SD-WAN is an emerging networking technology that brings significant improvements to business connectivity. It helps improve application performance and provides network resiliency.
Learn about SD-WAN and its benefits, which include centralized management, application-based routing, and the ability to prioritize traffic and maximize bandwidth utilization. The solution also provides flexibility and scalability. It can be deployed in minutes and is less costly than traditional MPLS connections.
Cost-Effectiveness
By centrally deploying and configuring SD-WAN across multiple locations, businesses can reduce the complexity, resources, and opex of setting up and managing new connections. This translates into a cost-effective solution for businesses with many sites, especially those that require remote or mobile access to critical applications.
Retailers and construction companies frequently oversee numerous sites that need dependable bandwidth access. With SD-WAN, these companies can easily add or move sites without risking existing network infrastructure and with a single bill from one service provider and a point of contact for technical support.
Furthermore, as businesses invest in digital technologies that boost productivity, they must establish quick and reliable connectivity for those services at all sites. SD-WAN will allow them to do so with a simple deployment process and ensure each location has the capacity it needs through dynamic path selection. This will enable businesses to better keep track of application performance and end-user experience at each site. Furthermore, SD-WAN enables businesses to utilize lower-cost broadband Internet links for their WAN needs, which will also help reduce costs.
Security
The shift to cloud-based applications brings major security and compliance issues into the enterprise. Accessing these apps via broadband internet opens the enterprise to new vulnerabilities, but utilizing SD-WAN technology to manage WAN connections can help improve network security and performance.
SD-WAN is a networking technology that uses software to intelligently route traffic across the best network connection based on real-time data. This helps enterprises increase performance, particularly for latency-sensitive applications. It also reduces networking expenses by enabling organizations to use less expensive internet connections for some types of network traffic.
Previously, WAN connectivity was managed through specialized hardware devices like routers. The process of setting up and configuring these devices was time-consuming and error-prone. However, SD-WAN decouples the networking hardware from the control mechanism to simplify these tasks.
Flexibility
Whether a business is preparing for a global expansion or simply looking to improve the performance of critical cloud and on-premises applications, having the ability to quickly and easily connect remote sites is essential. Traditional networking solutions, such as Multi-protocol Label Switching (MPLS) links, are costly and have lengthy lead times to add capacity and connect new locations.
SD-WAN optimizes application performance with real-time analytics, enabling IT to prioritize mission-critical traffic and route data via the best transport available, regardless of WAN or internet connection type. With zero-touch provisioning and automatic network administration, IT can reduce complexity, resources, and opex to set up and manage devices.
SD-WAN also enables organizations to direct web traffic from branch offices back to the cloud more efficiently rather than being “backhauled” to a corporate data center. This significantly increases web application speed and performance while reducing bandwidth consumption and costs. This is especially important for organizations with remote offices, cloud/SaaS, and other edge initiatives.
Scalability
SD-WAN decouples the networking hardware from its control mechanism by applying software-defined principles to improve network management. This provides a simpler, more cost-effective approach to manage and operate the WAN. It also eliminates reliance on proprietary protocols, which can be expensive and time-consuming to set up and manage.
By dynamically routing traffic over multiple network paths, SD-WANs enable businesses to improve application performance and reliability. They can prioritize critical traffic and real-time services like voice over IP (VoIP) and avert problems such as packet loss, latency, and poor response times.
Another way that SD-WANs can reduce networking expenses is by utilizing low-price broadband Internet connections for data traffic. This can save on expensive MPLS links for mission-critical traffic while providing sub-second failover to protect against transport outages.
SD-WAN enables businesses to quickly add or remove bandwidth as needed, increasing flexibility and scalability. This makes it easier for companies to scale their operations as they grow, avoiding costly infrastructure upgrades that can slow down business productivity. Moreover, it allows companies to improve organizational uptime by reducing the average organization downtime to four hours a year, which boosts productivity and customer satisfaction.
Deployment
SD-WAN is a technology that helps businesses stay connected. It directs traffic through low-cost network connections (e.g., broadband internet) while saving higher-performance network connections (such as MPLS circuits) for the most important applications. This allows organizations to optimize their networking investments and maintain high levels of performance and security.
Traditional WANs were designed for an era when most business data stayed on-premises. Today, business connectivity demands are more complex and include the need to support cloud/SaaS apps and multiple connection types. These demands result in increased management complexity and unpredictability of application performance.
Using a software abstraction layer that enables WAN virtualization, SD-WAN helps simplify operations and increase control. It provides centralized network visibility and automated policy-based frameworks that help ensure compliance with corporate security standards. In addition, it allows enterprises to use a wide variety of link and provider options – including MPLS, cable, Internet, VPNs, and wireless – while also managing traffic based on performance.
