery model in which software is licensed on a subscription basis and is centrally hosted. It is sometimes referred to as &quot;on-demand software&quot;, and was formerly referred to as &quot;software plus services&quot; by Microsoft.\r\n SaaS services is typically accessed by users using a thin client, e.g. via a web browser. SaaS software solutions has become a common delivery model for many business applications, including office software, messaging software, payroll processing software, DBMS software, management software, CAD software, development software, gamification, virtualization, accounting, collaboration, customer relationship management (CRM), Management Information Systems (MIS), enterprise resource planning (ERP), invoicing, human resource management (HRM), talent acquisition, learning management systems, content management (CM), Geographic Information Systems (GIS), and service desk management. SaaS has been incorporated into the strategy of nearly all leading enterprise software companies.\r\nSaaS applications are also known as <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Web-based software</span>, <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">on-demand software</span> and<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\"> hosted software</span>.\r\nThe term &quot;Software as a Service&quot; (SaaS) is considered to be part of the nomenclature of cloud computing, along with Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), Desktop as a Service (DaaS),managed software as a service (MSaaS), mobile backend as a service (MBaaS), and information technology management as a service (ITMaaS).\r\nBecause SaaS is based on cloud computing it saves organizations from installing and running applications on their own systems. That eliminates or at least reduces the associated costs of hardware purchases and maintenance and of software and support. The initial setup cost for a SaaS application is also generally lower than it for equivalent enterprise software purchased via a site license.\r\nSometimes, the use of SaaS cloud software can also reduce the long-term costs of software licensing, though that depends on the pricing model for the individual SaaS offering and the enterprise’s usage patterns. In fact, it’s possible for SaaS to cost more than traditional software licenses. This is an area IT organizations should explore carefully.<br />SaaS also provides enterprises the flexibility inherent with cloud services: they can subscribe to a SaaS offering as needed rather than having to buy software licenses and install the software on a variety of computers. The savings can be substantial in the case of applications that require new hardware purchases to support the software.<br /><br /><br /><br />","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: normal;\">Who uses SaaS?</span></h1>\r\nIndustry analyst Forrester Research notes that SaaS adoption has so far been concentrated mostly in human resource management (HRM), customer relationship management (CRM), collaboration software (e.g., email), and procurement solutions, but is poised to widen. Today it’s possible to have a data warehouse in the cloud that you can access with business intelligence software running as a service and connect to your cloud-based ERP like NetSuite or Microsoft Dynamics.The dollar savings can run into the millions. And SaaS installations are often installed and working in a fraction of the time of on-premises deployments—some can be ready in hours. \r\nSales and marketing people are likely familiar with Salesforce.com, the leading SaaS CRM software, with millions of users across more than 100,000 customers. Sales is going SaaS too, with apps available to support sales in order management, compensation, quote production and configure, price, quoting, electronic signatures, contract management and more.\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: normal;\">Why SaaS? Benefits of software as a service</span></h1>\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Lower cost of entry</span>. With SaaS solution, you pay for what you need, without having to buy hardware to host your new applications. Instead of provisioning internal resources to install the software, the vendor provides APIs and performs much of the work to get their software working for you. The time to a working solution can drop from months in the traditional model to weeks, days or hours with the SaaS model. In some businesses, IT wants nothing to do with installing and running a sales app. In the case of funding software and its implementation, this can be a make-or-break issue for the sales and marketing budget, so the lower cost really makes the difference.</li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Reduced time to benefit/rapid prototyping</span>. In the SaaS model, the software application is already installed and configured. Users can provision the server for the cloud and quickly have the application ready for use. This cuts the time to benefit and allows for rapid demonstrations and prototyping. With many SaaS companies offering free trials, this means a painless proof of concept and discovery phase to prove the benefit to the organization. </li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Pay as you go</span>. SaaS business software gives you the benefit of predictable costs both for the subscription and to some extent, the administration. Even as you scale, you can have a clear idea of what your costs will be. This allows for much more accurate budgeting, especially as compared to the costs of internal IT to manage upgrades and address issues for an owned instance.</li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">The SaaS vendor is responsible for upgrades, uptime and security</span>. Under the SaaS model, since the software is hosted by the vendor, they take on the responsibility for maintaining the software and upgrading it, ensuring that it is reliable and meeting agreed-upon service level agreements, and keeping the application and its data secure.&nbsp; While some IT people worry about Software as a Service security outside of the enterprise walls, the likely truth is that the vendor has a much higher level of security than the enterprise itself would provide. Many will have redundant instances in very secure data centers in multiple geographies.&nbsp; Also, the data is being automatically backed up by the vendor, providing additional security and peace of mind. Because of the data center hosting, you’re getting the added benefit of at least some disaster recovery. Lastly, the vendor manages these issues as part of their core competencies—let them.</li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Integration and scalability.</span> Most SaaS apps are designed to support some amount of customization for the way you do business. SaaS vendors create APIs to allow connections not only to internal applications like ERPs or CRMs but also to other SaaS providers. One of the terrific aspects of integration is that orders written in the field can be automatically sent to the ERP. Now a salesperson in the field can check inventory through the catalog, write the order in front of the customer for approval, send it and receive confirmation, all in minutes. And as you scale with a SaaS vendor, there’s no need to invest in server capacity and software licenses. </li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Work anywhere</span>. Since the software is hosted in the cloud and accessible over the internet, users can access it via mobile devices wherever they are connected. This includes checking customer order histories prior to a sales call, as well as having access to real time data and real time order taking with the customer.</li></ul>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\">&nbsp;</p>","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/SaaS__1_.png"},{"id":34,"title":"ITSM - IT Service Management","alias":"itsm-it-service-management","description":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">IT service management (ITSM)</span> is the process of designing, delivering, managing, and improving the IT services an organization provides to its end users. ITSM is focused on aligning IT processes and services with business objectives to help an organization grow.\r\nITSM positions IT services as the key means of delivering and obtaining value, where an internal or external IT service provider works with business customers, at the same time taking responsibility for the associated costs and risks. ITSM works across the whole lifecycle of a service, from the original strategy, through design, transition and into live operation.\r\nTo ensure sustainable quality of IT services, ITSM establishes a set of practices, or processes, constituting a service management system. There are industrial, national and international standards for IT service management solutions, setting up requirements and good practices for the management system. \r\nITSM system is based on a set of principles, such as focusing on value and continual improvement. It is not just a set of processes – it is a cultural mindset to ensure that the desired outcome for the business is achieved. \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">ITIL (IT Infrastructure Library)</span> is a framework of best practices and recommendations for managing an organization's IT operations and services. IT service management processes, when built based on the ITIL framework, pave the way for better IT service operations management and improved business. To summarize, ITIL is a set of guidelines for effective IT service management best practices. ITIL has evolved beyond the delivery of services to providing end-to-end value delivery. The focus is now on the co-creation of value through service relationships. \r\n<p class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">ITSM processes typically include five stages, all based on the ITIL framework:</span></p>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">ITSM strategy.</span> This stage forms the foundation or the framework of an organization's ITSM process building. It involves defining the services that the organization will offer, strategically planning processes, and recognizing and developing the required assets to keep processes moving. \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Service design.</span> This stage's main aim is planning and designing the IT services the organization offers to meet business demands. It involves creating and designing new services as well as assessing current services and making relevant improvements.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Service transition.</span> Once the designs for IT services and their processes have been finalized, it's important to build them and test them out to ensure that processes flow. IT teams need to ensure that the designs don't disrupt services in any way, especially when existing IT service processes are upgraded or redesigned. This calls for change management, evaluation, and risk management. \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Service operation. </span>This phase involves implementing the tried and tested new or modified designs in a live environment. While in this stage, the processes have already been tested and the issues fixed, but new processes are bound to have hiccups—especially when customers start using the services. \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Continual service improvement (CSI).</span> Implementing IT processes successfully shouldn't be the final stage in any organization. There's always room for improvement and new development based on issues that pop up, customer needs and demands, and user feedback.\r\n\r\n","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\">Benefits of efficient ITSM processes</h1>\r\nIrrespective of the size of business, every organization is involved in IT service management in some way. ITSM ensures that incidents, service requests, problems, changes, and IT assets—in addition to other aspects of IT services—are managed in a streamlined way.\r\nIT teams in your organization can employ various workflows and best practices in ITSM, as outlined in ITIL. Effective IT service management can have positive effects on an IT organization's overall function.\r\nHere are the 10 key benefits of ITSM:\r\n<ul><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Lower costs for IT operations</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Higher returns on IT investments</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Minimal service outages</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Ability to establish well-defined, repeatable, and manageable IT processes</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Efficient analysis of IT problems to reduce repeat incidents</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Improved efficiency of IT help desk teams</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Well-defined roles and responsibilities</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Clear expectations on service levels and service availability</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Risk-free implementation of IT changes</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Better transparency into IT processes and services</li></ul>\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\">How to choose an ITSM tool?</h1>\r\nWith a competent IT service management goal in mind, it's important to invest in a service desk solution that caters to your business needs. It goes without saying, with more than 150 service desk tools to choose from, selecting the right one is easier said than done. Here are a few things to keep in mind when choosing an ITSM products:\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Identify key processes and their dependencies. </span>Based on business goals, decide which key ITSM processes need to be implemented and chart out the integrations that need to be established to achieve those goals. \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Consult with ITSM experts.</span> Participate in business expos, webinars, demos, etc., and educate yourself about the various options that are available in the market. Reports from expert analysts such as Gartner and Forrester are particularly useful as they include reviews of almost every solution, ranked based on multiple criteria.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Choose a deployment option.</span> Every business has a different IT infrastructure model. Selecting an on-premises or software as a service (SaaS IT service management) tool depends on whether your business prefers to host its applications and data on its own servers or use a public or private cloud.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Plan ahead for the future.</span> Although it's important to consider the &quot;needs&quot; primarily, you shouldn't rule out the secondary or luxury capabilities. If the ITSM tool doesn't have the potential to adapt to your needs as your organization grows, it can pull you back from progressing. Draw a clear picture of where your business is headed and choose an service ITSM that is flexible and technology-driven.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Don't stop with the capabilities of the ITSM tool.</span> It might be tempting to assess an ITSM tool based on its capabilities and features but it's important to evaluate the vendor of the tool. A good IT support team, and a vendor that is endorsed for their customer-vendor relationship can take your IT services far. Check Gartner's magic quadrant and other analyst reports, along with product and support reviews to ensure that the said tool provides good customer support.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_ITSM.png"}],"characteristics":[],"concurentProducts":[],"jobRoles":[],"organizationalFeatures":[],"complementaryCategories":[],"solutions":[],"materials":[],"useCases":[],"best_practices":[],"values":[],"implementations":[]}},"aliases":{"1":["allied-telesis-secure-enterprise-sdn-ses","bigleaf-cloud-first-sd-wan","cisco-application-centric-infrastructure-aci","citrix-sd-wan","ecessa-sd-wan","forcepoint-secure-enterprise-sd-wan","fortinet-fortigate-sd-wan","juniper-cloud-cpe-with-sd-wan","nsx-sd-wan-by-velocloud","nuage-vns","riverbed-steelconnect","silver-peak-unity-edgeconnect-sd-wan-solution","talari-sd-wan","the-versa-cloud-ip-platform","viptela-secure-extensible-network-sen","zyxel-sd-wan"]},"links":{"first":"http://apis.roi4cio.com/api/products?page=1","last":"http://apis.roi4cio.com/api/products?page=1","prev":null,"next":null},"meta":{"current_page":1,"from":1,"last_page":1,"path":"http://apis.roi4cio.com/api/products","per_page":20,"to":16,"total":16},"loading":false,"error":null,"useProductLoading":false,"sellProductLoading":false,"templatesById":{},"comparisonByTemplateId":{}},"filters":{"filterCriterias":{"loading":false,"error":null,"data":{"price":{"min":0,"max":6000},"users":{"loading":false,"error":null,"ids":[],"values":{}},"suppliers":{"loading":false,"error":null,"ids":[],"values":{}},"vendors":{"loading":false,"error":null,"ids":[],"values":{}},"roles":{"id":200,"title":"Roles","values":{"1":{"id":1,"title":"User","translationKey":"user"},"2":{"id":2,"title":"Supplier","translationKey":"supplier"},"3":{"id":3,"title":"Vendor","translationKey":"vendor"}}},"categories":{"flat":[],"tree":[]},"countries":{"loading":false,"error":null,"ids":[],"values":{}}}},"showAIFilter":false},"companies":{"companiesByAlias":{},"aliases":{},"links":{},"meta":{},"loading":false,"error":null},"implementations":{"implementationsByAlias":{},"aliases":{},"links":{},"meta":{},"loading":false,"error":null},"agreements":{"agreementById":{},"ids":{},"links":{},"meta":{},"loading":false,"error":null},"comparison":{"loading":false,"error":false,"templatesById":{"93":{"id":93,"title":"Software-Defined WAN (SD-WAN)"}},"comparisonByTemplateId":{},"products":[],"selectedTemplateId":null},"presentation":{"type":null,"company":{},"products":[],"partners":[],"formData":{},"dataLoading":false,"dataError":false,"loading":false,"error":false},"catalogsGlobal":{"subMenuItemTitle":""}}