SD-WAN solution essentials: Reliability, innovation and integration skills win
Business needs and
enterprise reach are driving monumental shifts in the architecture of networks.
Naturally, the SD-WAN vendor market has responded aggressively, knowing that by
2020 the space willbe worth more than six billion dollars, according to IDC.
Choices are vast and include offerings from tried and true large networking
vendors, focused WAN specialists and venture-funded startups.
We know SD-WAN technology is an effective and economical solution that
addresses goals for agility, speed, security. Understanding your enterprise
needs will help lead you to the optimal vendor. As
important as unique case scenarios is the assurance that a vendor partner will
not disrupt the current WAN scenario as SD-WAN installation is in process and
building an SD-WAN that can securely carry cloud demands.
The three main vendor types
are:
1. Controller-based solutions
2. Appliance based overlay solutions that create a virtual IP network between
vendors hardware across any network
3. Advanced automation and change control solutions using existing hardware
One reputable player cited in a Packet Pushers blog post written by Ethan Banks expounds on NetScaler (Citrix’s skin in the game), which features, “…treating multiple WAN circuits as a unified pool of bandwidth, centralized reporting, and integrated WAN optimization. The product “appears to be the real deal,” he said. NetScaler was also cited in Network Computing’s 12 Sizzling SD-WAN Vendors. Network World offers four considerations to help prepare you as you explore SD-WAN solution that is right for your business.
1. Automated management
– The impact of automation on deployment and management costs =training and
staffing. IT organizations should ask vendors how they minimize the cost and
effort of
“Day 2” operations management such as policy changes, adding new applications,
security and image updates
2. Route control – Without proper route control, business critical
applications running on the WAN may not get the bandwidth, priority and load
balancing needed for the best user experience.
Ideally, application traffic utilizes all available WAN circuits and bandwidth
to make best use of and IT department’s existing WAN infrastructure, by load
balancing across WAN circuits and utilizing
backup edge routers
3. Proactive – consider a solution’s ability to detect problems and
respond to network outages so that critical applications don’t experience loss
of service. Looking at the management tools of a
solution can provide insight into IT management
4. Support for hybrid deployments – Can the solution support hybrid
deployments by combining multiple WAN transports such as MPLS, Internet,
cellular or satellite links? Each has different
capabilities in areas such as bandwidth, SLA classes of service, security
postures, and pricing
We know your choices are
plentiful. After you’ve reviewed and prioritized against the needs of your
business, next consider a checklist of vendor fundamentals where technological
prowess, customer
service and agility in implementation are all of equal value.
The Cloud is Growing and Infrastructure as a Services is Leading
Recently an article in CIO stated that Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) is set to outpace the rest of the cloud market in 2018. It also showed that cloud adoption grew significantly in 2017. The article states that Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) and Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) grew by 47 percent while Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) grew by 31 percent. More and more organizations are moving to the cloud.
First let’s briefly explain what IaaS is before we comment on this trend. Infrastructure-as-a-Service is a cloud option that removes the responsibility of building and maintaining IT infrastructure from the end user. In essence, traditionally you as a business may have a server room, floor, or building. With IaaS you no longer have that. All the infrastructure equipment is no longer necessary. Your cloud provider builds and maintains the hardware infrastructure. You still manage your applications and data, but the hardware infrastructure is the responsibility of your provider.
Now that we explained IaaS, you can clearly see why it is trending. Rather than have exploding IT budgets around the hardware, you can cut that cost with a IaaS cloud provider. Instead of paying the cost upfront for hardware, you pay a monthly or annual fee. The best part is that you only pay for what you need. Also when the hardware needs to be upgraded, its the responsibility of the provider.
If your looking for an IaaS provider, you should look into Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and Citrix to name a few. They are the top providers, but there are many of these providers around, and it all depends on budget and trust.
Let’s keep an eye on cloud adoption as we go on in 2018. Is this the year the cloud takes over the world?
To read the article in CIO Click Here
Compulink Awarded Major Contract
Compulink Technologies is proud to announce a recently awarded a major contract by a government client for the purchase of HPE equipment.
The entire sales team worked together on this very large contract. When a large opportunity arrives at Compulink, it takes everyone in the sales department to coordinate and work on all the moving pieces. Everyone who worked on this opportunity while balancing their normal workloads should pat themselves on the back.
It took weeks to learn if we had won or lost the bid.. Once we had received a notice of intent to award, everyone in the company celebrated the accomplishment.
Compulink might be a small business, but we have a habit of accomplishing big things.
Congratulations to everyone who made this accomplishment happen. Now the work begins to execute the contract and coordinate logistics.
Looking Ahead to Compulink’s 2018
Now that we are in the New Year, we would like to give you a little taste of what Compulink will aim to accomplish. Overall for 2018 we are looking to improve in all aspects from employee development to growing revenue. All the improvements we look to make will hopefully please our customers, business partners, and everyone who works with Compulink.
The first goal we aim to improve is our sales numbers. Without good sales we can’t keep the lights on. Even though 2017 was a success sales wise, we want to do more. That means expanding the number of products and services we offer. Providing better customer service and really going above and beyond for each and every customer.
We are expanding our managed services offerings to attract new customers and will provide them quality services at an affordable rate. Anyone who has been a customer with Compulink knows we provide great services. Our managed services provides a profitable way to have your own IT department at the fraction of the cost. Even if you have an IT department, it’s a great way to supplement them and support them at a good price.
As for the company and staff, we are developing an innovative Quality Culture that can be appreciated through our professional service. In this environment, we will be maximizing every employees’ potential which will translate into improved services to our customers.
So those are the great accomplishments to look forward to in the upcoming year. 2018 will hopefully shape up to be an extremely successful year all around. Thank you to all our clients and partners who made last year successful and we hope to see more of you in 2018.
Compulink Wins Cisco Sales Contest
Compulink Technologies opens 2018 with a new accomplishment, our sales team has won a sales contest through our distributor Ingram Micro. We won the contest by making a significant number of Cisco sales and the reward was a full expense paid trip to the Dominican Republic.
Congratulations to our Vice President of Sales. She has been the driving force behind the sales machine that is Compulink. Our VP’s ability to close multiple Cisco sales opportunities was the critical factor in winning this contest. It was a team effort all around, and everyone on our sales team should be proud of this accomplishment.
Our Vice President will be heading out on her well-deserved trip in a few weeks with her family, but the hard work continues. Cisco is one of our biggest partners and it goes without saying that we will continue to aim high in driving Cisco sales.
A Look Back at 2017 Compulink’s Highlights From Last Year
As 2017 comes to a close, we take a look back on 2017 and its effects on Compulink. Every year has its ups and downs and its highlights. Every person and company will experience these types of things themselves, but here at Compulink it was very good overall. We are happy to end 2017 on a high note and look forward to a strong 2018. Let’s take a look at some of the highlights from 2017.
All the accomplishments we achieved as a company are all due to the outstanding leadership of our CEO. Whether we are riding high or are on the lowest of lows he keeps everyone focused and together. All employees follow his lead and we achieved great things by doing that.
Primarily is our sales, as with any company this is how we keep the lights on. Sales had a great year, but we don’t settle for what we get. We are hoping to increase the numbers next year. Of course our success in sales is due to the driving force of our VP of Sales. She outdid herself as always. She even won a sales contest for HP Inc Printing.
Another highlight was brining on our new Chief Operating Officer. This major addition to our company is to bring big changes going forward. In less than a year he has enabled our Compulink team to be more efficient and better at their jobs.
As we move into the new year we hope to continue our success. Thank you to all our customers and business partners. To learn about our plans for 2018, make sure you read the blog post A Look Compulink’s 2018 plans. There we outline some of the biggest initiatives we plan to undertake as a company. We hope build on all the good moment we have for 2018 and hope you come along for the ride.
Compulink Technologies Recognized by Ingram Micro and HP Inc
Food and Wine Festival.
Thank you to Ingram Micro and HP Inc as our valued partners who also played a key role in this success. Thank you to all the customers who came to Compulink for their printing needs. A special thank you to the sales team that worked diligently under Denise’s guidance.
HP Inc is a longtime partner for Compulink Technologies. Just as with every partner we do our best to increase their sales through Compulink, regardless of contest. Compulink is dedicated to sharing its success with any and all partners who choose to join us.
HPE and Intel Bring You a New-Generation Compute Experience
As more and more businesses adopt the cloud, they are finding that the cloud is lacking in security, compliance, and application performance. Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Intel are teaming up to tackle these challenges with hybrid IT driven by HPE Gen10 servers.
What is hybrid IT?
It is a mix of both on premises and off premises IT environments. That means you have a data center that handles the most important data and workloads. While also using a cloud solution to handle other data and workloads. It’s scalable and provides a lot of flexibility and on demand capacity to operate across application in data center and cloud environments.
Why do you need hybrid IT?
Well because in today’s world businesses need cost effective ways to improve agility and collaboration. That is what we use the cloud for. To put it into a visual example, imagine a company designing a new product. That company has product designers if offices across the country. Rather than pay for them to all be in one location. They can collaborate from where they are through cloud and collaboration solutions. An hybrid IT environment can allow the accessibility of the cloud with the security, performance handling of a data center.
HPE and Intel Team up
HPE will use Intel-Xeon Processors to power their brand new Gen10 servers. End users can adapt performance to application using the HPE Intelligent System Tuning. HPE says that this creates the world’s most secure industry standard servers. The Intel Xeon Processors in Gen10 Servers allows the performance to handle the most demanding applications such as big data and database workloads. Gen10 Servers play a key role in any IT infrastructure modernization and IT agility. They can accelerate business insights across a hybrid world of traditional IT, public cloud, and private cloud.
Read more about this team up on HPE blog page. Click Here
Life as a MBE Certified Business and Why you should become one
Compulink Technologies is a certified Minority Owned Small Business we were recognized for being one of the most successful MBEs in the state of New York. That does not make us a billion dollar conglomerate, but it does make us a very successful and profitable small business. Now what is an MBE certification you may ask? It is a certification given by city states and government agencies, that classify you as a minority owned business. That means if you are African American, Hispanic, Native American, Asian, Indian, or anything non-white, you can be a minority owned business. This certification gives you special access to grants, loans, business opportunities, tax breaks, and other special considerations. There is also certifications for women owned businesses WBEs and veteran owned small businesses as well. If you fall into these categories, you should have the matching certification.
The best things these certifications do, is allow you to do business with the government. So if you are in the business to business world, you may be able to sell your goods and services to the government. Now people don’t think about doing business with the government, because they either think its not profitable, or its too complicated. Well it is definitely a complicated process to do business with the government, and its very hard. However, by no means is it not profitable. Compulink is a multi-million dollar company, just by selling to the government. The public sector is just like any other business market you can think of. They need common goods and services that any business would need such as IT, Marketing, Finance, Accounting, Staffing, Janitorial Services and Supplies. You name it, they need it.
The MBE certification was a foot in the door for Compulink. We used it to fulfill small IT purchases at first, but overtime, we became a preferred vendor. Eventually when we started to compete for the larger contract, we had an advantage. Agencies knew us and knew we were dependable, and the trusted big contracts to us. We are often in a good position to compete for the large contract, and small purchases are always being sent our way.
Now a certification is not going to be the only key to success. You need to be aggressive and chase opportunities down. You also have to start small at first, nobody just gets a million dollar contract out of no where. You have to build relationships and get discretionary purchase that are small in amounts. After you build a reputation for reliability and performance, you can start to compete for larger contracts. This is by no means a way to become a billionaire, but it can help you build ans sustain a successful business.