SpeedFusion is the proprietary technology that powers Peplink’s VPN solutions. Built for Peplink routers, it allows you to combine multiple connections into a single VPN tunnel. That empowers numerous features that help you maintain unbreakable connectivity, including session-persistent hot failover, bonding of WAN connections, WAN smoothing, and forward error correction.
SpeedFusion is very versatile and is appropriate for a wide range of applications. But which configuration is right for your application?
Read our article on hot failover, bonding and load balancing.
Traditional SpeedFusion vs. SpeedFusion Connect Protect
SpeedFusion technology is available in traditional and cloud-based versions.
Traditional SpeedFusion
Traditionally, SpeedFusion requires two Peplink devices with SpeedFusion technology to serve as endpoints. Frequently, those two devices are a “headquarters” device in a primary location and a branch device at, for example, a home office or a field deployment.
When only one physical device exists, a second endpoint can be established using FusionHub, Peplink’s virtual SpeedFusion appliance.
So, for a traditional SpeedFusion deployment, network administrators must have either:
- A second location with a physical SpeedFusion-enabled router, or
- a virtual VPN termination point (FusionHub) hosted locally on a hypervisor or on a cloud platform like AWS or Azure.
SpeedFusion Connect Protect
Though FusionHub makes it possible to use SpeedFusion technology on a single physical Peplink device, the time and expertise required to configure a FusionHub virtual appliance in the cloud isn’t realistic for a lot of users and applications. That’s why Peplink created SpeedFusion Connect Protect.
Initially launched in response to the widespread remote-work challenges associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, SpeedFusion Connect Protect makes SpeedFusion technology far more accessible. Composed of a global network of FusionHub nodes, SpeedFusion Connect Protect provides access to preconfigured FusionHub virtual appliances on a subscription basis.
SpeedFusion Connect Protect is ideal for smaller deployments without separate locations, or for users who don’t have experience with cloud computing deployments.
Example Use Case: A Public Transportation Startup
To show how each SpeedFusion configuration can be applied, consider the case of a growing public transportation startup.
SpeedFusion Cloud
Our startup transportation company is looking to provide wireless internet to their riders and wants to use hot failover so users can maintain their connections when switching between carriers along bus routes.
Being a startup, the transportation company doesn’t have a technical team with the experience necessary to implement a FusionHub installation in a cloud platform like AWS or a locally-hosted hypervisor like VMWare. SpeedFusion Connect Protect allows them to pay annually for each device to connect to a Peplink-run FusionHub and achieve their desired hot failover without needing to hire technical staff with cloud platform or local hypervisor experience.
Traditional SpeedFusion VPN between two physical routers
Later, the same company decides to implement a ticket counting and fare system that requires traffic from the systems on the buses to be sent to a server at the main office. They choose to replace their edge router with a Peplink router that allows for cellular failover. The company can now easily create SpeedFusion connections between their buses and the Peplink router at the office in order to provide hot failover, as well as to connect the ticket counter to the main server. This solution makes the SpeedFusion Connect Protect setup no longer necessary, saving money on its recurring subscription fee.
SpeedFusion using a cloud platform like AWS or Azure
As this same transportation company grows, they find that the internet traffic from their riders is becoming too much for their office internet provider—there simply isn’t enough bandwidth to go around. Luckily, they’ve hired a network engineer with experience in AWS implementations. With their engineer’s knowledge of AWS, the company can now install a FusionHub in the AWS cloud and create SpeedFusion tunnels from the buses to the AWS deployment. As an added advantage, they can now also create a SpeedFusion tunnel from the office to the AWS deployment, allowing the office to benefit from hot failover, as well.
SpeedFusion using a locally-hosted hypervisor
With their growing ridership, our transportation company becomes established in the community and decides to enter into an agreement with a local school to provide bus services to students. In order to comply with the school’s policies, the agreement stipulates that any internet access provided to student riders must use the school’s existing firewall. The school already has a local VMWare server running where they can install a locally-hosted FusionHub. Internet traffic from buses used by students can now be directed through SpeedFusion VPNs to the locally-hosted FusionHub, where it can be directed out through the school’s firewall.
