Global SD-WAN provider Silver Peak offers companies the ability to access the cloud with a self-driving wide area network. Recently, the innovative company announced that the Unify EdgeConnect SD-WAN platform had earned the “Miercom Performance Verification certification.”
Miercom, an organisation known for publishing hundreds of product analysis reports over the years, awarded the certification following a stringent series of real-world VoIP test scenarios. The EdgeConnect platform managed to maintain high-quality VoIP performance using consumer-grade broadband links, despite increasing levels of packet loss and network congestion.
Testing EdgeConnect for Cloud Performance
As the cloud becomes an increasingly popular source of business applications, enterprises have often had to choose between being able to deliver high-quality voice and keeping costs low. Higher-cost transportation services like DIA and MPLS have prevented many companies from discovering the true potential of SD-WAN and the cloud.
The recent testing from Miercom validates the value of Silver Peak’s EdgeConnect solution as the SD-WAN service ideal for delivering toll-quality voice over consumer broadband. According to Derek Granath, the VP of product marketing for Silver Peak, EdgeConnect is the only service capable of consistently providing the highest-quality of service for VoIP over broadband, with a MOS consistently greater than 3.0 even in impaired conditions.
The Results of the Miercom Test
The Miercom test discovered that EdgeConnect was capable of maintaining a high-quality performance regardless of various complex test scenarios. For instance, in Test Scenario one:
- Low quality and low loss: A baseline test was conducted to ensure that EdgeConnect could perform according to the expected levels of an SD-WAN solution. Quality was also impaired using a packet loss of under 2%
- With the path conditioning enabled, EdgeConnect maintained voice quality with over 7% packet loss, representing a 4 times improvement
In test scenario two, Miercom discovered:
- Exceptional-quality service with greater than 55% packet loss and one link performing normally while the other experiences severe packet loss. EdgeConnect provides sustained high VoIP quality, and end-users experienced no voice service degradation or disruption at any point during the test scenario
In test scenario three, Miercom found:
- High performance despite significant loss: During the third examination, Miercom exposed EdgeConnect to equal amounts of packet loss on both underlay links. Even with 40% total packet loss, the end user maintained a good quality of service
According to the CEO of Miercom, Rob Smithers, the Silver Peak Unity Edge Connect platform offered fantastic voice quality even in complex times of peak congestion and complete service blackout conditions, using high-availability tunnel bonding and path conditioning. Based on excessive testing, Miercom was able to ascertain that the EdgeConnect platform can tolerate as much as 20% packet loss on both connections.
