PHILADELPHIA – Comcast Business today unveiled new enhancements to its software-defined wide area networking (SD-WAN) solution on the ActiveCore SDN Platform that enable distributed workforces to bring new levels of intelligence to the network. The feature is made possible through Comcast Business' partnership with Versa Networks and harnesses the power of application-level recognition and applies it to context-driven SD-WAN traffic prioritization.
As employers and their IT departments extend office infrastructure to remote locations, they increasingly rely on technologies like SD-WAN to manage the prioritization, quality of experience and security of application traffic. At the same time, businesses are grappling with how to effectively route the increased traffic on their networks. In the past, IT managers had to manually tag digital content (i.e. videos and emails) to ensure proper prioritization; implementing numerous static rules to direct the right traffic over the right path.
This new feature leverages proprietary artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms to dynamically optimize SD-WAN traffic based on application priority and the real-time status of the network connections. The capability uses a real-time calculation to determine the best performing path per session between a content source and its destination. It looks at all available options and dynamically determines the optimal path at any point in time for traffic for an optimal user experience possible. Customers can better support business-critical applications and:
Increase the usefulness of backup links with application-level, granular policy control
Increase uptime and create a smarter network through proactive mitigation strategies
Improve the quality of experience by prioritizing critical applications such as real-time voice and video
Comcast Business became the first cable company to introduce a carrier-grade, SD-WAN platform for enterprises and multi-site businesses when it first partnered with Versa Networks in 2017. Today, ActiveCore is an award-winning software-defined networking (SDN) platform. It enables intelligent, centralized, abstracted network control and delivers a ground-breaking experience for virtualized network functions (VNF) like SD-WAN and Managed Router and Advanced Security. When paired with the nation's largest converged IP network, this powerful combination reduces complexity, automates network functions, speeds up application deployment, and simplifies resource management — allowing businesses to innovate faster and gain business agility.
Comcast Business
Versa Networks