News

Oracle Buys into SD-WAN Market

• By David Ramel
• 11/26/2018

Further proof that the software-defined wide-area networking (SD-WAN) space is leading the software-centric transformation comes with the news that Oracle is buying Talari Networks, a leading vendor in the arena.

Talari is known for its proprietary Failsafe technology that reportedly adds greater reliability and predictability to SD-WAN implementations while maintaining site-to-site and site-to-cloud security and the access to applications over any IP network. Talari said Failsafe provides Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS)-class high availability and predictable high Quality of Experience (QoE) application performance for real-time VoIP and video conferencing apps -- for two examples, along with others such as TCP-based apps -- running on a hybrid MPLS/Internet WAN fabric, or a WAN based only on Internet connections.

Oracle said the acquisition that's expected to be completed this year will enhance its Session Border Controller (SBC) designed for trusted communications across IP network borders.

"Talari's Failsafe SD-WAN solution complements Oracle's enterprise communications portfolio by delivering high availability and Quality-of-Experience (QoE) connectivity and cloud application access across any IP network with the reliability and predictability of private networks," Oracle said in a letter to customers and partners last week. "Together, Oracle and Talari will accelerate digital transformation and cloud adoption by providing companies with complete enterprise network solutions that ensure reliability and performance of real-time communications and mission-critical applications over any network."

SD-WANs are an increasingly active segment of the software-defined networking (SDN) movement, which sees more open, interchangeable software solutions overtaking legacy, proprietary, hardware-based systems. Purported benefits include agility and flexibility, lower costs and increased performance. As the SDN movement matures from early testing and proof-of-concept efforts in academia and test labs -- mostly targeting major service providers and carriers -- SD-WAN solutions are providing an entryway into the enterprise networking space.

Earlier this month, the MEF networking industry association announced an effort to officially define what makes up an SD-WAN, with support from major industry vendors such as Cisco, Citrix, Fortinet, Infovista, Nokia/Nuage, Riverbed, Silver Peak, Versaware and VMware.

The effort to define an SD-WAN service will help industry players be on the same page and use the same terminology when buying, selling, assessing, deploying and delivering such services, the group said. The combined Oracle/Talari effort may well be involved with such SD-WAN industry initiatives in the future.

"The SD-WAN-scape is crucial to the ongoing evolution of digital transformation," said Patrick Sweeney, Talari CEO, in a statement. "And, the Talari solution accelerates what is possible by means of its Failsafe SD-WAN technology." He said the company serves more than 500 enterprise customers in 40 countries across different industries such as public sector, financial services, insurance, retail and manufacturing.