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A security specialist looks at the overlay. A network specialist looks at the underlay. But what if the performance of both becomes ever more intertwined, while you still view them in separate tools? That is where blind spots appear, exactly where the two layers meet.
In short. Underlay and overlay are becoming increasingly dependent on each other. That is why the GlobalControl portal reads the performance of your security network and your underlying internet connections not separately, but together, in one environment that every specialist can understand. We call it Converged Network Intelligence: full insight into usage and consumption, without blind spots.
Underlay and overlay: two layers, one reality
First, the basics. The underlay is the foundation: the physical internet connections, circuits and carriers that carry all your traffic. The overlay is the layer that runs on top of it: the secure network with its tunnels, policies and security services, as in SASE and SD-WAN.
For a long time these were two separate worlds. The network team watched the underlay, the security team the overlay, each in their own dashboard. That worked fine, as long as the two had little to do with each other.
Why that separation no longer holds
That time is over. In a SASE or SD-WAN architecture, the overlay rides entirely on the underlay. A small problem down below, packet loss on an internet line or a carrier that briefly falters, translates straight to the top: slower applications, stuttering security tunnels, a user calling to say it is "slow".
Look only at the overlay and you see the symptom but not the cause. Look only at the underlay and you see a line that "just works", missing its impact on the secured services. It is precisely in that gap that the blind spots appear, along with the familiar back-and-forth between network and security teams about where it is really going wrong.
The performance of your network and your security are no longer two separate stories. We read them together, in one view that every specialist can understand.
John van der Zwaan, Product Manager Momentum EMEA
Converged Network Intelligence: everything in one view
That is why the GlobalControl portal brings both layers neatly together. All statistics from the security network and the underlying internet connections are visible directly from the portal, in one environment.
Whether you look from a security or a network angle: you read the performance from your own discipline, but based on the same complete picture. The portal understands that performance always has to be read from more than one discipline, and presents it so that every specialist can work with it right away.
That is Converged Network Intelligence: your own environment in which underlay and overlay are not shown side by side, but in context.
Scale up and down, with insight into usage and consumption
Insight is only complete when you can act on it. In the GlobalControl portal you scale services and connections up and down with direct, full insight into usage and consumption.
See a site approaching its bandwidth limit? Then you know straight away whether that sits in the underlay or the overlay, and whether scaling up or down is the right step. No guesswork, no separate reporting request, no blind spot. Just a well-founded choice, directly from the portal.
Part of the GlobalControl portal
Converged Network Intelligence is one of the many features within the GlobalControl portal, the place where organisations worldwide manage their connectivity, security, services and performance. We earlier showed how the postal code check gives you instant insight into the connectivity available at any location.
From monitoring and connectivity insights to invoices, tickets and service updates: it all comes together in one environment.
One portal. One overview. Fully in control.
Control belongs with the customer
What it ultimately comes down to is that control sits with the user, not with the supplier. Traditionally, the knowledge about underlay and overlay performance is scattered across carriers, tooling and account teams. We bring it together and put it in the portal, in the pocket of every network and security specialist.
Because a network you fully understand is a network you can scale up with confidence.
