Haier Europe adopts Orange Business Evolution Platform to build a scalable, secure, and responsive infrastructure to support its growth

Haier Europe, part of Haier Smart Home – number one company globally in major appliances with brands such as Candy, Hoover and Haier – has chosen Orange Business connectivity and IoT services to help innovate its sustainable solutions, while optimizing resource consumption and extending the life of products.

As part of its drive to establish itself as a composable, data-driven enterprise, Haier Europe was seeking a flexible platform to support its vision to be the first consumer choice for smart home solutions. The digital, on-demand, and modular solution proposed by Orange Business contributes to Haier’s design, production, and consumption practices. For example, the company is currently developing an innovative servitization model called ‘pay-per-wash’, which is managed directly by Haier’s apps.

A way of simplifying complexity

With Evolution Platform, Orange Business has defined a roadmap based on orchestrating three pivotal building blocks, which are cloud, connectivity, and cybersecurity. The initial Haier deployment includes Flexible SD-WAN, with Orange Business consultants advising on the underlay and overlay options to best suit the business.

Security is delivered via a protection suite to secure 5,000 users supported by the management skills of Orange Cyberdefense. Orange cloud connectivity provides secure access to multi-clouds via SD-WAN. This is all managed by a customer portal together with a network performance monitoring solution to provide both control and visibility.

“As part of our transformation, we needed a platform that would help us optimize operations and efficiencies within our cloud-first strategy. Orange Business provides us with an agile and composable platform, simplifying cloud connectivity and automation, while being elastic enough to satisfy our dynamic business model and digital ambitions,” explained Simone Pezzoli, Group Chief Digital Technology Officer, Haier Europe.

“Haier Europe will benefit from our cloud, connectivity, and security expertise through Evolution Platform. This highly optimized platform is designed to accelerate digital transformation while providing high visibility on processes to enhance business performance,” said Francesca Puggioni, Managing Director, Southern Europe, Orange Business. “We are excited for the opportunity to offer this solution to a leading company like Haier Europe and support them in their digital journey.”s.

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Orange Business and VMware, Inc. (NYSE: VMW) are strengthening their partnership to deliver Flexible SD-WAN with VMware as the first fully embedded SD-WAN offering in Evolution Platform. The Orange Business Evolution Platform combines a secured digital infrastructure with an agile, cloud approach to order and manage services.

Cloud has become the benchmark for customer experience. Performance and trust are now non-negotiable, and innovation is the catalyst for customers’ transformation roadmaps. Orange Business is transforming the way it provides the latest services from its ecosystem of partners, natively and digitally via Evolution Platform. The service platform enables enterprise customers to compose their own mix of services to meet their evolving business requirements, while benefiting from the performance of the Orange world-class infrastructure and global expertise.

Enterprises can access a catalog of products, including Flexible SD-WAN with VMware, via a self-service console or through an API, using Evolution Platform. Automation and service chaining in the platform simplify the management of the customer’s entire digital infrastructure for secured user-to-cloud and cloud-to-cloud connectivity, as well as for voice services. It also enables end-to-end visibility and service guarantees.

Flexible SD-WAN with VMware addresses the needs of today’s highly distributed, latency-sensitive workloads, applications, and devices at the edge. It provides advanced automation capabilities and an optimal user experience when accessing remote applications. This equals significantly improved employee productivity. Organizations can bring up sites faster, using 5G, LTE, Wi-Fi, or satellite for hard-to-service locations. Edge devices are auto-provisioned, lowering both IT costs and deployment times.

Orange Business customers consuming Flexible SD-WAN with VMware via Evolution Platform will benefit from a global network of Super Points of Presence (PoPs). These Super PoPs are located strategically on the Orange Tier 1 global backbone, close to the customer and cloud providers, significantly lowering latency for applications and services, as well as providing needed business agility.

“In today's digital-first business environment, the demand for a resilient, adaptable and secured network infrastructure has never been more critical. We welcome VMware on board Evolution Platform. Its SD-WAN offering will provide our customers with choice and interoperability, enabling them to build the ideal network for their business,” said Jean-Noël Michel, vice president, Communication Services, Orange Business.

“We’re excited to bring the flexibility and enhanced performance of VMware SD-WAN to Evolution Platform by Orange Business,” said Sanjay Uppal, senior vice president and general manager, Service Provider and Edge, VMware. “As a key element of our software-define edge portfolio, SD-WAN allows organizations to modernize their digital infrastructure and monetize their network overlays by reducing networking infrastructure, providing zero trust and zero-touch pull-based capabilities and network programmability. Together with Orange Business, we will provide a more secure, reliable and scalable connectivity to organizations of all sizes across all industries.”

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Evolution Platform is a cloud native, fully automated and unique end-to-end value proposition with multiple vendors and multi-type partner store. A state-of-the-art combination of skills to enable vendors to develop new business leveraging on Orange Business’ spearhead connectivity services.

With Evolution Platform you will have access to 4,000 international B2B customers and Orange’s footprint. Thus being part of Evolution Platform ecosystem enables you to extend your business reach and build a recurring revenue stream.

Orange Teams operate in more than 200 countries and territories to roll out and supervise customers’ networks and digital solutions at all times with support 24/7 around the clock.

Evolution Platform is a cloud native, fully automated, and deterministic platform. It makes it possible to seamlessly chain and integrate connectivity services from various providers and integrators in a composable mode. Based on a new model with shared responsibilities and on key principles such as a “pay as you go” approach, Evolution Platform makes it possible to go to market faster, with a wide variety of services, to address all customers segments.

Becoming an Evolution Platform partner you will join a dynamic ecosystem alongside a global and leading player. You will be able to expand your business reach by taking advantage of the large Orange Business customer base, supported by efficient sales teams around the world, and you will increase your customer stickiness.

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In a world where remote work and cloud computing have become the norm, the traditional network security model is no longer sufficient to protect organizations from evolving threats. Enter SASE, or Secure Access Service Edge, a transformative concept that redefines network security by integrating it with wide area networking (WAN) capabilities. In this blog post, we'll explore what SASE is, its key components, and why it's poised to revolutionize the way we think about network security.

Understanding SASE​

SASE represents a paradigm shift in the world of network security. It brings together network security and WAN capabilities into a unified cloud-based service. This convergence of technologies offers several key advantages:

Simplified Architecture​

SASE simplifies network architecture by consolidating security and network services into a single cloud-based platform. This eliminates the need for complex, disjointed security solutions, making it easier for organizations to manage their network infrastructure.

Improved Performance​

With SASE, traffic is routed through the cloud, allowing for more efficient data transmission and reducing latency. This is crucial for businesses that rely on real-time applications, such as video conferencing and VoIP, for their daily operations.

Enhanced Security​

SASE employs a "zero-trust" security model, meaning that trust is never assumed, even for users and devices within the corporate network. Security policies are enforced based on user identity, device health, and the context of the connection, ensuring that only authorized users and devices gain access to resources.

Scalability and Flexibility​

SASE solutions can easily scale to meet the needs of growing organizations. As businesses expand or contract, they can adjust their SASE services accordingly, without the need for significant infrastructure changes.

Cost-Efficiency​

By centralizing network and security services in the cloud, organizations can reduce the need for on-premises hardware and maintenance costs. SASE also enables organizations to pay only for the services they use, making it a cost-effective solution.

Key Components of SASE​

SASE incorporates various components to deliver its comprehensive network security and WAN capabilities:

• Secure Web Gateways (SWG): These provide real-time protection against web-based threats by inspecting all web traffic and filtering malicious content.

• Firewall as a Service (FWaaS): Cloud-based firewalls enforce security policies and access controls, ensuring that data remains protected.

• Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA): ZTNA verifies user identities and device trustworthiness before granting access to network resources, reducing the attack surface.

• Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB): CASBs provide visibility and control over data as it moves between on-premises environments and the cloud.

• Wide Area Network (WAN) Optimization: WAN optimization technologies enhance network performance, especially for remote and branch offices.

Conclusion​

SASE is redefining the way organizations approach network security in an era of digital transformation. By integrating network security and WAN capabilities into a unified cloud-based service, SASE offers simplicity, performance, and scalability. Embracing SASE can help organizations adapt to the changing landscape of remote work and cloud computing while ensuring their networks remain secure and agile. As the business world continues to evolve, SASE is poised to play a central role in shaping the future of secure network access.

Discover the SASE service on Evolution Platform

In today's world, where businesses increasingly rely on extensive networks for their daily operations, technology is evolving rapidly to meet these growing demands. One such groundbreaking technology that is changing the game is SD-WAN, or Software-Defined Wide Area Network. In this article, we will explore what SD-WAN means for businesses and why it should be at the top of the priority list for network managers.

Understanding SD-WAN​

Before delving into the details of the benefits of SD-WAN, let's first understand what it truly is. SD-WAN is a technology that relies on network virtualization, enabling the management and optimization of connectivity over vast geographical areas. Unlike traditional WAN networks, SD-WAN utilizes software to control traffic distribution, enhance performance, and ensure data security.

The Advantages of SD-WAN​

Flexibility and Agility​

One of the most significant advantages of SD-WAN is its flexibility. Companies can quickly adapt their network to changing needs without dealing with lengthy and costly hardware configuration processes. This means configuration changes can be implemented in minutes rather than weeks, allowing businesses to remain agile in an ever-evolving business environment.

Cost Reduction​

SD-WAN can also lead to substantial cost savings. By optimizing traffic distribution, companies can reduce their reliance on expensive WAN links. Additionally, increased automation reduces the workload on IT staff, resulting in additional savings.

Performance Improvement​

Intelligent traffic management in an SD-WAN network ensures efficient data routing based on requirements. This translates into a significant improvement in network performance, crucial for latency-sensitive applications such as VoIP and video conferencing.

Advanced Security​

Security is a major concern for all businesses. SD-WAN solutions often incorporate advanced security features, including end-to-end encryption, threat detection, and centralized security policy management. This enhances the protection of sensitive data and ensures networks remain secure.

Centralized Management​

SD-WAN enables centralized network management, greatly facilitating monitoring and maintenance. Administrators can view the entire network from a single interface, simplifying issue resolution and policy enforcement.

Conclusion​

SD-WAN is more than just an evolution of traditional WAN networks. It is a revolutionary technology that offers significant advantages in terms of flexibility, cost reduction, performance improvement, and security. Businesses that adopt SD-WAN are better positioned to meet the demands of their network operations in the digital age. If you haven't considered it yet, it's time to put SD-WAN on your priority list to remain competitive in the ever-evolving business world.

Discover the SD-WAN service on Evolution Platform