Enterprise WAN Solution Benefits

Improved Operational Efficiency

Large enterprises can simplify the network by adding regional WAN aggregation routers to a private MPLS or hybrid overlay network. Aggregating low-speed connections to hub sites into a regional aggregation tier that supports high-speed backhaul, enables a single point of regional management and improves the performance of hub sites by providing high-speed services from the region to the headquarters.

This solution includes automation to simplify network operations, lower cost and minimize operational errors. The automation suite is comprised of network visibility enabled by the JUNOS Telemetry (JTI), network health analytics via the Paragon Insights, and operational automation using Paragon Pathfinder. Further, these automation tools are provided as programmable frameworks, wherein applications such as custom route computations can be built with the goal of influencing routing decisions. This enables operational simplicity by standardizing the operating system within a region and leveraging the automation tools, saving network operational time in provisioning and troubleshooting the WAN aggregation tier.

Using Juniper Networks MX Series 5G Universal Routing platforms, the WAN aggregation architectures in the enterprise WAN solution support link speeds from 10 Mbps all the way through 100 Gbps. For non-Ethernet interfaces, the MX Series supports DS3 through OC192.

The design also uses a single operating system (Juniper Networks Junos® operating system) on all routers, from the aggregation hubs to small CPE devices used at remote sites (or by home users).

Reduced Operational Expense

Regional aggregation of enterprise remote sites lets the enterprise provide lower-speed local uplinks to the sites in a region. The WAN backbone then provides a higher-speed backhaul transit to the headquarters. The enterprise can control the configuration from the hub to the backbone and across the backhaul to headquarters. The WAN backbone model enables the enterprise to provide high-speed services to regional remote sites at potentially lower cost, using the low-speed links to aggregate sites to a higher-speed transport.

Improved Flexibility and Value for Investment

The MX Series routers support a wide array of upgrade options. Software licenses and Modular Interface Cards (MICs) can be added to increase the functionality or capacity of an aggregation hub. Within a range of MX Series (low-end or high-end) routers, software licenses can be activated to enable higher speeds on the same platform, supporting expansion in region or the addition of new services to remote sites. The MX Series also supports a wide array of interface types, enabling a remote site to upgrade from legacy circuits to high-speed Ethernet easily, as the uplink is performed only between the remote site and the aggregation hub.

Finally, the network is built for elasticity and performance. Combining a robust class-of-service implementation with flexible backhaul features such as MPLS traffic engineering (TE), IP tunneling such as GRE and IPSec, Ethernet private VPN (EVPN), SPRING, virtual private LAN service (VPLS), the enterprise can more effectively guarantee application performance to the remote sites, ultimately improving the user experience and, by extension, the bottom line.

Security

The enterprise WAN solution and WAN aggregation deployment scenarios are built from the ground up with security as a key component. Logical separation of remote traffic or even the separation of different operating units within the remote sites is provided. This logical separation lets the enterprise control not only whom on the outside each operating group can communicate with, but it controls communication and leaks between groups within the same enterprise.

Cloud-Grade Reliability

The ability to keep the enterprise running is another key benefit of the enterprise WAN solution. The MX Series routing platform is a cloud-grade component designed with full resiliency at its core, using redundant control plane and switching plane hardware as well as redundant power and cooling.

In a design model where the enterprise acts as a private service provider to its remote sites, the ability to keep the WAN aggregation routers available and performing is critical to the success of the solution. At the routing and software layer, MPLS resiliency mechanisms such as MPLS fast reroute (FRR) and on-demand paths are supported to enable fast recovery from core issues that affect backhaul routing to the headquarters.

In a multiple chassis deployment, where hardware redundancy is supported by uplinks to multiple regional aggregation points of presence, the MX Series supports multichassis link aggregation group (LAG) and Virtual Chassis, enabling a single site to redundantly connect to multiple aggregation points while allowing that uplink to appear as a single logical uplink.