RE-THINKING THE NETWORK Delivering Transformation With Simplicity

Re-Thinking the Network: Delivering Transformation With Simplicity | 2

Table of Contents

¾How Did Networks Get to Be So…Painful?

¾ The Challenges Are Easy to See

¾ Einstein Really Was Pretty Smart

¾Be Careful What You Wish For

¾ Let’s Re-frame the Problem

¾Offering a Solution

¾Growing Simpler

Why Read this eBook?If you’ve been around the world of networking for any length of time you’re painfully

aware of how complicated it has become. And it doesn’t seem to be getting any

easier helping the business keep up (and put up) with increasing demands for more

mobility, leveraging the cloud and newer, more interconnected applications.

Oh, and did someone mention security?

What if we could dramatically simplify the way we network? Actually remove the

barrier of network complexity from the way we do business?

Re-Thinking the Network: Delivering Transformation With Simplicity | 3

Today’s networks have been shaped

largely in response to changing market

demands. Yet there has been little

innovation in routing itself for decades;

routed networks are built on the

same fundamental principles put in

place decades ago. And it’s not like

they were initially designed to handle

current business demands, never mind

those of tomorrow.

Early networks were mainly point-to-

point, packets and flow. The first round

of modifications focused on improving

“speeds and feeds” through specialized

hardware.

Routers, originally software, emerged

when islands of people on LANs

wanted to share applications like email

across network boundaries.

The packet fundamentals remained

the same.

This little thing called the Internet

helped the demand for network

services to simply explode.

Network professionals were asked

to manage, assure and secure more

traffic and different use cases than

anyone ever imagined.

Each new use case created a need

for new network functionality – NATs,

firewalls, load-balancers, you name

it. Middleboxes, mere “bumps on the

wire,” were introduced to address

these pressing needs, again without

changing basic routing architectures.

It seemed that with each new use

case came another middlebox. The

downside was more stuff to manage,

connect and pay for. And it was

getting more complicated.

As networks expanded and

interconnected – both inside and

outside the walls of companies around

the globe – the demands of business

also grew. Now the need was to

protect critical business processes, to

control the flow of packets between

endpoints, for better performance,

security and reliability.

This time the answer was “overlay”

technologies, encapsulation and

tunneling such as MPLS & VPN.

Again on top of the same basic routing

paradigm. The result for network

professionals: more stuff to manage

and serious complexity.

How Did Networks Get to Be So…Painful?

Re-Thinking the Network: Delivering Transformation With Simplicity | 4

More Changes Are Coming

The Challenges Are Easy to SeeYou don’t have to look very far to see the problems introduced by today’s network

complexity. Even with sophisticated orchestration and coordination, complex systems are

inherently inefficient, unstable, and insecure.

It’s not like market demands decrease or slow down. There are more cloud-based

applications running across interconnected networks with partners, branches, 4G/5G,

wired, wireless, and fiber. There’s increasing mobility: People working from home and a

constant stream of new bring-your-own devices.

Of course the “next big thing” is just around the corner. How we will accommodate that

on the network? And did we mention sophisticated cyber-criminals and security?

Bottom line: Overly complex networks are barely meeting today’s business requirements,

with armies of sleep-deprived network engineers, duct-tape and some luck. How are they

going to meet the demands of tomorrow?

$75Bspent on security and still nearly half-a trillion dollars lost from data breaches each year [Forbes]

$1M+Is what it costs your company on average for every network slowdown and outright outage [IHS]

50%of cloud implementations suffer business impacting performance issues due to the network [Gartner]

¾ More than four-fifths of all

workloads will be processed

in cloud data centers.

[Cisco GCI]

¾ Accessing the Internet

through mobile devices will

grow more than 25% per

year. [IDC]

¾ The cost of data breaches

will reach $2.1 trillion

globally. [Forbes]

¾ Internet of Things devices

will reach nearly 21 billion

connected devices by 2020.

[Gartner]

You’ve been living with this complexity and its attendant risks and headaches for a long time. But we all know business

demands more. Is it really an option is to keep doing the same thing over and over, adding more complexity, and expecting

a better outcome? Or expecting our jobs to get easier?

Re-Thinking the Network: Delivering Transformation With Simplicity | 5

Einstein Really Was Pretty SmartIt’s not like there’s been no

progress. We’ve seen the advent

of inexpensive, powerful general

purpose computers and new

software infrastructure techniques

such as virtualization. And let’s not

forget the cloud.

Just as these trends have reshaped

the way we compute and store data,

they are beginning to alter the way

we network.

A general purpose x86 chip for

example can push as much traffic as

most custom network chips. And we

are now able to view networks in line

with the applications they support.

Software Defined Networking (SDN),

Network Function Virtualization

(NFV) and Software-Defined Wide

Area Networking (SD-WAN) have all

emerged as potential solutions to

some network complexity issues.

The idea was to be more agile and

make networks easier to manage.

The intent is in the right place:

Automatically route packets more

efficiently, securely and cheaply.

And at first glance they appear to

help better manage all this “stuff.”

Right?

“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.” Albert Einstein

Re-Thinking the Network: Delivering Transformation With Simplicity | 6

Be Careful What You Wish ForThe problem with NFV and SDN approaches is that

they are fundamentally extensions of the existing way

of networking, the same basic protocols and routing

conventions. Which means they really just add more

complexity. It’s like the road to an unworkable network

is paved with good intentions.

For example, NFV continues to perpetuate “middle-

box” proliferation for network services — albeit in

virtual form — strung together on an as-needed basis,

and orchestrated through an elaborate management

model. Does this sound simpler?

Nearly all SDN models rely on encapsulation, tunneling

or other overlay techniques to better control and

protect network traffic – and in the process adding to

the already complex nature of the network. And SD-

WANs combine additional middle-boxes with tunneling

to provide a point-to-point solution intended to reduce

the costs of dedicated circuits. Great, but long term?

It turns out these approaches add a layer of translation

on top of an old foundation: In reality, “more stuff” to

manage. In many cases the solutions are more complex

than the problems they were intended to solve in the

first place.

Deep Packet Inspection NAT DeviceFireWallRouter Load Balancer

+ + + +

Re-Thinking the Network: Delivering Transformation With Simplicity | 7

What If...

¾ You could replace

overlays with more

secure, scalable and agile

end-to-end networking

at a fraction of the cost

and overhead?

¾ Services and applications

were tightly aligned with

network sessions?

¾ You could easily get rid of

middle boxes and infuse

security, load balancing

and monitoring functions

natively across the

network?

¾ Network routing

provided zero trust

security and encryption

automatically?

The True Value of Network SessionsSessions exist at many levels in the networking stack; let’s focus on the transport layer leveraging

TCP or UDP. Transport layer sessions have some unique universal characteristics.

¾ Sessions have fixed addresses (IP and port)

for source and destination endpoints.

¾ They have “biflow” – comprised of two

unidirectional flows in opposite directions.

¾ They have directionality, reflecting which

endpoint initiated the exchange.

¾ And sessions are stateful – including a

recognizable start and end, along with

other unique quantitative characteristics

that can be used to provide native,

advanced network capabilities.

Let’s Re-frame the ProblemReal solutions to the networking challenges of today and tomorrow require a new

way of thinking. Networks have always been viewed in terms of flow – the unidirectional

movement of packets from one point to another. This is only one side of the story.

We believe networking – especially the routed plane – must be examined from a new

perspective; Networks now exist in a world of “sessions.”

Sessions are a two-way, exchange of information end-to-end – comprised of related

flows in both directions. Just about every use of a network today involves bi-directional

sessions. And nearly all of the advanced service functions that have evolved (firewalls,

load balancers, etc.) require an understanding of, and control over, network sessions.

True session orientation allows networks to be fundamentally simpler and more

transparent – with greater security, control, and agility.

Re-Thinking the Network: Delivering Transformation With Simplicity | 8

Offering a SolutionWe believe session orientation in

the routing layer itself allows a

fundamentally different, far simpler,

way to network. Sessions are the key

to providing advanced capabilities

— security, reliability, and analytics

natively — without piling on more

complex, limited techniques like

those that have gone before.

128 Technology has developed a

solution that takes advantage of

cheap, powerful computing for a

distributed, software-based

network infrastructure. The solution

addresses many of the underlying

problems in today’s networks –

without introducing another layer

of abstraction or out-of-band

complexity.

The platform lets you put smart,

session-oriented routing wherever you

need it across your infrastructure.

The 128T Networking Platform

represents a new breed of software-

based networking. The platform

delivers simpler control, virtualization,

security, network services, and

visibility across networks in the

WAN, data center, and branch office/

campus environments.

The platform is designed to integrate

and work with existing network

architectures. It can operate with

current L2/L3 fabrics and network

elements.

Imagine that: Growing SimplerAccommodate the growing needs of your organization while

simplifying the management of your network.

Remove complexity from the way you do business, like routing with

words, with true service-oriented networking.

128 Technology is helping to change the way we do networking.

We are focused on eliminating network complexity and bringing about

a new era of IP service agility and true network innovation.

The 128T Networking Platform lets you put smart, session-oriented

routing wherever you need it across your infrastructure.

To learn more, visit us at 128technology.com.

Re-Thinking the Network: Delivering Transformation With Simplicity | 9

200 Wheeler Road, Burlington MA 01803

781.203.8400 | info@128technology.com

128technology.com

Copyright © 2016 128 Technology.

About 128 TechnologyThe company is focused on creating innovative

software solutions that address a broad range of

networking challenges across enterprises, service

providers and cloud services.

We are a group of technologists and entrepreneurs

who enjoy tackling big problems and aren’t afraid

to defy convention and raise a few eyebrows. Our

core team has a successful track record in creating

disruptive network technology for delivering secure

connectivity across global IP networks.

128 Technology understands that for many

companies, networks are a core part of their

business — and in some cases, the network is their

business. The massive, rapid shift to cloud and

mobile native applications places the importance of

the network into even sharper relief.