26th March 2021 Home is the new office

Covid-19 saw enterprises everywhere send all their non-essential employees home to work. This was a huge challenge for workers to hurriedly set up what was close to a home office, whilst the businesses did what they could to keep everyone working effectively, productively, and safely.

The move primarily relied on businesses being able to replicate the office environment within people’s homes. This makes the transition smoother and less disruptive for employees, especially if their home office can replicate the technical environment of their workplace.

We look at how VMware SD-WAN edge computing has made it easier for businesses to support their people, by helping with access to applications and consistent availability to the internet.

The importance of access

One of the most important things when working from home is network connectivity. When this is inefficient and not optimised, it can result in a lack of bandwidth, broken and disrupted connectivity, and poor application performance.

VMware SD-WAN delivers a secure access service edge platform that combines SD-WAN with comprehensive security options embracing cloud and SaaS. VMware SD-WAN also provides operational simplicity by providing centralized monitoring, analytics, and control.

Two deployment options

VMware recommend to businesses two options when it comes to deploying SD-WAN. This is to get the best out of SD-WAN for maximum benefit. Edge computing works best when all traffic is routed through it, so it can prioritise work-related traffic in the home, and apply remediation.

To ensure the best quality of service from SD-WAN, you can set up deployment with a separate ISP modem and router, or with an integrated modem and router. Both ways still work on the edge, by detecting poor application performance and remedying the situation.

Choice of subscriptions

VMware want to give enterprises the chance to optimise their edge computing for employees working from home no matter where it is. To help different businesses choose what is right for them they offer both WFH and WFH Pro. And both licenses work with VMware SD-WAN Edge.

The best option depends on which work tasks are performed and how often. Light users who regularly use the network for emails and voice calls will be best suited to the WFH license. For users who download large files and attend crucial video conferencing calls may need WFH Pro.

Network Intelligence

Whichever subscription license you choose, you will get access to VMware Edge Network Intelligence, a vendor-agnostic artificial intelligence for IT operations solution focused on the enterprise edge.

Network Intelligence also gives IT administrators new insight into non-enterprise networks. This includes home Wi-Fi networks, where they can analyse and remediate common WFH problems such as dropped VoIP calls and jittery video conference connections.