Unlocking the network matrix

API Holdings implemented SD-WAN to enhance its network visibility, streamline centralised management, and improve the application performance.

SD-WAN is a cool thing. It sounds great to softwarise and smartify one’s network. On paper, SD-WAN also promises a lot of agility, simplification, visibility, and twinkle-toed uptime. But the devil is always in the details. Or, to be precise, in the trenches. However, being a healthcare enterprise, that too with a digital-first posture, is not easy. The IT team has to make sure that the network availability is high. The resilience and uptime of the network cannot be ignored when you promise utmost agility and instant solutions to not just your end customers but other ecosystem partners.

That means, there is no room for congestion, delays, and blind spots.

TRIGGERS FOR THE SWITCH

The decision to implement SD-WAN at API Holdings transpired due to several challenges and gaps that the enterprise was facing with its traditional networking infrastructure.

“Before adopting SD-WAN, we were faced with challenges such as limited visibility and control over our network traffic, inefficient management of multiple branch locations, slow application performance, and high costs associated with maintaining dedicated MPLS connections,” pointed out Chandresh Dedhia, Group CIO of the company. He further explained that these challenges hindered API Holdings’ ability to scale, optimise application performance, and ensure consistent connectivity across the organisation.

THROUGH THE TUNNEL

Capturing the overall deployment experience of SD-WAN, Dedhia highlighted that the deployment experience of Silver Peak’s SD-WAN solution was largely positive.

“We carefully planned the implementation process and engaged with a reliable partner, Hararei India, which provided us with comprehensive technical expertise and support. There were no major issues during the initial stages. Hararei and Silver Peak promptly addressed any minor issues that surfaced, minimising any potential impact on our business operations and end-users.”

“SD-WAN’s built-in security features have strengthened our network’s security posture, reducing the risk of data breaches and unauthorized access.” - Chandresh Dedhia, Group CIO, API Holdings

As to hidden costs, he pointed out that proper planning and alignment with partners helped the team accurately assess and manage expenses. Dissecting in detail he shared that, unlike other OEMs, Silver Peak’s pricing model is easy to understand and simple. “They have only two types of software licenses. One for the EdgeConnect software, including all the SD-WAN features, and Boost for fabric-wide WAN Optimisation. Overall, there were no surprises and our SD-WAN project expenses were well within the anticipated budget,” he added.

But, often, such projects also call for a lot of reskilling and training. He avers. “The IT team required some training to familiarise themselves with the SD-WAN management platform and the new configuration paradigms. However, the learning curve was manageable, and our team quickly adapted to the new technology.”

Another challenge that such leaps from one environment to another entail is that of business disruption. How did the team plan for, and manage downtime?

“We carefully scheduled the deployment to minimise disruption to our business operations. With proper planning, we were able to achieve a smooth transition without any significant downtime,” Dedhia said

THE PROOF OF THE JAM

Talking about the overall effectiveness of SD-WAN in the healthcare domain, Dedhia highlighted that SD-WAN has proved to be highly effective in meeting API Holdings’ business needs. “It has provided us with enhanced network visibility, centralised management, and improved application performance across our branch locations. The ability to prioritise critical applications and dynamically route traffic based on real-time conditions has significantly optimised our network performance and user experience.”

He further highlighted how SD-WAN’s built-in security features, such as encrypted tunnels and segmentation, have strengthened the overall network security posture, reducing the risk of data breaches and unauthorised access.

SD-WAN’s simplified management interface allows the company to streamline network operations, thereby improving efficiency and reducing administrative overheads.

“The simplified management interface has also allowed us to streamline network operations, resulting in improved efficiency and reduced administrative overhead.

Additionally, SD-WAN’s ability to leverage multiple transport options, including cost-effective internet connections, has helped us achieve substantial cost savings without compromising on network reliability and performance. This flexibility has enabled us to scale our network effortlessly and support our business growth objectives. SDWAN proved to be the right solution for our digital-first business,” he said.

Network connectivity in remote areas can be a challenge. “We had to increase this much-needed resilience. We have created SD-WAN across all sites in the company. This has massively improved resilience and availability in the network. It has improved overall bandwidth and optimised traffic in a very strong way. We have also been able to reduce costs through this initiative.”

There have also been significant improvements in uptime and network optimisation. “Earlier our uptime was close to 95% and now it’s above 99%.” Ask him how latency and congestion issues are controlled, especially given the internet infra in many corners of India, and he pointed out how SDWAN helped manage this as well. “It does the link bonding, latency management, compression, and CRC and hence we can manage the latency and congestion issues.”

As to how the team keeps the networks smart, swift, and resilient, he pointed out that the company has a single monitoring and management console that gives it visibility across all the group companies.

By Pratima H

pratimah@cybermedia.co.in