Q&A with Seejo Sebastine of Hughes Network Systems

VSM: Before we talk about the Branch Server, could you please tell us a bit about Hughes’ Enterprise Solutions?

SS: Sure. Hughes provides managed broadband services, technology, and applications for some of the largest enterprises in North America. We have deployed and managed large-scale distributed enterprise networks for the largest Fortune 500 companies in retail, restaurant, hospitality and retail petroleum for over 30 years. We manage over 225,000 sites in the U.S. for customers such as ExxonMobil, Best Western, Denny’s, TJ Maxx and Safeway, and have significant expertise in large-scale deployments ranging in size up to 10,000+ sites in a single network. Over the years, through our long-standing relationships with our customers, we’ve gained deep insights into their vertical industries and we continually use this knowledge to develop new managed services that help these businesses improve efficiencies, contain costs, bring more customers in the door and meet their overall business growth objectives.

As an example, in the last few years we’ve engaged with some of our leading customers to craft blueprints for the communication and IT services that will enable the store or branch of the future for their vertical industries. The Hughes Branch Server is the platform that powers these “Branch of the Future” visions through a combination of Virtualization, IT services, and WAN Optimization at the branch.

VSM: What is the virtual Hughes Branch Server? How does it help these distributed enterprises?

SS: The Hughes Branch Server is a comprehensive virtualized platform for the branch. It powers Hughes’ Branch IT Services solution and offers both strategic and IT benefits to distributed enterprises. For IT managers, it brings the triple benefits of flexibility, cost-savings and performance gains to the branch.  At the same time, it also allows an ever increasing array of services that constitute the “Branch of the Future” to be deployed and managed seamlessly and efficiently across the WAN. As a fully managed, turnkey service it relieves customers of the need to deal with the operational complexities at the branch and instead focus on pursuing their business objectives.

The Branch Server provides these benefits through a managed virtualized platform that hosts both Hughes-provided and customer-provided virtual machines. We offer a suite of Hughes and partner applications for the vertical markets we serve, or customers can build and run their own industry-specific applications on the Branch Server. This can even include customer VDI implementations that deploy virtual desktops at the branch or deliver them from a central location.

As a single, integrated platform the Branch Server lowers the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) by 50 percent or more compared to do-it-yourself solutions for distributed enterprises. The bottom line is that the Branch Server brings the benefits of virtualization to distributed enterprises in a fully managed, affordable, and easy-to-deploy solution.