Array Networks: Laser Focus on Private Cloud Security and Networking

Recently we shared how MSPs and resellers in telecom are going in three directions:

The first is business as usual. They continue to sell boxes and/or cloud services. Sometimes they’ll just refer the business to the UCaaS provider and other times, they’ll do the install themselves.

Another direction is the reseller becoming an MSP. They install software in the cloud – which could be their own data center, AWS, etc. They then sell the service and become the UCaaS provider.

The third and most interesting trend I’m seeing in the market is groups of resellers pooling resources to deploy a UCaaS solution which they all benefit from. This further reduces costs.

Last week we spoke with a reseller who is struggling because their premise business is slowing. He asked if we see a future for premise and we said hybrid may exist in the future but unless there are some catastrophic events relating to cloud, the shift isn’t slowing.

The same opportunity to provide cloud-based service exists for resellers on the data side. Last year we discussed how Array Networks is a solid vendor in the networking and security space. We detailed how in addition to serving enterprise, they allow resellers to provide Networking as a Service in order to generate MRR instead of just pushing no/low-margin boxes.
 
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In a recent conversation with Paul Andersen and Evelyn Miller, they told us they are seeing solid traction in medium-sized companies – especially those  deploying private cloud.

Paul explained companies who are deploying Nutanix in particular understand that what Nutanix does for storage and compute, Array does for networking and security. In other words, providing an integrated solution allowing rapid cloud deployment.

In addition, the new Array Networks ADC Series has security feature enhancements including secure application access, GSLB, DDoS attack defense and more. In total there are nearly 30 new or enhanced features. The major areas and descriptions are below:

Major Security Enhancements

The latest software version also adds enhancements and refinements to the APV Series’ SSL intercept capability, as well as to DDoS protection and prevention. SSL intercept, or SSLi, is used to assist security devices by decrypting SSL-encrypted traffic to allow full inspection. Array’s DDoS protection feature prevents attacks at the application, session and network layers and uses machine learning for anomaly detection and automatic configuration of threshold values. Both capabilities now feature improved ease of use and expanded security functions.

Global Server Load Balancing (GSLB)

Further expanding on Array’s support for data center architectures that span private data centers as well as public, private and hybrid clouds, global server load balancing provides multi-site redundancy and geographical routing for optimum server performance. In the latest version, the GSLB feature set adds new enhancements to allow mixed health check relationships across SDNS service pools, and support for EDNS-client-subnet, which helps provide improved resolution services and user experience.

Next-Generation Dedicated Appliance Series

In addition to the new software core, features and enhancements, the latest release features a new series of dedicated APV Series appliances, the x800 Series, which offers enhanced SSL performance, support for ECC encryption and optional 40 Gbps interfaces. The x800 Series offers improved performance across multiple metrics. At Layer 4, connections per second increase in the 40 to 50 percent range, depending on model, with similar gains for Layer 7 requests per second. With the new software version, network managers gain the highest raw SSL performance for load balancing, at roughly half the price of alternatives.

For customers that have deployed Array’s previous generation of dedicated load balancer appliances, the APV x600 Series and its supporting software will remain in production and available for purchase well into the foreseeable future.

Paul explained the goal of the release and the company, in general, is to extend flexibility with above-and-beyond performance, features, agility and versatility. In this manner, they are able to support a wide-variety of deployment models.

He further mentioned their 10.2 software is responsible for for SSL intercept and DDoS protection. 

In June we can expect to see a new management platform. This is in response to the need for customers to have granular reporting on network events such as relating to the ADC; seeing the health of servers, services and applications. A single plane of glass will also allow IT to see what is happening on the VPN. Who logged in? How long? And what did they access?

Array is also working on a next-gen platform with even better software, superior OpenStack support and better orchestration features and functions.

They have doubled-down on the reseller space by working with a new VAD and adding reseller expertise to their team.

Array Networks has really focused like a laser on the networking and security space powering private cloud. They have added performance, features and functions allowing resellers to maximize their recurring revenue while allowing the enterprise to scale as needed – but securely.

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