SD-WAN solutions offer businesses more flexibility, scalability, and efficiency. This is done by centralizing control and management, enabling new operational efficiencies, improving security, and reducing costs.
A business-driven SD-WAN offers advanced features like secure local internet breakout for cloud applications. It combines firewall, segmentation, routing, and WAN optimization capabilities into a single solution.
1. Security
The top SD WAN solutions include security features such as next-generation firewalls, Zero Trust architecture, SWG (secure web gateway), and CASB (cloud access security broker). This helps protect data transmission between offices, remote users, and cloud environments. Unlike point solutions that add complexity and cost, secure SD-WAN combines multiple technologies for a holistic approach to connectivity and security.
Integrated WAN optimization and security capabilities help improve network performance compared to legacy WAN architectures. They also reduce costs by eliminating the need for dedicated staff to manage onsite equipment. Zero-touch deployment also enables the rapid and cost-effective addition of new remote sites to a business’s network. An SD-WAN solution can distinguish between a business’s long-term success or failure by delivering a superior user experience, improved application performance, and improved security for remote workers.
An hour of network downtime can cost a company millions in revenue, productivity, and remediation expenses. Secure connectivity is essential to maintain business productivity and ensure customer satisfaction. An SD-WAN solution can optimize network traffic over multiple connections based on application requirements and network conditions to eliminate costly backhaul penalties and deliver unstoppable uptime.
2. Cost-Effective
As a software-defined network, SD-WAN provides a cost-effective way to manage WAN infrastructure. This is due to its ability to scale bandwidth through direct internet connections. Businesses can increase their WAN connectivity without paying for additional carrier data circuits, which are typically much more expensive than MPLS circuits.
SD-WAN also reduces operational costs by simplifying networking processes. Instead of traditional multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) network routing protocols, it uses a simple and easily programmable interface for remote device configuration. This enables companies to connect new branches online less quickly and at a lower cost than traditional methods. As businesses adopt more cloud applications, they must rely on secure, high-performance connections.
SD-WAN solutions can ensure this by prioritizing real-time traffic and dynamically steering data over the best path based on network conditions. This results in improved performance and a better user experience. This is crucial for the success of digital transformation initiatives and boosting employee productivity. In addition, it helps organizations save on maintenance costs and reduces the need for human intervention.
3. Scalable
An SD-WAN solution can support an organization’s growth and changing business needs. For example, it can prioritize mission-critical applications and ensure they have adequate bandwidth. It can also help companies reduce costs by providing the ability to use low-cost broadband connections.
Moreover, it can help organizations to become more transport-independent. With traditional WAN systems, changing carriers requires changing the entire network environment. However, with an SD-WAN, companies can connect to any carrier, saving money and improving security and performance.
Lastly, an SD-WAN solution can improve user experience by making accessing cloud applications and resources more accessible. It also helps to increase productivity and efficiency by enabling employees to work remotely.
This is because an SD-WAN solution can provide a faster and more secure way to access applications and data in the cloud. Additionally, it provides an easy-to-use management interface to simplify operations. The solution can also be deployed quickly using zero-touch deployment to reduce IT costs and speed up the process.
4. Flexibility
SD-WAN uses existing broadband connections and allows businesses to add enterprise-managed services easily. It also simplifies and speeds up onsite hardware installation and management, making it a cost-effective alternative to MPLS lines. It is also an excellent fit for small branch offices, like fast-food restaurants, convenience stores, and franchises.
Unlike MPLS, which requires dedicated hardware for each site, an SD-WAN is software-based and can run on a standard computer or other device with an internet connection. The software can also be updated and reconfigured without requiring physical hardware upgrades. This flexibility makes SD-WAN a cost-effective choice for smaller branches.
With a single, centrally managed interface, IT administrators can monitor and manage all sites from one location. They can efficiently allocate paths to critical applications, flex bandwidth, and upgrade the platform’s firmware or software. In addition, new locations can be onboarded in a matter of hours or days.
This level of agility enables enterprises to increase and respond quickly to business demands. This translates into increased productivity and unstoppable uptime. Combined with a redundant and secure internet link, this provides resiliency to business-critical applications.
5. Reliability
The older model of backhauling all branch office traffic to a central data center and then returning to the branches is a performance drain and a lot of money in capital expenses and operations/personnel. The new paradigm of aggregating multiple direct-to-internet lines for WAN connectivity reduces the cost while increasing bandwidth and performance. SD-WAN can steer network traffic over the best path by prioritizing real-time services like VoIP and business-critical applications.
This provides better uptime, lower packet loss, and higher performance for employee productivity. In addition to saving on hardware and operating costs, the right SD-WAN solution simplifies security functions, such as firewall and router management. This allows IT teams to add remote offices with less work and expense.
And it helps to keep the IT team centralized and focused on other strategic projects instead of firefighting network issues. It also enables organizations to connect multiple WAN service types into a single logical link, which promotes bandwidth capacity by adding internet broadband or LTE connections.
Conclusion
In conclusion, SD-WAN solutions have become essential for modern businesses due to the increasing demand for reliable and efficient network connectivity. These solutions offer numerous benefits such as improved performance, increased security, scalability, and cost savings. With the rise of cloud-based applications and remote workforces, businesses need a flexible and agile network infrastructure that can support their evolving needs.
SD-WAN provides the necessary tools to optimize network performance, prioritize critical applications, and ensure seamless connectivity across multiple locations. Therefore, investing in an SD-WAN solution is crucial for businesses looking to stay competitive in today’s fast-paced digital landscape. Don’t wait any longer – take advantage of the benefits offered by SD-WAN and future-proof your business today!
