Megaport claims transformation of networking at the edge with Fortinet Secure SD-WAN

Aiming to assist businesses that have embraced software-defined wide area networking (SD-WAN) to simplify their IT connectivity, network-as-a-service (NaaS) provider Megaport has announced the integration of its Virtual Edge (MVE) product with the Fortinet Secure SD-WAN to enable connectivity to centralised resources from any location.

Even with branch-to-cloud connectivity becoming the norm, Megaport noted that dependence on end-to-end internet connections to key services and resources can impact application performance, availability and security. But with Fortinet Secure SD-WAN available on MVE, firms can accelerate edge-to-cloud connectivity and multicloud interconnectivity without compromising security, it said.

MVE is described as a globally distributed compute and network service in one. It connects to the likes of Alibaba Cloud, AWS, Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure, IBM Cloud, Oracle Cloud and Salesforce. Once connected, Fortinet customers can access Megaport’s ecosystem of more than 700 enabled datacentres worldwide, over 360 service providers and more than 220 cloud on-ramps.

Firms can host localised virtual SD-WAN controllers on Megaport’s global platform and reduce the distance that data traverses over internet paths from branch locations to critical services in public or private clouds and even other branch locations.

The compute aspect of the service enables customers to host NFV (network function virtualisation) instances in locations where they need them, on demand, and manage them in a point-and-click manner. On the network side, MVE’s built-in transit gateway provides a highly scalable access point for connecting networks, via the public internet, to Megaport’s private SDN.

Virtualised devices hosted on MVE can utilise the transit gateway to create connections between the Megaport SDN and their own networks, including branch locations, datacentres and private cloud.

Feature highlights include reduced cloud egress costs to cloud on-ramps when compared to internet rates, with better performance with reduced jitter and latency. The technology is globally distributed for localised connections, with point-and-click network provisioning to support interconnection between branch locations, datacentres, cloud providers and IT services. It also supports real-time provisioning of virtual network infrastructure and interconnections and unified end-to-end network provisioning and management to transform legacy networks.

MVE is currently available in 21 metros across North America, Asia-Pacific and Europe. This, said Megaport, allows customers more flexibility to deploy virtual devices near concentrations of users to localise traffic and optimise data termination for performance.

“As businesses rapidly adopt SD-WAN technology, the ability for customers to easily host virtual instances of Fortinet SD-WAN orchestrators around the world on our platform will significantly improve edge network connectivity for global organisations,” said Vincent English, CEO of Megaport. “Having Fortinet’s SD-WAN solutions fully integrated into Megaport’s global software defined network allows our customers to optimise their SD-WAN connectivity and improve overall network and application performance at a fraction of the cost of traditional connectivity methods.”

John Maddison, EVP of products and CMO at Fortinet, added: “As a fabric-ready partner, Megaport is able to provide its customers a prevalidated joint solution that is integrated with Fortinet’s industry-leading Secure SD-WAN solution. Megaport is leveraging the simplicity and orchestration benefits of Fortinet’s SD-WAN solution to provide customers secure, seamless and superior quality of user experience.”