By adding SD-Connect – comprised of SD-WAN, SD-WiFi and SD-LAN – to its portfolio, Europe’s leading independent data centre and cloud services provider Proact is able to offer its customers an AI-driven networking solution. The improved network performance made possible by these services is critical for enabling access to data wherever it is stored.

The services that make up SD-Connect are designed to interoperate with one another to ensure ideal network coverage. They are additionally delivered from the same vendor, resulting in a more consistent service than a mixture of networking components from multiple vendors. The services are offered fully managed by Proact.

All of the software-defined solutions within the package are overseen from a cloud management platform, thereby eliminating the need to manually configure each individual device. This makes it possible to extend a network to more users or locations quickly and easily. Additionally, customers are no longer limited to MPLS circuits to deliver reliable connectivity.

SD-Connect also features an integrated AI engine not found in comparable software-defined networking solutions. The engine can proactively solve certain issues, such as failed WiFi access points, on its own — thus reducing time spent fixing problems, managing networks and improving service levels.

“As networking becomes more complex, we are seeing a rise in demand for single pane of glass solutions,” says Per Sedihn, CTO and VP of Portfolio and Technology at Proact. “We can now offer such a solution to our customers, because with SD-Connect, multiple sites and devices can be managed over one dashboard, creating a more transparent network.”

By analysing real-time information about how users experience network performance, machine-learning insights in the AI engine focus on improving end-user experience, and in doing so can increase customers’ business productivity.

“Ways of working have been altered as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic,” adds Sedihn. “As many organisations re-evaluate their physical office spaces in light of these changes, the implementation of the solutions found in SD-Connect provides them with an opportunity to make their networks more efficient, reliable and simple to manage. SD-Connect enables better multicloud connectivity by allowing branch sites to securely access applications and services in the public cloud, local service provider clouds and the customers’ own data centres — connecting customers to their data wherever it is stored.”

SD-Connect is available across all countries where Proact operates. Customers can obtain the solutions either as a bundle or separately. All solutions can be installed through zero-touch provisioning.