Enabling Secure and Reliable Connectivity for the Workplace of the Future

Sify and Fortinet along with CIO&Leader recently organized a panel discussion on SD-WAN implementation challenges.

In this era of transformation, where the boundaries of work extend well beyond traditional confines, the pursuit of secure and dependable connectivity has emerged as a fundamental cornerstone for achieving organizational success. As hybrid workforces flourish and cloud-native frameworks become increasingly ubiquitous, the role of Software Defined-WAN infrastructure takes center stage to transform business connectivity with enhanced network availability, reliability, and performance.

SD–WAN changed the landscape completely, allowing enterprises to only pay for the functionalities they require with their entire CAPEX investment amounting to small routers.

However, enterprises embarking on SD-WAN implementations also encounter various challenges. These encompass security considerations, optimizing connections between users and applications, addressing inefficiencies in routing, dealing with unreliable links, enhancing user experience, addressing service-related issues, and quantifying the cost-effectiveness of SD-WAN compared to traditional MPLS deployments.

To understand more of such challenges around SD-WAN implementations and future roadmap from the IT leaders, Sify and Fortinet along with CIO&Leader recently organized a panel discussion on Enabling Secure and Reliable Connectivity for the Workplace of the Future at ITC Maurya, Delhi.

. The panel discussion deliberated on:

a) Remote work challenges and strategies: The growing prevalence of remote work prompted a discussion on challenges and employed strategies for supporting dispersed workforces.

b) Integrating Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) with SD-WAN: The integration of ZTNA with SD-WAN to forge robust and secure access for hybrid workforces was explored, underscoring the significance of flawless access.

c) Detection and response to new attacks: Delving into cybersecurity, the panel deliberated the most efficient techniques to detect and deal with new attacks, rectifying unauthorized configurations promptly.

d) Enhancing user experience and productivity: Optimizing application performance and reducing latency emerged as quintessential in bolstering user experiences and productivity among remote employees.

e) Scaling and securing SD-WAN: Best practices and solutions for orchestrating scalable and secure SD-WAN operations were discussed, emphasizing that performance need not be compromised.

The partner speakers of the roundtable included:

• Rajesh Dutt, Head North, Telecom, Sify

• Ramanan C, Director-Sales, Fortinet

• Suresh Gummaraju - General Manager, Managed Network Services, Sify

The senior IT leaders that participated in the discussion included:

• Abhishek Dubey - Head of Information Technology, Artemis Hospitals

• Anand Chaudhuri - Global IT Lead Operations, Tide Platform Ltd

• Anil Kakkar - Chief Information Officer, Escorts Limited

• Anurag Saxena - Head Information Technology, Biba Apparels

• Atul Govil - Chief Transformation Officer, Head (SAP & IT), India Glycols Limited

• Dinesh Talniya - Chief Information Officer, APL Apollo Tubes Limited

• Harmaninder Singh - VP & Head of Cloud and Platform Engineering- APAC & MEI, G4S Secure Solution India

• Jitender Goel - Head - Information Technology, Jay Bharat Maruti (JBM)

• K Dakshnamoorthy - Vice President Information Technology, Maruti Suzuki India

• Keshav Dubal - Head Information Technology, BEUMER India Pvt. Ltd.

• Mohammed Irfan - GM - IT, Godfrey Phillips India

• Munender Sopema - CDIO, Dr Lal Pathlabs Limited

• Nagender Singh - Joint Director (IT), Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd

• Nirupam Srivastava - Vice President, Hero Corp

• Pankaj Khare - Head of Information Technology, India Bulls

• Rajeev Soota - Vice President - Information Technology, Usha International

• Rishabh Kumar Jain - DGM-IT, JKLC & UCWL

• Roman Rafiq - Vice President IT Security, Interglobe Technologies Limited

• Shashank Jain - CIO & EVP, SHREE FINANCIALS

• Susil Meher - Head Health IT, AIIMS

• Sushil Sharma - Director IT, American Institute of Indian Studies

• Tarun Upadhyaya - General Manager Information Technology, Jubilant Foodworks

• Umesh Mehta - President & Chief Information Officer, PI Industries

• Vivek Shankar - VP & Head- IT Infra, Security & Cloud, Max Life Insurance Co Ltd.

The session was moderated by Jatinder Singh, Executive Editor, CIO&Leader

The key takeaways from the roundtable were:

• Consensus emerged among participants regarding SD-WAN's prominent advantage: its user-friendly nature and straightforwardness. SD-WAN offers exceptionally reliable connectivity to remote sites, with rapid deployment within minutes and effortless management.

• Throughout the discussions, significant challenges were identified, including connectivity issues, vendor selection, underlay provisioning, security concerns, accurately quantifying cost savings, and determining the optimal model that aligns with distinct resources and business needs.

• It was highlighted by participants that SD-WAN, enhanced with machine learning and artificial intelligence, enhances network visibility, streamlining both network troubleshooting and operational processes.

Exclusive Quotes -

"When discussing digital transformation, a key aspect involves streamlining IT operations by integrating and consolidating numerous elements to enhance simplicity. Additionally, efficient management and, of critical significance, ensuring the cost-effectiveness of any technological solution are essential considerations."

Ramanan C, Director-Sales, Fortinet

“When deploying SD-WAN, focus on your specific use case, selecting only relevant functionalities, consider cost-effective bandwidth-specific licensing, and assess SD-WAN providers' integration of new technologies like AI, ML, and SASE for hybrid work.

Suresh Gummaraju General Manager - Product Management - Managed Services, Sify Technologies Limited

“We at Sify avails both the options of SD-WAN with box and managed service as a unit depending on the respective industry. If its a BFSI, it would require CAPEX model but when we deal with manufacturing industry they would opt for OPACs model. So to be avail to the maximum user, Sify has not restricted to one specific model but is providing service for both type of users.”