The Key to a Deeper Understanding of SD-WAN Technology
SD-WAN automates network management by enabling centralized policy creation, zero-touch provisioning, and WAN optimization. It improves application performance and security, provides visibility, and simplifies WAN infrastructure architecture. Unlike early SD-WAN predecessors that focused on link bonding to improve last-mile availability, SD-WAN takes a more holistic approach to performance by optimizing applications and routing traffic intelligently.
Cost
What is SD WAN technology? SD-WAN, or Software-Defined Wide Area Network, is a revolutionary approach to connecting geographically dispersed networks. The cost of SD-WAN technology can vary depending on a variety of factors. These include the size of the network, the number of locations, and the type of data transported over it. The cost of the hardware and software required to deploy SD-WAN will also affect costs. Identifying the core use cases that SD-WAN can support is a good starting point for organizations looking to reduce their WAN costs. This will help them narrow their options and compare apples to apples in pricing. Then, they can begin identifying vendors that support their specific use case. Another factor that influences the cost of SD-WAN is the amount of bandwidth needed. This is measured by the aggregate download speed of all existing circuits and compared to the maximum available bandwidth to determine what equipment needs to be deployed. The price of internet access will also influence the cost. By offloading WAN traffic to the internet, organizations can use more economical connections such as FTTC (Fiber to the Cabinet), providing faster speeds and lower latency than MPLS. The pricing of SD-WAN can also vary depending on whether it is purchased as a fully managed service or as a DIY (do-it-yourself) solution. Buying a fully managed SD-WAN will become more common as IT teams adopt the SaaS (Software as a Service) cloud model. This typically involves a monthly recurring fee and may require upfront hardware costs and professional services to install the solution.
Performance
With businesses increasingly relying on SaaS applications, application performance and end-user experience are top priorities for IT teams. SD-WAN offers several ways to improve application performance, including WAN optimization technologies, automatic failover, and routing traffic around slow or broken connections. Using traditional MPLS to backhaul data from branches to central locations is expensive and requires on-site equipment, capital, and operational/personnel investment. SD-WAN eliminates this by allowing the WAN to use multiple connection types (such as broadband, LTE, or MPLS) interchangeably based on the needs of each application. This also helps reduce network bandwidth costs by optimizing data flow and lowering latency. A business-driven SD-WAN intelligently monitors underlay performance and proactively redirects traffic to the best path, boosting performance and improving user experience. SD-WAN as a service, or Cloud-First Managed SD-WAN, can further improve uptime and reduce operational costs by consolidating internet circuits at sites and centrally managing connectivity. This lowers bandwidth costs and makes connecting to company applications easier for remote employees. It also enables IT teams to ship small offices/home offices (SOHO) appliances quickly and efficiently so that staff can connect to the WAN over existing internet or cell connections.
Security
Security is one of the biggest concerns among businesses looking to adopt SD-WAN technology. Most vendors and providers have addressed this issue by supporting IPsec standards and integrating protection into their solutions. Some SD-WANs also provide micro-segmentation, which enables IT staff to isolate and assign network traffic to specific links. This minimizes the attack surface and protects critical data. Traditional WAN setups backhaul all remote office connections to the central data center, exposing these users to sophisticated attacks. SD-WAN solutions bring business intent into the WAN architecture through a secure cloud IP platform integrating networking and security capabilities in one converged infrastructure. This approach reduces complexity, improves application performance, and ensures consistent security across the enterprise network. A typical SD-WAN enables IT to prioritize traffic and choose the best path to the cloud or SaaS applications. This allows for higher data transfer speeds and better user experience. This increases productivity, customer satisfaction, and, ultimately, profitability for the organization. A secure SD-WAN solution uses an encrypted tunnel between each appliance to send and receive information. This provides a more reliable and stable connection, eliminating the need to use private circuits for all traffic. When a problem arises, the network can redirect traffic to another path, minimizing downtime. It can also provide a seamless failover with a sub-second delay, ensuring business operations don’t halt.
Flexibility
With cloud computing driving application performance demands, traditional WAN architectures using MPLS leased lines are increasingly becoming a barrier to network agility and cost efficiency. SD-WAN technology allows organizations to rely less on expensive private MPLS connections by sending low-priority data over cheaper public internet paths while reserving private links for mission-critical or latency-sensitive applications. An SD-WAN can use various connection types to deliver business applications and services, such as multiprotocol label switching (MPLS), broadband internet, virtual private networks (VPNs), and wireless options. This gives remote and mobile workers access to corporate applications regardless of location. When a WAN connection fails or experiences congestion, an SD-WAN automatically redirects traffic to another path, offering higher performance, lower latency, and excellent reliability. This capability eliminates the need to maintain costly backup circuits and improves application performance, reducing operational costs. In addition, an SD-WAN can automatically prioritize specific applications and services by marking them and routing them via best-performing WAN paths. This helps businesses optimize UCaaS, IoT, and edge computing performance while improving security, bandwidth efficiency, and scalability. Finally, an effective SD-WAN solution can simplify WAN management and configuration by combining a single visual interface with unified control and visibility. This reduces IT workload and simplifies the deployment of new equipment or services. This is especially important for enterprises that rely on a managed service provider (MSP) to implement and support their technology infrastructure.