XO Communications has launched its new XO Intelligent WAN solution, offering network performance, security and visibility to IT and network managers. The new offering provides a comprehensive, integrated approach to the demands on today's networks through combined intelligent networking, integrated security and end-to-end visibility of the performance of applications across the network.
The new solution is geared toward helping managers get ahead of daily network challenges as well as enhancing their ability to offer a superior technology experience for their users. It provides a unified approach to total network management that includes performance, security and visibility.
Features include intelligent networking, with capabilities for connecting offices, data center and branch locations in order to unify employees, suppliers and customers. The end goal is to provide seamless access to applications and services by leveraging the intelligent networking capabilities of the XO MPLS IP-VPN. The IP-VPN offers a private, application-aware network service that enables network and management staff to prioritize applications and network traffic and work toward offering a more scalable network infrastructure.
XO Intelligent WAN also provides integrated network security for monitoring network threats and offering secure access to the network along with round-the-clock surveillance and unified threat management via Integrated Hosted Security. Since security is hosted in the XO cloud, it is fully integrated with the enterprise WAN to enable organizations to cost-effectively provide security at each location and implement uniform security policies across the network. This may be accomplished through robust firewalls, Web and content filtering and secure remote access capabilities.
Another benefit of the new solution is end-to-end, real time application performance visibility. This helps management staff monitor application performance as well as the end user experience via the XO Applications Performance Management reporting engine. Users may gain better insight into network traffic, which may also help optimize the WAN through enhanced application visibility and analytical tools.
"Increasingly, the executive suite is seeing the network as creating business value and being central to achieving business objectives," said Don MacNeil, chief marketing officer, XO Communications. "The XO Intelligent WAN can help IT and network staff plan better for tomorrow's business environment by providing greater agility for exploiting market opportunities, delivering on customer-centric principles, and conquering the two biggest barriers to cloud services adoption: security and application performance."
"Traditionally, enterprise IT departments could make performance issues go away by throwing more bandwidth at the problem," added Brian Washburn, research director, network services, Current Analysis. "But enterprises now run many more key applications across their networks and data centers. Addressing these more complex networks requires visibility into what's happening. Network planners and IT staff benefit from tools that scale the network, provide visibility, and secure sensitive applications."
Edited by
Brooke Neuman
