What is SD-WAN and What’s All The Buzz About?

One buzzword that has organisations rethinking their networks is SD-WAN technology, and it’s easy to see why. Whilst it was once only available to large enterprises with the budget to match, it’s gradually evolved into an affordable solution for small and medium-sized organisations? So, what is SD-WAN and is it worthy of the hype?

What is SD-WAN?

SD-WAN stands for software-defined WAN (wide area network). It refers to a network that is abstracted from its hardware, creating a virtualised network overlay. Instead of complicated network designs, this solution occupies a software layer on top of the network, allowing you to control connectivity, management and services between separate business branches far more simply.

In essence, it’s a technology that simplifies the operation and management of the many network (internet) connections between sites in an organisation.

Benefits of SD-WAN

The primary benefits of SD-WAN technology are the ability to connect multiple branches of a business or sustain a network in the event of a connectivity failure.

Traditionally, WAN connectivity comes in the form of a dedicated circuit from one provider – if that goes down or isn’t fast enough to support your business needs, you lose access until it is restored. With SD-WAN technology, you can simply swap between your chosen providers.

SD-WAN technology offers reliable, secure performance for latency-sensitive applications like VoIP, Salesforce, Office365, cloud based point-of-sale, and other SaaS application without having to rely on expensive MPLS links between your networked sites.

With the adoption of cloud applications and services ubiquitous, downtime can be especially costly. An internet disruption could mean no phones, productivity apps, or invoicing capability. How can you work without these fundamental business tools?

How SD-WAN Differs From MPLS and VPN

SD-WAN vs MPLS

With traditional networking approaches like MPLS, isolated packets of data are forwarded on predetermined network paths and providers can assign a high priority to certain network traffic. The downside is bandwidth cost, as modern media such as video hogs the bandwidth and the high per-megabit cost that MPSL demands can be out of reach. This hinders productivity and the user experience. It also doesn’t offer built-in data protection and if implemented incorrectly, it can create vulnerabilities in the network.

On the other hand, SD-WAN has no bandwidth penalties and users can easily upgrade by adding new links, without the need to make changes to the infrastructure or network. Other key benefits include security, visibility, scalability, performance and control.

SD-WAN vs VPN

Another widespread network approach is VPN, a cost-effective solution that provides a secure connection to an organisation’s network. However, there are significant downfalls when comparing cost, performance and reliability to SD-WAN.

Whereas VPNs rely on the public internet for speed and bandwidth, SD-WAN offers enterprises the comfort of service-level agreements for performance and cloud optimisation.

SD-WAN With Deployus Is Different

Deployus has experience in a wide range of SD-WAN deployments over the past five years. Our partners for SD-WAN Technology are Palo Alto Networks and Cisco Meraki, both industry-leading providers with outstanding records of delivering world-class security and connectivity performance.

Our engineers can configure, secure and maintain your network without any disruption to your day-to-day operations. We also have an incredibly skilled service desk that’s available for support whenever you need.

Save yourself from a network disaster and partner with a Managed Services Provider with international connections. Want to take advantage of SD-WAN or simply learn more? Contact the experts at Deployus today.