SD-WAN or Software-Defined-Wide-Area-Networks have made strides to improve the solution and should be considered for your business and how they differ from traditional WANs. The improvements are stated below.

Increased Performance

When it comes to networks, not all traffic is created equally. Luckily, SD-WANs can be configured to give business-critical traffic and real-time services. Such as Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) priority, effectively steering them over the best routes. By facilitating critical applications through a high-performance, reliable, and uninterrupted connection, IT teams, can help lower the chance of packet loss and reduce latency problems. This will help with increased staff productivity and increased morale. Until the explosive popularity of cloud computing and smartphones, MPLS held its place at the top of the enterprise WAN as the best technology on the market. But as cloud and mobile computing took hold of society, the flaws inherent to MPLS began to come to light.

SD-WAN Enhances Security

A digital transformation can improve customer satisfaction and expand an organization’s market reach, but it poses significant security risks. Even though 41% of respondents reported an increase in cybersecurity incidents in 2017, Software Defined WAN solutions typically have built-in security features. Most solutions’ basic firewall and VPN functions are often insufficient, forcing IT teams to overlay security later on elastic and dynamic connections. Moreover, the solution offers NGFW, IPS, encryption, AV, and sandboxing capabilities to prevent data loss, downtime, regulatory violations, and legal liability.

HOw SD-WAN Reduces Complexity

Digital transformation projects add complexity to an IT network, not just an increased risk of network under-performance and network overcrowding but also the requirement of personnel who must be physically on-site at a remote location. For those struggling to balance all IT tasks, a Software Defined WAN solution can streamline your WAN, using broadband to manage non-critical business applications and alleviate IT responsibilities, automating many everyday tasks and finally offering centralized visibility for both L and WAN. While other solutions provide integration for larger-scale networks, if your organization already manages its infrastructure internally, you should consider this type of solution that also includes LAN-wide deployment to allow centralized security and management. You may be interested to know that long provisioning times with MPLS can cause significant bottlenecks, but MPLS has management issues that go well beyond that. As a company gets bigger, WAN management gets more complicated. Managing security and WAN optimization in a network with several appliances, such as routers and load balancers, can be cumbersome, especially as the size of the organization increases. Also, seeing a view of the entire network at once may be difficult and lead to response times and monitor frequency issues. Cloud-based Sofware driven WAN is critical because it gives the user an integrated and centralized view of a scalable network.

Promotes Cloud Usage

In an era when many organizations are adopting cloud services, Software Define-WAN technology will help us direct all remote traffic back to the primary office. By routing cloud and branch office traffic through the data center, we can connect to and access cloud-based applications from different places. The software-defined wide area network boosts your company’s overall performance with guaranteed optimal results. We already discussed a few ways that cloud-based SD-WAN magnifies the benefits. Conversely, it is essential to point out that it solves one of the most common objections MPLS advocates have raised. In the past, you could have said that the lack of SLAs made the solution unready for enterprise-level real-time traffic. Furthermore, the cloud-based solution grants enterprises all the benefits of an integrated security suite with SLA-backed support from Tier-1 ISPs across the globe.

SD-WAN Lowers the TCO

Cloud-based application usage in companies is at an all-time high, meaning an immense amount of data flows over the Wide Area Networks. Speaking from a benefit view, a software-defined solution would lessen the cost of that traffic by leveraging the nearby, cheap and fast Local Area Network connection for business. For example, a recent IDC survey showed that a quarter of survey respondents anticipate saving more than 39%, while two-thirds expect 5-19% savings. Cost per unit will depend on factors such as geographic location. MPLS is a significantly higher cost on a dollar-per-bit basis, and it’s not going away anytime soon. However, MPLS isn’t just more expensive because of increased bandwidth costs. Setting up an MPLS can often take weeks or months due to provisioning delays, while Software Defined WAN deployment happens within days. As in other spheres, time is business money. However, removing the WAN as a bottleneck is a significant competitive advantage. In this comparison, the new alternative looks far more attractive. Depending on the intricacies of your network, your settings may vary.

Conclusion

Although there isn’t a correct answer for every WAN challenge, it is a suitable solution for most modern enterprises. MPLS will continue to hold a place in the market for years, but the alternative offers a better solution for modern enterprises. Businesses can now benefit from secure, reliable, and current options offered via cloud-based services that provide both agility and reliable SLAs.

Want to learn more about Software Defined WAN and how the solution could benefit your business? Contact Cloud DFW