Digital transformation is imperative for all businesses, be it small scale or enterprise. Implementing this brings in fundamental changes to how businesses operate and how they deliver value to customers. With the emergence of SaaS and Cloud-based applications, the bandwidth requirements of businesses across all their branches have grown exponentially. This increases the load and complexity on the enterprise WAN network. Backhauling traffic from the branch to the headoffice and to the internet and back again doesn not make sense. Users usually experience that the business apps run faster at their home or on their mobile device than their office. As cloud-based applications grow, traditional WAN infrastructure wont be able to support this surge of bandwidth demand , agility and security that is needed in the race to digital transformation.
WHAT IS SD-WAN
SD-WAN solution addresses these issues and provides numerous advantages to traditional enterprise networks. it uses multiple links, be it MPLS or broadband, and creates an aggregate virtual link. It dynamically routes traffic based on individual link performance.
SD-WAN provides a centralized control for the entire enterprise wan connectivity, increasing visibility and control. It enables automatic push of configurations to each network node and also delivers realtime analytics and reporting. SD-WAN allows IT and business managers to quickly and easily deploy internet-based connectivity that provides a secured and reliable connection, with better bandwidth and lower costs. This new way of looking at the network gives the needed flexibility and responsiveness, together with the control and security necessary to deliver the needs of the new distributed enterprise.
Benefits of SD-WAN
- Service delivery – A SD-WAN solution enables enterprises to use less expensive, quickly deployed broadband links as opposed to purchasing additional private lines when scaling up applications for offices. This means that a new office or branch can be provisioned almost instantly when utilizing an internet broadband or LTE solution due to the configuration , orchestration and rapid provisioning of SD-WAN
- Performance – A SD-WAN solution has the ability to recognize latency-sensitive and mission critical workloads, and through the aggregation of available connections, can ensure that high-quality data transfer is maintained during busy periods. SD-WAN also supports dynamic path selection, which ensures congestion points are identified quickly and results in optimized load balancing and congestion management, minimizing the number of dropped packets
- Availability – SD-WAN allows for rapid deployment of WAN services (bandwidth and firewall) without the need of IT personnel. Configurations allow for the availability of Zero-Touch provisioning which reduces manual configuration of devices, scaling an SD-WAN solution is easy, bandwidth can be easily added or reduced as business requirements evolve, providing organizations with the agility they need to stay ahead of competitors
- Security – SD-WAN security is flexible. Fast key-reprogramming guarantees non leakage of data. Always converged policy table means lower risk of unwanted access. Intent driven policies for access control, users and applications creates a water tight perimeter across the branch networks. Network segmentation and isolation can be achieved within seconds, rather than complex configuration commands or scripting infrastructures.