Kalaam Telecom, the second largest Internet service provider (ISP) in Bahrain, partnered with Versa Networks to bring software-defined wide area networking (SD-WAN) to its enterprise customers in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region.

GCC member states include Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.

“One of the challenges in different parts of the Middle East is that it’s difficult for multisite enterprises to connect multiple sites because they’re relying on older technologies like MPLS,” said Mark Weiner, chief marketing officer at Versa. “I think [SD-WAN] is just a matter of speed of adoption in these emerging parts of the globe where these technologies might be a little behind.”

Specifically, Kalaam will deploy Versa’s Cloud IP Platform in its data centers. From there, it can create its own managed services and provide multiple transport links such as MPLS, DSL, or broadband, to its enterprise customers. Enterprises also have the option of using connectivity from other providers as well.

Kalaam picked Versa’s platform because it allows them to build a custom, flexible service on top of it and is coupled with advanced analytics and security features.

For example, Versa’s Cloud IP Platform comes with firewalls, UTM, distributed denial of service (DDoS), antivirus, and DNS security. It can also provide insight into what applications are being accessed, what the most optimal transport links are, the URLs that were visited, and the best security option for a particular service.

Kalaam will provide its customers with a white box appliance that runs x86 servers.