Dell EMC today added the ADVA Ensemble software to it Virtual Edge Platform giving enterprises a bundled portfolio of at least 50 virtual network functions (VNFs) including a virtual firewall, SD-WAN optimization, and IoT management.

Riding on Dell EMC’s VEP4600, an x86-based universal CPE (uCPE), ADVA’s Ensemble Connector can consolidate VNF management on a single piece of hardware. By partnering with SDN vendors, Dell is trying to replicate its PC buying experience — laptops or desktops shipped directly to customers with pre-installed software — in the world of networking.

The reselling agreement with ADVA comes barely a month after Dell introduced VMware software integrations to enable hybrid cloud and a new Dell EMC SD-WAN Edge that bundles VMware SD-WAN by VeloCloud. The widening selection of on-boarded virtualization features is a core part of Dell EMC’s networking strategy.

“Over time … we will absolutely be working with more software partners to add more software capabilities on top of our hardware platform,” Bob Yee, head of SD-WAN product marketing at Dell EMC, told SDxCentral in a phone interview.

“Customers want things easy,” he said. “Networking is not easy” and “we’re striving toward that kind of capability on the networking side.”

ADVA acquired Ensemble Connector, a NFV infrastructure (NFVi) software platform, via its purchase of Overture Networks in 2016. The company has since participated in multiple trials to control optical network components using separate versions of the ONAP and the ONOS SDN controller.

ADVA brings a “virtualization capability in the middleware piece of the software,” Yee said. Capabilities include a network operating system, management software, and a portfolio of at least 50 on-board VNFs, he explained. “Customers can now pick and choose among these different software virtualization areas almost like an app store.”

While ADVA Ensemble provides enterprises with dozens of VNFs, SD-WAN is a standout feature that Dell is targeting because of the growing interest in replacing or complementing complex WAN infrastructure. Many enterprises are comfortable with the concept of virtualizing the network because they’re already familiar with the benefits of applying software to servers and storage, Yee explained.

And the need for greater SD-WAN adoption is widespread, he said. Enterprises are “getting pummeled with cloud-based traffic going over their [WAN]. Even if we take ourselves as an example, Dell internally, we were seeing our WAN traffic double every 18 months because of the proliferation of cloud-based traffic” from applications like Salesforce. The other factor driving SD-WAN adoption is the growing gap between private MPLS links, Yee added.

“Combined with our high-performance Ensemble Connector NFVi software, [Dell EMC’s uCPE platform] provides an open architecture to support multiple simultaneous VNFs,” James Buchanan, general manager of edge cloud at ADVA, said in a prepared statement.

Enterprises that want to virtualize WAN infrastructure can do it themselves, but that requires organizations to pick a software vendor, a hardware vendor, and then test their ability to work together before constantly monitoring and maintaining operations, Yee explained. Think of uCPE as a “network optimized server” or “hardware host” that is specifically designed for VNFs, he said.

The ADVA Ensemble Connector is now available on Dell EMC’s Virtual Edge Platform in the United States and will be available worldwide by the end of this month, the companies announced.