HOK可以与Aruba EdgeConnect SD -Wan Edge Platform建立的全球SD ‑ WAN跨大陆的生产性设计合作

One of the top design, architecture, engineering and planning firms in the world, HOK has global project teams that rely on advanced building information management (BIM) systems and 3D visualization tools for collaboration and client presentations. However, sluggish performance across the firm’s low-bandwidth private MPLS network impaired productivity, and upgrading the MPLS circuits was cost-prohibitive.

Jeff Hamer, director of information technology for HOK, says, “Collaboration is key in our environment and one of our challenges, as applications become more visual and complex, has been to make sure our WAN is able to keep pace and provide a reliable platform for the business.”

分散的组织需要强大的WAN

HOK has 23 offices on three continents, each operating as a regional business unit with its own set of industry specialties. Unique among firms of its size, HOK has no formal headquarters, which encourages clients to work with the right teams based on their specialty rather than physical location.

哈默指出：“合作经常发生在跨国公司，在大流行期间，在每个人的家中进行。拥有一个强大的网络来保持这些团队的生产力至关重要。我们知道SD-WAN将使我们能够远离MPL，并使用更高的带宽，更经济的互联网连接。我们知道这可以使我们更好地对网络的能见度和控制。”

After watching the SD-WAN market for several years, Hamer consulted with networking and infrastructure partner,InterVision, to evaluate the SD-WAN leaders that ultimately emerged from the pack. Silver Peak, acquired by Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company, was at the top of the list. “Aruba came to the table with a fully baked SD-WAN solution and that made a very positive impression on us," Hamer says.

实现平稳的跨联合协作

To enable smooth cross-continent collaboration, HOK relies on a mix of cloud-hosted and on-premises applications that include its BIM solution, Revit, as well as VoIP and general business applications such as finance and HR.

由于HOK的复杂要求随着公司扩展其服务和功能的不断变化，灵活性是Hamer对任何技术解决方案的主要要求之一，也是选择该技术的关键原因Aruba EdgeConnectSD-WAN边缘平台。Hamer说：“很快，EdgeConnect为我们提供了使网络对齐和使网络适应不断变化的业务需求所需的灵活性。”

他补充说：“阿鲁巴绝对是远见和方向的行业。我们可以看到他们正在继续创新并为SD-Wan产品添加功能。对我来说，解决方案将继续发展很重要。”

急剧降低运输成本

With the help of InterVision, HOK deployed the EdgeConnect platform at 29 locations worldwide, including all 23 regional business offices and several job sites. The team also deployed a high-availability pair of EdgeConnect appliances in HOK’s data center, and two virtual EdgeConnect appliances in high-availability configurations at each of InterVision’s data centers where HOK’s VoIP services are hosted.

随着Aruba SD-WAN在整个企业中实施，Hamer现在正在尽快退役MPL。他报告说：“我们已经将每月MPL的支出减少了64％。”

最终，Hamer打算用两个单独的提供商的双宽带电路终止每个EDGECONNECT电器技术能力available on EdgeConnect such as path conditioning, automatic sub-millisecond circuit failover, and quality of service (QoS).

统一平台上的灵活WAN加速度

Hamer使用WAN优化多年后，还实施了在EdgeConnect平台上统一的可选Aruba Boost WAN优化性能包。与以前的解决方案不同，BOOST不需要他的团队对受优化产生负面影响的应用程序或协议进行例外。

使用阿鲁巴编排Hamer管理控制台为不同的应用程序类别创建了业务意图叠加，其中包括一个受益于WAN加速器的应用程序，例如SaaS应用程序，本地Revit Server Modeling软件和3D可视化工具。哈默指出：“ Boost在很大程度上被移开了。我们只是打开它并意识到好处。仅此一项就使提升对我们来说比以前的WAN OP解决方案更有价值。”

哈默还赞赏具有灵活性在需要时改变增强分配的灵活性。例如，要在执行关键固件升级之前加速虚拟机的一次性备份，IT团队只是在备份期间增加了这些站点的增强分配，然后在备份完成后将其再次降低到正常水平。“我们喜欢这种灵活性，”哈默说。“这对我们来说是一个很大的价值。”

增加了内置的状态防火墙的安全性

哈默还感谢在EdgeConnect平台上统一的基于区域的状态防火墙。最初计划WAN转换时，IT团队考虑在每个位置部署下一代防火墙。哈默说：“ EdgeConnect已经在满足我们需求的情况下建立了强大的，具有州的应用程序意识的防火墙。”

现在，HOK在所有位置都有一个基于中央区域的国家基础防火墙，使Hamer及其团队能够配置和执行一系列一致的安全策略。哈默指出：“以前，我们的安全政策没有太多一致性。”“现在，我们拥有一套适合所有办公室的安全策略，这要容易得多，可以使用Aruba Orchestrator进行集中管理。这转化为我们业务更安全的环境。”

EdgeConnect防火墙还与HOK的安全信息和事件管理（SIEM）系统集成在一起。Hamer解释说：“我们从EdgeConnect上的基于区域的防火墙中获取原木，并将其发送到我们的SIEM，以实时可见性，以陷入潜在的网络安全威胁和漏洞。这些日志通过提供宝贵的见解和指标来促进我们的整体情况意识。”

Simplifies WAN Management for Small Infrastructure Team

与一个5人的团队,支持如果留意bal back-end infrastructure, Hamer says it’s imperative to simplify WAN management so the team can stay focused on supporting the business. A major advantage of the Aruba solution has been the ability to simplify and consolidate the WAN edge infrastructure at each branch location on a single platform that unifies SD-WAN, routing, security, and WAN optimization, enabling HOK to retire existing routers and firewalls.

Also key is having centralized management and control of the SD-WAN through Aruba Orchestrator. “Network visibility has traditionally been a challenge for us,” Hamer notes. “Orchestrator provides exactly what we need in terms of understanding our network traffic as a whole and at the application level.”

例如，《管弦乐队的洞察力》揭示了团队可以重新分类revit服务器并配置业务意图覆盖的方法，以优先考虑整个网络中的访问量。哈默说：“编排者为我们提供了以前从未有过的知名度和控制。”“这是一个现实世界中的示例，说明我们如何能够为关键的业务应用程序塑造流量，从而在整个SD-WAN上更有效地表现。”

帮助它更好地支持创作过程

自部署Aruba SD-WAN以来，应用程序性能总体上有所改善，为Hok的设计师，建筑师，工程师和计划人员提供了更高质量的经验，无论他们在美洲，欧洲还是亚洲。

“We’ve received unsolicited feedback from people about how well applications perform now,” Hamer affirms. “They notice that their Citrix sessions are snappier, that a Revit model opens in half the time it previously took. This makes a difference in terms of productivity but also in our ability to improve the client experience when working with our teams.”

哈默总结说：“我的重点是提供平台来支持HOK的创新设计技术，并使我们的创意团队能够为客户提供杰出的项目。我们的Aruba SD-Wan是这些基本平台之一，只要业务带来新举措，可以进一步增强创作过程。”