Orchestrating SD-WAN Policies and Monitoring Traffic with Fortinet Secure SD-WAN

Event: Networking Field Day 33

Appearance: Fortinet Presents at Networking Field Day 33

Company: Fortinet

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Personnel: Michael Lippman

The Fortinet Secure SD-WAN demo offers an in-depth exploration of policy orchestration, monitoring, and security, particularly the implementation of a Zero Trust model. This centralized approach not only simplifies the process but also ensures scalability to accommodate thousands of sites. It seamlessly integrates with the Fortinet Security Fabric, fortifying the protection of users, devices, and applications across the board.


Fortinet Secure SD-WAN is Foundational to SASE Journey

Event: Networking Field Day 33

Appearance: Fortinet Presents at Networking Field Day 33

Company: Fortinet

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Personnel: Rami Rammaha

With Fortinet Secure SD-WAN, organizations can improve application experience, secure connectivity, and enhance operations, all leading to improved user experience. In addition, organizations can transform and secure the WAN with on-premises security. At the same time, they have the flexibility to extend security in the cloud with FortiSASE. The de-centralized, autonomous controller ensures scalable and resilient network.


Overview of Fortinet Universal SASE

Event: Networking Field Day 33

Appearance: Fortinet Presents at Networking Field Day 33

Company: Fortinet

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Personnel: Satish Madiraju

Fortinet Universal SASE uniquely converges networking and security to support today’s hybrid workforce. It expands network edges and new microbranches to enable secure access to applications. Our SASE solution also provides high ROI through consolidation and improved digital user experience. We offer a robust network of over 100 global SASE locations to enable broad coverage and scalability.


Nokia SR Linux and Generative AI Combine for Network AIOps

Event: Networking Field Day 33

Appearance: Nokia Presents at Networking Field Day 33

Company: Nokia

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Personnel: Erwan James

When combined with AI platforms like ChatGPT, network AIOps opens new possibilities and use cases in advanced network automation and enhanced operations. This presentation and demo will showcase how an IP router powered by the Nokia SR Linux NOS , can be easily integrated with Generative AI tools like ChatGPT to deliver a powerful capability of managing routers in everyday natural language.


Configure Devices and Stream Telemetry with Nokia and Open-Source gNMIc

Event: Networking Field Day 33

Appearance: Nokia Presents at Networking Field Day 33

Company: Nokia

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Personnel: Karim Radhouani

This presentation and demo will review gNMIc , an open-source feature rich gNMI client and telemetry collector. The purpose of gNMIc is to simplify and automate the process of sending and receiving gNMI requests to network devices, making it easier for network administrators to manage and monitor their networks. Nokia contributed gNMIc to OpenConfig and still maintains the project.


Lab as Code with Nokia Containerlab

Event: Networking Field Day 33

Appearance: Nokia Presents at Networking Field Day 33

Company: Nokia

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Personnel: Roman Dodin

With the growing number of containerized Network Operating Systems grows the demand to easily run them in the user-defined, versatile lab topologies. This presentation and demo will review Containerlab, an opensource project and CLI tool designed to deploy networking lab topologies with the Lab-as-Code approach.


RG Nets rXg on the Management Plane

Event: Networking Field Day 33

Appearance: RG Nets Presents at Networking Field Day 33

Company: RG Nets

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Personnel: Alek Murray, Clint Kennedy

The RG Nets rXg provides important management functionality for network operators, including multi-vendor wired/wireless infrastructure management, comprehensive reporting and log retention, no/low touch provisioning, multi-site management.

In the presentation at Networking Field Day 33, RG Nets showcased their rXg platform’s extensive management capabilities for network operators, emphasizing its multi-vendor wired and wireless infrastructure management. Clint Kennedy and Alek Murray highlighted the platform’s ability to take command and control of third-party systems, offering features such as template configurations and a built-in hypervisor for rapid deployment. The system can automatically discover neighboring devices using protocols like LDP and CDP, creating customizable network maps that show link statuses and VLAN associations. This comprehensive management extends to both wired and wireless networks, allowing for unified policy application across different types of infrastructure.

The rXg platform also excels in reporting and log retention, offering customizable log rotation periods and priority levels to ensure essential data is preserved even when storage capacity is limited. Logs can be offloaded to external servers, and the system supports hardware upgrades or deployment on customer-provided hardware for extended log retention. Zero and low-touch provisioning features significantly simplify device setup and deployment, reducing the time and manpower required for network installations. The platform supports both zero-touch provisioning (ZTP) and a one-touch provisioning method for devices that do not support ZTP, facilitating quick and efficient network configurations.

Fleet Manager, a key component of the rXg platform, enables centralized management of multiple remote sites, including software updates, configuration templates, and ZTP deployments. It consolidates reports from various sites and supports multi-tenancy, allowing different customers to access specific groups of sites with role-based access control (RBAC). The system also includes a Bastion Host feature for secure, certificate-encrypted traffic tunnels between remote sites and Fleet Manager. This comprehensive suite of tools ensures that network operators can manage complex, multi-site deployments with ease, maintaining high levels of security and operational efficiency.


RG Nets rXg on the Data Plane

Event: Networking Field Day 33

Appearance: RG Nets Presents at Networking Field Day 33

Company: RG Nets

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Personnel: Alek Murray, Clint Kennedy

The RG Nets rXg automates important network data plane operations to ensure a secure, high-performance network experience for all users; micro-segmentation by user, class or device type, traffic shaping and airtime equalization, DHCP/DNS, content filtering, more.

RG Nets’ rXg platform is designed to simplify and automate complex network operations, ensuring a secure and high-performance experience for users. By leveraging multiple pre-shared keys (PSK) along with 802.1X and captive portals, rXg reduces the need for multiple SSIDs, streamlining network management. This system enables micro-segmentation by dynamically assigning VLANs and subnets based on user identity, device type, or group, which allows for efficient policy enforcement, such as bandwidth allocation and device limits. This approach makes it possible to manage various environments like hotels, student housing, and office buildings with ease, ensuring each user or device is placed in its own layer 2 and layer 3 boundary, facilitating seamless device discovery and connectivity.

The platform’s capability to dynamically build and manage VLANs, subnets, and DHCP scopes significantly reduces the time and effort required to configure network policies. By automating these processes, RG Nets’ rXg can scale from single-site deployments to large-scale multi-site networks, maintaining consistent policy enforcement across different manufacturers’ equipment. This flexibility is particularly beneficial in mixed environments, where supply chain issues may necessitate the use of different vendors’ hardware. The system’s template-based configuration ensures that policies are uniformly applied, regardless of the underlying hardware, simplifying network management and reducing the potential for configuration errors.

Moreover, RG Nets’ rXg addresses common challenges in network management, such as multicast DNS (mDNS) issues in segmented networks, by ensuring that devices within the same VLAN can discover each other without additional configuration. The platform also features advanced traffic shaping capabilities, dynamically adjusting bandwidth allocation based on real-time usage to prevent network congestion and ensure a fair distribution of resources. This is particularly useful in environments with high bandwidth demands, such as gaming or streaming, where it can prevent individual users from monopolizing the connection. Additionally, rXg supports various tunneling and VLAN extension techniques, such as Q-in-Q and SPB, to overcome the limitations of traditional VLANs, further enhancing its scalability and flexibility.


RG Nets rXg on the Control Plane with Clint Kennedy

Event: Networking Field Day 33

Appearance: RG Nets Presents at Networking Field Day 33

Company: RG Nets

Video Links:

Personnel: Alek Murray, Clint Kennedy

The RG Nets rXg automates myriad access and subscriber services, including NAC with multiple PSK & 802.1X authentication, subscriber self service and provisioning, PMS and billing integration, LBS, NAT and more. Complex subscriber services can be configured and delivered by non-IT staff through intuitive portals.

In the presentation by Clint Kennedy and Alek Murray from RG Nets at Networking Field Day 33, the focus was on the control plane functionalities of their rXg platform. The rXg is designed to automate a wide array of access and subscriber services, such as network access control (NAC) with multiple pre-shared keys (PSK) and 802.1X authentication, subscriber self-service and provisioning, integration with property management systems (PMS) and billing, as well as location-based services (LBS). The control plane handles clustering and subscriber provisioning, allowing non-technical staff to manage complex subscriber services through intuitive portals. The platform supports both data and management planes, which will be discussed in future sessions.

One of the key features demonstrated was subscriber self-provisioning, where users can connect to the network, select billing plans, and manage their own credentials. This is particularly useful in environments such as hotels, multi-dwelling units (MDUs), convention centers, and airports. The system also supports sponsored guest workflows, allowing enterprise networks to manage guest access efficiently. The front office manager interface simplifies network management for non-technical staff, enabling them to perform tasks such as reconnecting rooms, changing billing plans, and providing refunds. Additionally, the conference portal allows event planners to manage wired and wireless infrastructure dynamically, including creating SSIDs and configuring network settings on demand.

The presentation also highlighted the flexibility and security of the rXg platform, which supports multiple pre-shared keys and 802.1X authentication with full LDAP and RADIUS integration. This allows for secure network access even for devices that do not support 802.1X. The platform’s integration with property management systems enables seamless connectivity for users based on room numbers or loyalty numbers, reducing the need for IT intervention. Enhanced location-based services provide real-time mapping and tracking capabilities, useful in large venues like malls or hospitals. The platform’s ability to manage various vendor equipment through APIs, SNMP, and shell commands further underscores its versatility and robustness in handling diverse networking environments.


RG Nets rXg Multi-Services Edge Gateway Overview

Event: Networking Field Day 33

Appearance: RG Nets Presents at Networking Field Day 33

Company: RG Nets

Video Links:

Personnel: Clint Kennedy

The RG Nets rXg is a sophisticated multi-services edge gateway. It provides everything from routing to secure NAC to virtual broadband gateways, and so many services in-between. See an overview of the platform in this video.

Clint Kennedy from RG Nets presented an overview of the rXg Multi-Services Edge Gateway at Networking Field Day 33. RG Nets, a company founded by network engineers, has been profitable for 16 years without VC backing and has about 8,000 global deployments. Their rXg platform integrates multiple network services into a single system, simplifying deployment and management. This solution is suitable for various verticals, including large public venues, hospitality, education, and service providers.

The rXg platform consolidates services like routing, DNS, DHCP, network access control, subscriber management, and more into one operating system, reducing the need for multiple specialized devices. This integration enables easier scaling and deployment, especially in demanding environments like large airports, stadiums, and higher education institutions.

Kennedy emphasized the platform’s API-driven architecture, role-based access control, and clustering capabilities, which allow for high availability and scalability. The platform supports both symmetric and asymmetric clustering, enabling horizontal and vertical scaling. Additionally, RG Nets offers robust management, data plane, and control plane separation, ensuring efficient traffic handling and service delivery.

The presentation also highlighted the platform’s ability to handle complex scenarios like space-time triggers for location-based services, UPnP with CGNAT, and fair share queuing algorithms for bandwidth management. Kennedy assured that the platform’s updates could be managed with minimal disruption, maintaining data plane traffic during upgrades.


Extending a Unified Common Policy from Campus to Branch and Harsh Environments with Cisco

Event: Networking Field Day 33

Appearance: Cisco Presents at Networking Field Day 33

Company: Cisco

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Personnel: Alex Burger

As more devices connect to the network, it’s crucial to have a unified policy solution that minimizes policy drift and extends micro-segmentation across the organization. In this session, you will learn how Cisco Meraki’s Adaptive Policy utilizes a common policy approach to deliver seamless security and network visibility across your campus, branch, and edge environments. This scalable approach is IP agnostic, sharing context and enforcement of micro-segmentation in the dataplane, allowing for the granular control of network access and communication across your environment. Learn how Adaptive Policy seamlessly integrates Cisco’s TrustSec across the Meraki full-stack (from wired, wireless, to security) through an easy-to-deploy, design, and operate solution.


Power More Possibilities with the New Cisco Meraki Switches

Event: Networking Field Day 33

Appearance: Cisco Presents at Networking Field Day 33

Company: Cisco

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Personnel: Brennan Martin

Meraki Switching is bringing more bandwidth and more power to more spaces. Introducing the evolution of the Cisco switching experience with two new versatile lineups: The MS130 series brings cost-effective multiGig to the access layer and for the first time brings rugged Meraki Switching to hot, cold, and tight spaces. Next, the seamless zero-touch provisioning experience of Meraki joins Catalyst switches for the first of many unified hardware experiences with the Catalyst Meraki 9300 series.


Graphiant Cloud Gateway Services with OCI and Jumbo Frames Demo

Event: Networking Field Day 33

Appearance: Graphiant Presents at Networking Field Day 33

Company: Graphiant

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Personnel: Arsalan Mustafa Khan

Are security and throughput bottlenecks impeding your cloud deployments? Accessing the Cloud should be as easy as accessing your Data Centers. In this session, we’ll show Cloud Connectivity with Jumbo Frames and how to leverage this to accelerate your cloud workloads.


Graphiant Gateway Service with Arsalan Khan

Event: Networking Field Day 33

Appearance: Graphiant Presents at Networking Field Day 33

Company: Graphiant

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Personnel: Arsalan Mustafa Khan

Arsalan Khan, Director Technical Marketing, discusses the Graphiant Gateway Service and how it provides private connectivity to the public cloud, any to any connectivity due to the Stateless Core, and routing protocol support.


A Technical Solution Deep Dive on the Graphiant Network Edge Service

Event: Networking Field Day 33

Appearance: Graphiant Presents at Networking Field Day 33

Company: Graphiant

Video Links:

Personnel: Arsalan Mustafa Khan

Arsalan Mustafa Khan, Director Technical Marketing, discusses Graphiant’s Network Edge Service offering; a network service that simplifies enterprise WAN connectivity. As part of the presentation, Arsalan will provide an overview of the architecture, the Graphiant Stateless Core, and the Graphiant Gateway Service.


The Graphiant Service and Use Cases

Event: Networking Field Day 33

Appearance: Graphiant Presents at Networking Field Day 33

Company: Graphiant

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Personnel: Ali Shaikh

Ali goes into quick detail over the Graphiant Service architecture, the Portal and the Graphiant Stateless Core. He touches on 3 different use cases and the cities within the Graphiant network.


Graphiant Introduction and The Rise of the Business Internet

Event: Networking Field Day 33

Appearance: Graphiant Presents at Networking Field Day 33

Company: Graphiant

Video Links:

Personnel: Ali Shaikh

Graphiant is a network edge service company in the wide-area networking space. Graphiant was created to use a protocol-based approach to the challenges and limitations faced by MPLS and SDWAN networks. In this presentation, Chief Product Officer, Ali Shaikh reintroduces Graphiant and outlines the history of networking, the changing landscape leading to the rise of the Business Internet, what this modern solution in the modern digital landscape looks like, and the use cases customers need solved.


Leveraging Fortinet FortiWeb and FortiSOAR for Enhanced Cybersecurity

Event: Cloud Field Day 18

Appearance: Fortinet Presents at Cloud Field Day 18

Company: Fortinet

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Personnel: Aidan Walden, Julian Petersohn, Srija Allam

Julian Petersohn and Srija Allam demonstrate Fortinet’s FortiWeb and FortiSOAR’s in this interactive demonstration. Beginning with an amusing drone-based hacking attempt, they highlighted the importance of detecting and responding to cyberattacks promptly. Critical concepts of API discovery, machine learning applications in security, and the utility of Kubernetes and cloud technology are also explored in this detailed technical session.


Reinventing Application Lifecycle Security Through Automation and AI with Fortinet

Event: Cloud Field Day 18

Appearance: Fortinet Presents at Cloud Field Day 18

Company: Fortinet

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Personnel: Aidan Walden

Fortinet offers a comprehensive solution to application lifecycle security, focusing on the roles of app developers and the cloud SOC in delivering a secure application. Using principles from AI and cloud automation, Fortinet drives automation and DevOps into the security practice. Key aspects of their strategy include ensuring visibility of applications and assets, automating SOC practices and workflows, and using AI as a force multiplier. Fortinet’s automation capabilities also aid in reducing common challenges in web services security, such as false positives. Maintaining a broad and deep integration, operationalizing data and signal, and maximizing automation, Fortinet aims to enhance operational efficiency and scalability.


Introducing WEKA Converged Mode for AWS

Event: Cloud Field Day 18

Appearance: WEKA Presents at Cloud Field Day 18

Company: WEKA

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Personnel: Efraim Grynberg

WEKA Converged Mode for AWS is a deployment mode that enables greater resource efficiency for AI model training and other GPU-accelerated workloads in AWS Cloud. In this session, Efraim Grynberg discusses WEKA’s approach, the innovation making this possible now, and how customers are benefiting from it.