HOK enables productive design collaboration across continents with global SD‑WAN built on Aruba EdgeConnect SD‑WAN edge platform

HOK是世界上最重要的设计，建筑，工程和规划公司之一，拥有全球项目团队，这些项目团队依靠高级建筑信息管理（BIM）系统和3D可视化工具进行协作和客户演示。但是，该公司低型带宽的私人MPLS网络的性能缓慢降低了生产力，并且升级MPLS电路的成本较高。

HOK信息技术总监Jeff Hamer说：“合作是我们环境中的关键，随着应用程序变得更加视觉和复杂，我们的挑战之一是确保我们的WAN能够保持步伐并提供可靠的平台为业务。”

Decentralized Organization Requires Strong WAN

霍克（Hok）在三大洲拥有23个办事处，每个办公室都作为一个拥有自己的行业专业的区域业务部门运营。霍克（Hok）在其规模的公司中独一无二，没有正式的总部，它鼓励客户根据其专业而不是物理位置与合适的团队合作。

Hamer notes, “Collaboration often takes place across multinational offices and, during the pandemic, across everyone’s homes. Having a strong network to keep those teams productive was paramount. We knew SD-WAN would enable us to move away from MPLS and use higher-bandwidth, more economical internet connections. And we knew it could give us better visibility and control over our network.”

在观看了SD-WAN市场几年后，Hamer咨询了网络和基础设施合作伙伴，干预，评估最终从包装中出现的SD-WAN领导者。银峰（Silver Peak）被惠普（Hewlett Packard Enterprise）公司Aruba收购，位居榜首。哈默说：“阿鲁巴（Aruba）带着完全烘烤的SD-WAN解决方案来到了桌子上，这给我们留下了非常积极的印象。”

Enabling Smooth Cross-continent Collaboration

为了实现平稳的跨联合协作，HOK依靠云构建和本地应用程序的组合，包括其BIM解决方案，Revit，以及VoIP和VoIP和一般业务应用程序，例如财务和HR。

Due to HOK’s complex requirements that continually change as the firm extends its services and capabilities, flexibility was one of Hamer’s prime requirements for any technology solution—and a key reason for selecting theAruba EdgeConnectSD-WAN edge platform. “It became clear very quickly that EdgeConnect gave us the flexibility we need to align and adapt the network to changing business requirements,” Hamer says.

He adds, “Aruba is absolutely industry leading in vision and direction. We could see they were continuing to innovate and add capabilities to the SD-WAN offerings. It’s important to me that the solution will continue to evolve.”

Dramatic Reduction in Transport Costs

在干预的帮助下，HOK在全球29个地点部署了EdgeConnect平台，包括所有23个区域业务办公室和几个工作地点。该团队还在HOK的数据中心部署了一对高可用性的EDGECONNECT设备，并在Hok的VoIP Service托管的每个干预数据中心中都采用了高可用性配置中的两个虚拟EdgeConnect设备。

With the Aruba SD-WAN implemented across the enterprise, Hamer is now in the process of decommissioning MPLS as quickly as possible. “We have already reduced our monthly MPLS spend by 64 percent,” he reports.

Ultimately, Hamer intends to terminate each EdgeConnect appliance with dual broadband circuits from two separate providers, with bonded tunnels to take full advantage of all the advanced SD-WANtechnical capabilities可在EdgeConnect上使用，例如路径条件，自动子毫秒电路故障转移和服务质量（QOS）。

Flexible WAN acceleration on unified platform

Having used WAN optimization for many years, Hamer also implemented the optional Aruba Boost WAN optimization performance pack that’s unified on the EdgeConnect platform. Unlike previous solutions, Boost does not require his team to manually make exceptions for applications or protocols that are negatively impacted by the optimization.

Using theAruba Orchestratormanagement console, Hamer created business intent overlays for different application categories, including one for those applications that benefit from WAN acceleration such as SaaS applications, the local Revit Server modeling software, and 3D visualization tools. Hamer points out, “Boost has largely been hands off. We just turn it on and realize the benefits. That alone has made Boost more valuable to us than our previous WAN op solutions.”

Hamer also appreciates having flexibility to change Boost allocations when needed. For example, to accelerate a one-time backup of virtual machines before performing a critical firmware upgrade, the IT team simply increased the Boost allocation for those sites during the backup, then reduced it down again to normal levels when the backup was complete. “We love that flexibility,” Hamer says. “It’s a great value add for us.”

Added security of a built-in stateful firewall

Hamer also appreciates having a zone-based stateful firewall unified on the EdgeConnect platform. When initially planning the WAN transformation, the IT team considered deploying next-generation firewalls at each location. Instead, Hamer says, “EdgeConnect already has a robust, stateful application-aware firewall built in that meets our needs.”

Now, HOK has a centrally managed zone-based stateful firewall across all locations, enabling Hamer and his team to configure and enforce a consistent set of security policies. “We didn’t have much consistency in our security policies before,” Hamer notes. “Now we have a single set of security policies that fit all our offices, which is much easier to manage centrally with Aruba Orchestrator. That translates to a more secure environment for our business.”

The EdgeConnect firewall is also integrated with HOK’s security information and event management (SIEM) system. Hamer explains, “We take logs from the zone-based firewall on EdgeConnect and send them to our SIEM for real-time visibility into potential cybersecurity threats and breaches. These logs contribute to our overall situational awareness by providing valuable insights and metrics.”

简化了广域网管理t for Small Infrastructure Team

哈默说，只有一个由五个人组成的团队支持全球后端基础架构，因此必须简化WAN管理层，以便该团队可以专注于支持业务。Aruba解决方案的一个主要优点是能够简化和合并单个分支位置的WAN边缘基础架构，该平台在单个平台上统一了SD-WAN，路由，安全性和WAN优化，使HOK能够退休现有的路由器和防火墙。

还关键是通过Aruba编排对SD-WAN进行集中管理和控制。哈默指出：“传统上，网络可见性是我们的挑战。”“编排者在理解整个网络流量和应用程序级别方面提供了我们所需的内容。”

For example, insights from Orchestrator revealed ways the team could reclassify Revit Server and configure a business intent overlay to prioritize Revit traffic across the network. “Orchestrator gave us visibility and control we never had before,” Hamer says. “This is a real-world example of how we were able to shape traffic for a critical line-of-business application so it performs more efficiently across the SD-WAN.”

Helps IT better support the creative process

Since deploying the Aruba SD-WAN, application performance has improved overall, providing HOK’s designers, architects, engineers, and planners with a higher quality of experience whether they’re in the Americas, Europe or Asia.

Hamer确认：“我们已经收到了人们有关应用程序的表现的未经请求的反馈。”“他们注意到他们的Citrix会议更加挑剔，Revit模型在先前花费的时间的一半开始。这在生产力方面有所不同，也可以在与团队合作时改善客户体验的能力。”

Hamer concludes, “My focus is on providing platforms to support HOK’s innovative design technologies and enable our creative teams to deliver exceptional projects for clients. Our Aruba SD-WAN is one of those essential platforms, allowing IT to always be in a position to say ‘yes’ whenever the business comes to us with new initiatives that can further enhance the creative process.”