Software allows service providers to customize and differentiate offerings, as hardware vendors do with Android phones.

January 8, 2020

3 Min Read

TEL AVIV -- The flexiWAN modular, open architecture and open source SD-WAN software is now generally available for download and production deployments. In partnership with leading hardware vendors, flexiWAN is available as a software-only offering or as an appliance on dedicated hardware purchased directly from hardware partners including Advantech, Lanner and Silicom.

"This release is a major milestone for flexiWAN and our community as it is the world's first production-ready open and community-driven SD-WAN solution." said Amir Zmora, CEO & co-founder of flexiWAN. "Our innovation and openness doesn't stop at the technical level. By offering our services as a freemium business model, along with publicly sharing our pricing and source code with the community, we strive to lead the industry to more openness. We hope to lead the way towards more modern business and pricing models."

What's Unique About flexiWAN

Coming to networking with open source DNA in mind, flexiWAN disrupts the networking market in multiple attributes:

Open source – the world's first full SD-WAN solution that is open source. The source code is now available

The "Android of Routers" – Removing vendor lock-in and allowing for service provider differentiation, flexiWAN features a modular and open architecture allowing for laser focused solutions that answer enterprise needs. Anything from simple IPsec tunnels to full blown, feature rich SD-WAN can be modularly achieved and cost optimized

Business model innovation – freemium model with publicly available pricing and a partner program that helps partners differentiate and succeed in this crowded market

Flexible deployment options – SaaS and self-hosting options are available

About This Version

Among other things, this version includes the following new capabilities. The complete list can be found in our release notes.

  • Multi-tenant management

  • Self-service free account creation in flexiManage (freemium model)

  • Credit card based billing

  • Zero Touch Provisioning

  • Scheduled auto software upgrade of flexiEdge

  • IPSec over VxLAN tunnels

  • Tunnel quality metrics

  • Improved flexiEdge monitoring 

  • flexiEdge error detection and notifications

  • Internet breakout

  • Dynamic flexiEdge configuration changes

  • Static routes configuration

  • Northbound API access keys

  • Improved system robustness and quality

Community Driven Pricing

Living up to our promise of openness, flexiWAN has published its community driven pricing. Prior to this release, flexiWAN reached out to its community of several thousands of enterprises, service providers and SIs asking for their recommended pricing. The pricing published is based on the median of the answers received. 

Adhering to our values of avoiding vendor lock-in, the business model includes a monthly plan allowing users to end their subscription at any time with no long term commitment, a practice  uncommon in the SD-WAN market. A discounted yearly plan is also available including a time limited 50% discount on the yearly plan.

Partner discounts are also available for certified partners.

Hardware & Software Decoupling

flexiWAN runs on Intel x86 white box hardware and doesn't mandate a specific hardware vendor. flexiWAN is partnering with several hardware vendors in large communications projects and is offering pre-tested hardware options to be purchased directly from the hardware vendors, eliminating margin stacking common in the SD-WAN market.

"Sizing a uCPE for a given network function is not only key to a hardware-optimized rollout, but it dictates the sustainability of a solution over time." said Sandy Chen, Senior Director, Advantech Cloud-IoT Group. "To accompany flexiWAN's SD-WAN GA release, Advantech has launched an advanced remote evaluation service which allows flexiWAN to be tested on a range of Advantech white-box uCPEs combined with Enea NFV Access. The service will help developers ensure they deploy the right box, with the right compute headroom that secures the best ROI."

Source Code Availability

As was previously announced, flexiWAN has released its code as open source at the end of 2019. The codebase includes both flexiEdge and flexiManage. The open source doesn't include the flexiWAN billing system and UI which are deployed in its SaaS service.

flexiWAN

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