Cloudflare wants to give your network a little bit of magic
Magic WAN is Cloudflare's alternative to legacy corporate networks
Cloudflare is attempting to reinvent the corporate network with the launch of Magic WAN with Magic Firewall so that businesses can more easily support a distributed workforce.
Magic WAN with Magic Firewall will provide businesses of all sizes with a one-stop-shop to connect and secure their data, devices, offices, cloud networks and more without having to rely on hardware boxes.
While Magic WAN is a SaaS solution that connects any traffic source to Cloudflare's global network, Magic firewall integrates with it to enforce security rules across all traffic. By using the company's new solution, businesses will be able to speed up their network and add security at a fraction of the cost when compared to legacy MPLS architecture.
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Co-founder and CEO of Cloudflare, Matthew Prince provided further insight on the benefits of Magic WAN in a press release, saying:
"Companies burn significant resources provisioning and maintaining legacy connectivity technologies like MPLS. With Magic WAN, we’re leveraging Cloudflare’s global network to offer reliable, faster, much more cost-effective connectivity with security built in. And by partnering with the leading SD-WAN vendors, we can ensure Magic WAN can be a drop-in replacement for legacy connectivity solutions. The modern enterprise network deserves a modern take on networking, and Magic WAN is just that."
Cloudflare One
As workforces have become increasingly distributed, employees have become frustrated with the slow speeds of VPN services and security teams must now maintain an expensive patchwork of solutions. At the same time though, this legacy approach was not designed to support businesses that rely on the internet for critical workplace apps.
For these reasons, Cloudflare created its cloud-based network-as-a-service solution Cloudflare One which launched in October of last year. Now the company is expanding its Cloudflare One suite with Magic WAN and Magic Firewall.
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Magic WAN can securely connect any traffic source to Cloudflare's global network to enable customers to configure public and private routing policies to get traffic where it needs to go. Magic Firewall on the other hand allows businesses to define security rules for their network from one central dashboard to help keep employees, offices and data secure wherever they are.
Additionally, as Cloudflare is both carrier and hardware agnostic, businesses can use whichever hardware and partners they currently have to connect to its network and gain resiliency.
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After working with the TechRadar Pro team for the last several years, Anthony is now the security and networking editor at Tom’s Guide where he covers everything from data breaches and ransomware gangs to the best way to cover your whole home or business with Wi-Fi. When not writing, you can find him tinkering with PCs and game consoles, managing cables and upgrading his smart home.