Global software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN) vendor Aryaka is extending its portfolio to offer SmartAccess, a clientless SD-WAN. SmartAccess has all of the same features as Aryaka's primary service, SmartConnect, but is made for users that rely on remote connectivity.

Clientless SD-WAN means that the end-user doesn’t need another client for the service to work. “If you require anyone to install any new software or hardware to deliver SD-WAN then it’s not clientless,” said Gary Sevounts, Aryaka CMO.

All the user needs is a device — a mobile smart phone, tablet, or laptop. “The challenge around the remote and mobile workforce has been that you can’t ship them an appliance at home or in remote offices and you can’t force them to carry one with them when they need to software-define their remote access,” Sevounts said.

SmartAccess uses Aryaka’s private network, which includes a cloud-native network, virtual network functions (VNFs), WAN optimization, and SD-WAN.  But it also uses the customer’s existing VPN software on whatever device they’re using and marries that with dynamic content delivery network (CDN) capabilities.

CDN is typically used for accelerating website speed, especially when it has frequent visitors from users around the world. CDN essentially caches someone’s website so that people in any location can access a version of the same site in order to reduce delay.

“Dynamic CDN allows you to accelerate an application without using an additional appliance or software, and our solution automatically finds the closest Aryaka PoP [point of presence] and connects the user to it while accelerating the traffic for users wanting remote access.” Sevounts said. “We architected our network in a way that you can combine CDN with WAN technology.”

And because Aryaka is using its technology over its own private network instead of the public Internet, it is able to eliminate application response inconsistencies.

“Remote workers are dealing with slow apps, VPN access, frequent disconnect, lack of network visibility, and lack of compliance over the public Internet.” Sevounts said. “Even cloud apps accessed remotely are still exposing data over the public Internet, which can still cause poor performance because you can’t control it.

SmartAccess is a standalone product. It's not necessary to have Aryaka software already deployed to use it. It also allows users to connect with other branch offices that don’t rely on Aryaka’s private network.

Aryaka isn’t the only SD-WAN vendor that offers remote SD-WAN access. For example, TELoIP also offers this capability by leveraging the users’ existing VPN software to connect to remote locations. The only difference is that it’s offered via public Internet as opposed to a private network.

Aryaka currently has about 15 enterprises using its new product with thousands of people connected to its VPN. Its customers are in manufacturing, oil, gas, financial, insurance, and healthcare.