VPN SD-WANs no option for industrial IoT. So where next?

Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) have significant security and performance drawbacks for use in networking cloud applications. This was the start-point for a recent survey and primary research by industry analysts, Futuriom, that (spoiler alert) leads the firm to conclude that Application Specific Networking (ASN) may be a way forward.

As Jeremy Cowan reports from the NetEvents’ Press & Analyst Spotlight (#NetEvents18) in Albufeira, Portugal (September 27-28^th, 2018) Futuriom’s research, sponsored by NetFoundry, has shown that IT managers want more flexible, secure, software-based networking solutions for the cloud.

Is it ASNs to the rescue?

Scott Raynovich, Futuriom’s founder and chief analyst, led the survey of 200 enterprise technology users, comprising managers with roles in application development, networking, security, and DevOps. He was looking for insight into the features that IT staff are looking for in cloud networking security. He also wanted to know why ASNs – which connect distributed applications in Software-, Infrastructure-, and Platforms-as-a-Service – are emerging as a viable solution to networking cloud applications.

Performance tops the issues faced by IT managers when using VPNs for cloud connections

An Application Specific Network is a software-only network that connects applications without requiring management of hardware devices, operating systems, or servers. Unlike VPNs, they can be provisioned automatically by the applications in the cloud.

Raynovich sums up ASNs’ key features:

• ASNs offer secure networking, tied to applications not devices
• They are easy to set up and tear down with software,
• No “box management” is needed to create a network,
• Networking and security features are targeted at DevOps and software development staff (not networking specialists),
• They can employ a native Zero Trust security architecture as well as hardware root-of-trust on demand with high performance, and
• ASNs are generally transparent to the end user.

Raynovich tells us: “ASNs’ design incorporates a new architectural design of creating logical networks across the internet an WAN to connect applications – called AppWANs. The AppWANs are the glue that can securely connect parts of a distributed application, which often includes connecting applications programming interfaces (APIs) and workloads that may run across clouds.

“It appears IT managers are looking for a more flexible and secure software-based networking solution for the loud. ASNs are likely to serve that person to connect distributed applications in SaaS, IaaS, and PaaS environments, whether it’s single cloud, hybrid cloud, and multi-cloud environments.”

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