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Many businesses need reliable, high-performing WAN connections. Without the right infrastructure, they’ll face challenges such as limited application accessibility and suboptimal performance.
Traditional WANs require device-by-device configuration, management, and troubleshooting, which could be more efficient, error-prone, and add to network complexity. SD-WAN centralizes control and simplifies the process through a controller.
This also enables to have a secured option to prioritize traffic and route it over the best connection type for each application. This improves UX, lowers costs, and boosts security, learn more about SD-WAN in this article.
Cost-Effective
Unlike traditional WAN architectures that are complex and expensive to manage, SD-WAN is designed to deliver cost savings.
With a more simplified network architecture, you can eliminate costly MPLS lines and repurpose broadband connections to other locations. You can also use a variety of routes to connect sites, which reduces latency and improves reliability.
In addition to reducing costs, they can help you protect your business from cyberattacks and data breaches.
This is because it allows you to control and prioritize business-critical traffic, ensuring that employees have access to critical applications. A secure network is indispensable for businesses because it can help prevent employee downtime and loss of productivity.
With the emergence of cloud computing, traditional WAN architectures required companies to backhaul data to the corporate headquarters for application access.
This was an inefficient and costly solution, especially during high bandwidth demand. SD-WAN uses multiple routes to connect the data center and branch offices, allowing businesses to access applications without back hauling the data.
In addition, it provides security with IPSec encryption for data that travels across links between segments. This feature helps protect against malware, ransomware, and phishing threats.
In addition, it provides granular visibility into network traffic for IT teams to identify and correct problems quickly. This saves time and money for IT staff and helps minimize the need to hire additional resources.
Scalable
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According to Global Market Insights, the SD-WAN market is estimated to project to 800 billion (USD) by 2032.
Using the principles of software-defined networking (SDN) that were first applied in data centers, SD-WAN creates an overlay system that connects locations. This approach enables businesses to use broadband internet connections for their WAN while maintaining the performance and security required by real-time and mission-critical applications.
This technology combines multiple internet links to create an agile and reliable network architecture, agnostic of switching protocols. Besides this, it provides a more flexible network solution that can improve business agility and reduce costs, especially compared to traditional MPLS WAN solutions.
The network administrators need a more scalable and cost-effective way to connect these remote locations as the need to secure cloud and web applications increases. SD-WAN can enable this by replacing expensive leased lines with more affordable broadband internet connections and by deploying a virtual overlay that ensures quality of service at all times.
With centralized policy management, it can simplify configurations for physical, virtual, and cloud devices. This leads to fewer changes and less opportunity for human error, which can lead to security breaches.
Network observability companies like Kentik can ingest telemetry from SD-WAN providers to correlate flows with performance insights. By integrating application, business intent overlay, and other vendor-specific fields into the interface traffic metadata source, these tools provide unparalleled insight to network operations and security teams.
Flexible
This technology allows businesses to choose network services like MPLS, 4G/5G, and broadband internet based on their specific needs. The technology also allows businesses to prioritize certain types of traffic and improves visibility by enabling companies to monitor performance and usage. This enables organizations to make more informed decisions about their data traffic, which can help to optimize network resources and increase software performance.
Traditional WAN architectures follow a hub-and-spoke model, with users in branch locations connecting to the central network using point-to-point leased lines or Frame Relay services. These connections are often subject to latency and bandwidth issues, making operating difficult. With this solution, however, these challenges can be addressed.
The technology enables networks to prioritize traffic and create links between sites with different speeds. This makes it easy for companies to provide a high-quality user experience while protecting sensitive data. It also enables organizations to use different circuits for different applications, so critical data doesn’t have to share the same path as other, lower-priority traffic.
The solution also includes security capabilities such as firewalls and NGFWs to protect against threats. It helps ensure that employees work on secure connections by blocking data leaks and preventing malicious activities, such as spoofing or tampering.
Secure
SD-WAN enables secure remote access to a wide range of locations. It allows businesses to connect branch offices and other sites, including cellular or satellite connections.
It also helps companies connect to cloud services and data centers without sacrificing performance or security. The centralized control and management of such an environment can help prevent hackers from exploiting vulnerabilities.
An SD-WAN can help you use bandwidth more efficiently by allowing you to prioritize traffic. This can improve application performance and lower costs by prioritizing critical applications over less valuable or low-bandwidth applications. In addition, it can help you avoid costly overage charges by directing traffic to multiple circuits or routes.
They can also provide security features for network connectivity, including firewall protections and advanced threat intelligence. This can protect the integrity of your data, and it can ensure that employees are only using approved applications and devices. It also eliminates the need to backhaul data to a central location, which reduces latency and improves security and privacy.
Besides this, they can also be used to deliver cloud-delivered security functions, which Gartner has dubbed Security Service Edge (SASE).
This combines them with necessary cloud-delivered safety inspection capabilities, eliminating the need for an enterprise to invest in expensive hardware at each site. Zero-touch provisioning also reduces the time, effort, and resources needed to set up a new site.