Overlay
Overlay with 3+ links and LTE active-active
Ethernet + LTE active + T1 / E1 / DSL
Hub and spoke, full mesh, partial mesh with multiple VPNs
Cloud or on-prem management
Full Routing: BGP, OSPF, VRRP, IPv6, Multicast
Platforms for on-prem, cloud and virtual
TCP Optimization, WAN Acceleration and WAN Optimization
DIA + Security
Virtual platforms for AWS and Azure
DIA + Security + Real time SaaS Optimizations
Virtual platforms for AWS, Azure and GCP
Mapping for VPCs/VNets to WAN segments
Enterprise firewall (1400+ apps)
IPS, URL filtering, Cloud security with Umbrella
Scalable to 10,000+ locations Zero-touch deployment, templated configurations, centralized management
Current branch infrastructure
Technical requirements
Future business goals for branch transformation
Security requirements
Carrier types and contract terms
IT staff support
Is customer “exploring SD-WAN” or are we being proactive in the account
Which type of competitive SD-WAN player is engaged, and how do we position(s) our solution to win
Service chaining
Secure segmentation
Architecture play in SDA journey
Full stack branch management
Embedded security
Customers may have multiple branch site types with varying requirements Lead with Viptela SD-WAN, Meraki SD-WAN, or lead with Hybrid approach. Click here for Detailed Discovery Questionnaire
NEED TO ADD HYPERLINK TO PAGE 44
Do you have a requirement to manage a full stack branch network through a single management interface?
The Cisco Meraki MX platform is also part of the unique Cisco Meraki cloud-managed IT portfolio. Administrators can manage and monitor their wireless access points, switches, security cameras, and enterprise mobility management (EMM) endpoints from the same unified cloud dashboard as they manage Cisco Meraki MX.
Do you have a lean IT staff with minimal experience managing a secure WAN environment?
As with all Cisco Meraki products, Cisco Meraki MX is managed through an intuitive point-and-click GUI that makes even the most complex network and security management tasks much easier to complete.
Does your staff desire simple management, orchestration and automation for deploying branch security?
The Cisco Meraki solution offers fully integrated security that includes an Intrusion Prevention System, Advanced Malware Protection, and next-generation firewall services. Cisco Meraki SD-WAN also offers dynamic policy and performance based path selection with automatic load balancing to help ensure high network availability.
Markets evolved from fixed device to an application in your own data centre, to a mobile device connecting to an application anywhere in the world. How do you manage and secure that at a lower cost?
We take all of that complexity, manage it in our secure data centres and present back a simple dashboard, to allow customers to easily and effectively manage their network estate
Thus removing complexity, saving time and allowing your IT department to extract maximum value from their IT investment.
Lower TCO, giving you some cash back…
As the leaders in cloud managed IT, Cisco Meraki gives you the ability to manage your network easily from anywhere.
With Meraki SD-WAN, everything can be managed remotely, meaning you need less staff to manage your network. This can provide great cost savings, or unlock valuable resources to focus on other projects.
Do you have initiatives to migrate applications from Data Centers to CoLo’s, Hybrid Clouds, IaaS (AWS, Azure, Google Cloud), or SaaS (ie O365, SFDC, ServiceNOW, etc.)?
The ability to for customers to manage this transition on many levels: mitigating security risks, providing flexibility for the future, and optimizing application performance for all user types at all locations is paramount.
Describe your compliance and layered security requirements and strategy throughout the entire network (Cloud, DC, WAN, Campus, Access, Branch, Remote Users)
Providing an unparalleled multi-layered security strategy on end-user devices, at the branch, in the campus, through the WAN, and out to the DC/Cloud is a massive requirement in architecting the next generation WAN.
Expand on your goals around analytics and visibility (to improve customer experience, employee experience and network optimization)
Providing graphical representations of the performance of the entire network over time, and drilling down into the characteristics of a single carrier, tunnel, or application at a particular time become paramount
How does Policy & Segmentation fit in to the elements above?
End-to-end network segmentation can be facilitated rapidly with simple centralized policies. This is particularly impactful when policies can be managed from the DC/Cloud through the WAN, Campus, Branch and to remote users
What type of Advanced Routing functionality do you use today, and what elements do you see needing in a future architecture that includes SD-WAN?
Customers with existing complexed routing requirements may not easily be able to re-design without full routing protocols such as BGP and OSPF. Proposing a solution that meets current and future routing requirements will enable a faster route to operationalize in SD-WAN.
How do you see scale evolving for your organization (sites, applications, number/type of clouds being used)?
As customers grow and adopt new cloud-based technology scale and automated best-path application deliver becomes a requirement. Providing a solution that offers loss, latency and jitter SLAs that reach into the IaaS cloud (AWS, Azure or Google Cloud) become critical to assure workload migration and operation is successful. Customers utilizing SaaS applications such as O365, SFDC and ServiceNow need to assured users are receiving the highest quality of experience.
These are other technical areas where the Cisco SD-WAN Powered by Viptela solution can provide an architectural differentiation.
How does virtualization fit in to your networking and application strategy?
Customers want to be able to execute on all functionality across any HW or virtualized HW platform, today or in the future.
Lower WAN circuit costs: Many businesses considering SD-WAN currently rely on older, much more expensive alternatives (such as MPLS) to connect multiple sites. SD-WAN can save money by using less expensive broadband connections instead.
Q: Do you operate multiple sites? Are they interconnected? How many WAN links do you have at each site?
Q: How do you currently connect your sites to the internet / to each other?
Increased worker productivity due to reduced WAN disruptions: When employees are on the clock but can’t do their jobs, companies lose money. SD-WAN increases network and application uptime by intelligently leveraging multiple internet connections.
Q: Do you rely on cloud-hosted applications to do business? VoIP?
Q: Have any of your networks experienced significant downtime recently?
Reduced troubleshooting time: Identifying the source of a network disruption and finding the correct remedy take time and tie up resources that could be used for other purposes. Meraki Insight provides tools to quickly pinpoint the cause and scope of a problem.
Enhanced security: Malware and network intrusions are serious and costly. Advanced Security Licensing leverages Cisco tools to protect businesses from these threats.
Operational efficiencies: Dashboard makes configuring and managing SD-WAN across many networks simple and scalable, and can dramatically reduce the time it takes to connect new sites.
Q: How do you currently monitor network / application performance and troubleshoot issues? How long does it typically take?
Q: Do you have access to enterprise-level support when network issues arise?
Q: Have you ever experienced a data breach or other threat to your network security?
Q: How do you currently investigate potential breaches?
Q: How do currently manage your network devices?
Q: Are you using multiple management interfaces?
Start a discussion about the customer’s infrastructure
What is their core infrastructure?
Is there branch infrastructure ? What does that look like?
What are the customer’s technical requirements?
Are they in need of Network Services?
Are they in need of Network Management?
Are they in need of Monitoring?
What are customer’s security requirements?
What WAN connectivity is in use today? Does the customer currently have any carrier contracts and what are the terms for those?
What is the IT staff currently comprised of? Does it need optimization?
What are the main pain points? It is the cost? Or the scalability and performance?
What about visibility and troubleshooting?
What cloud based applications are you using today? Is this more than a couple of years ago?
Are your branch sites using more bandwidth today than a couple of years ago? How are you dealing with this?
Are you experiencing any performance issues for your cloud based applications?
How many WAN links do you use across your locations? What kind of links are they? MPLS, broadband, fibre etc.
Are your sites connected back to your HQ or a Datacenter? How is this done and managed?
What network security measures do you have in place at branch locations?
How do you manage WAN outages? Do you have failover in place? If so, is it automatic?
Visit
Cisco.com/go/stealthwatch-cloud
