WANs (Wide Area networks) were crucial for the advancement of networking technology and significant for enterprises to connect and communicate between employees. One of the key aspects in the development of data communications technologies was the capacity to transmit data across long distances since it allowed for the elimination of distance restrictions.
WANs face significant operational challenges, such as network congestion, packet delay variation, packet loss, and even service outages. These challenges are brought on by the physical limitations and the requirement to integrate multiple service providers to cover global geographies. The need for bandwidth is also growing, particularly for applications that use high-definition video. Expanding WAN capabilities may be expensive and challenging, and managing and troubleshooting networks can be challenging as well.
To solve these network issues, SD-WAN solutions are suitable. Less-priced consumer-grade Internet lines can behave more like a dedicated circuit by improving or even swapping out conventional branch routers with virtualisation appliances that can regulate application-level regulations and provide a network overlay. Not just to solve the issues of the WAN, SD-WAN can do much more. Some of the benefits of adopting SD-WAN in your business network are as follows:
- Simplified management capabilities
The use of SD-WAN enables fully centralised network administration. A network administrator may quickly implement modifications to several sites simultaneously and almost instantly by adding more sites to a policy template. Additionally, SD-WANs offer automation features that let the network management set up in advance dynamic reactions to changing network traffic circumstances. To make network administration simpler, users can design performance-based policy routing that is application-specific.
- Multi-layered security
In SD-WAN, the centralised controller may establish security guidelines for the whole network. The firm may establish and implement security policies that can then be centrally enforced and managed. You can filter and stop malicious traffic with the help of the central controller without interfering with how the rest of the network works.
- Rapid deployments
SD-WAN is built for scalability and rapid deployment. Installing and opening new branches or locations may be done in a single day, and services can be scaled over time to fit the organisation’s use cases. With a plug-and-play paradigm, zero-touch provisioning provides quick time-to-market by cutting lead times to minutes rather than weeks.
- Increase cost-efficiency
By transitioning from pricey MPLS lines to affordable internet like fibre, cable, DSL, or even mobile technologies, SD-WAN can save ongoing operational costs. By utilising distributed, private data traffic exchange and control points to provide optimal, multi-point connection, SD-WAN lowers costs while giving users’ safe local access to the services required, both locally or in the cloud.
- Native cloud connectivity
The adoption of cloud has increased dramatically over the last few years. By enabling direct cloud access at the remote branch, SD-WAN eliminates backhauling traffic, which routes all cloud and branch office traffic through the data centre. This provides direct access to cloud applications from any location without adding more traffic to manage and secure the core network. By giving business-critical apps top priority and allowing branches to interface with the Internet directly, SD-WAN significantly enhances the performance of cloud services.
In a nutshell, SD-WAN provides better visibility, availability, improved performance, and increased flexibility. The industry has noticed an increase in interest in SD-WAN over the past several years because of this.
