What is SD-WAN?

SD-WAN was only introduced to mainstream networking practices in 2014 when the term was first coined. It is a virtual WAN infrastructure that can support any type of data transport services. Since the start of the pandemic and the onslaught of remote workers, SD-WAN has become a much more important aspect of the professional world.

Let’s explore what SD-WAN is, what it does and why your business could benefit from it.

SD-WAN explained

SD-WAN is a connectivity service that extends the network out past a central area and across geographic locations. It helps prevent networking frustration associated with using cloud applications by checking on and optimizing high-speed internet connectivity and networking.

In the past, businesses would need to backhaul their online traffic from branch networks to a data center and back to the desired location to ensure optimal cybersecurity. This consumed a lot of bandwidth and added latency to the overall network and application performance. SD-WAN was created so that cloud infrastructure could easily and quickly send information from one service to another application. It ensures optimal performance and resiliency against costly downtime and cyberthreats.

The result of using SD-WAN technology is a higher-quality user experience, improved business productivity, security, agility and cost efficiency.

Difference between SD-WAN and WAN

If you’ve been in the loop around networking technology, you’re probably familiar with WAN. It has been the long-time go-to for IT data networking infrastructure and voice over internet protocol (VoIP). It is used to connect multiple offices over local area networks (LANs) through physical routers and virtual private networks (VPNs).

WANs usually rely on a physical router (like the one you use in your home Wi-Fi network) to connect remote or branch applications to a centralized data center. This is called multiprotocol label switching (MLPS), which routes traffic to the shortest path based on established standards.

While a WAN running over MLPs is a great option for running your application deployments, the bandwidth is usually fairly limited and can slow down operations. Upgrading the bandwidth to accommodate a modern business can quickly get expensive. SD-WAN, on the other hand, can run on connections such as 4G LTE and broadband internet, making it less expensive and more effective.

SD-WAN combines traditional WAN technologies with more effective broadband connections. It also steers select online traffic securely across WAN in the shortest, safest path of least resistance toward trusted SaaS and IaaS providers.

 What is SD-WAN used for?

In a traditional network environment, your WAN can get overwhelmed by hosting many users on the same server, video calls, downloading large files and other high-bandwidth applications. With SD-WAN, your company can enjoy better performance of cloud-based applications and reduce the lag of a typical setup.

Downtime and latency are detrimental to businesses today. There is not a single company that does not rely on its online operations running 24/7, and never missing a customer service call. An internet outage could mean both angry customers and thousands of dollars lost. The U.S. Department of Energy estimates a power outage costs American businesses $150 billion a year.

SD-WAN offers a second, backup connection through wireless, broadband, the internet and VPNs. It generally finds the best network link based on application prioritization and sends important data over this channel.

All of these networks, coding, infrastructure and security are built to work together. Let’s take a look at how SD-WAN operates with your network.

How it all works together

WANs were not designed to accommodate cloud infrastructure. A business that relies solely on WAN will experience slow bandwidth and high latency. SD-WAN, however, is built to accommodate all applications hosted in data centers, or public and private clouds while performing at a high level.

Where a developer would write the code for rules and policies for WAN to follow within each router on the network, an SD-WAN solution automates this process.

The traditional system was time-consuming and error-prone. SD-WAN networks separate the management and control functions from the underlying networking hardware, making these available as software instead.

This software can be easily manipulated and configured so application deployment is simpler and speedier. Network admins can write new rules and policies, then configure and deploy this information across the entire network simultaneously without having to individually update each router like with a traditional WAN.

SD-WAN vs. MPLs

SD-WAN helps to manage and direct application traffic across a network very quickly. In MPLs, the data is sent to a centralized source such as a data center first as a security checkpoint and then delivered to its destination. This backhauling causes more delays within the network, and hurts customer experiences.

MPLs are considered a safer choice because they are built for a single organization, but the costs associated with them can be very high. Additionally, MPLs were not built to handle high online WAN traffic when running software like SaaS or other cloud-adoption applications.

SD-WAN. Vs. VPN

For smaller remote workforces, VPNs are a fine choice. VPNs offer a secure connection with the organization’s network and thus clear space for employees to work. However, the performance and reliability of this option reduce significantly as the business scales up. VPNs rely on public internet for speed and bandwidth, whereas SD-WAN connection offers service-level agreements for their performance levels.

Benefits of a comprehensive network system

Organizations are increasingly digitizing and automating their day-to-day activities. While this is meant to help your company move more quickly, scaling can get difficult when your network is buffering or at capacity.

Customers are pushing the market trends toward more personalized experiences, and your competitors are taking note. What’s worse, mission-critical applications and services are slowing down to accommodate for the dependence on the network, which can compromise the network performance further and hurt branch locations. 

A comprehensive network system with SD-WAN security has several advantages. Let’s dive into a few of them now.

Network security

In the digital transformation age, we’re in right now, network security should be top of mind for every business. While you do get access to cloud computing and improved performance with this new technology, you also put your business in a new line of risk it would never have been in with traditional computing. SD-WAN networking, on the bright side, offers built-in security with a basic firewall and VPN functionality.

Keep in mind, though, that these features are not enough to keep your network completely safe from a data breach. You should look for an SD-WAN solution that integrates with encryption, AV and NGFW that help prevent data loss, downtime, legal liabilities, and regulatory violations.

Cloud services, corporate data center applications

Moving your business forward without cloud services is almost impossible at this point. Organizations need cloud enablement to monitor the success of their business. This includes how well their website is optimized, how to streamline their order management system and other ways to save money.

SD-WAN helps support the adoption of cloud infrastructure with direct cloud access at a remote branch, and reduces backhauling traffic. What this means is that users can access the cloud applications directly from anywhere. Furthermore, SD-WAN’s prioritization capabilities allow for tiered communication with the internet so that mission-critical applications are never backlogged behind others.

Simplicity with a centrally managed device

Cloud computing applications layered on top of one another can add a lot of complexity to your network. This can result in overworked and under-skilled IT teams that are forced to constantly manage the very infrastructure built to make their lives easier.

SD-WAN, however, can ease this burden by simplifying the WAN infrastructure. Broadband is used often in SD-WAN to off-load non-critical applications and automate monitoring tasks with a centralized controller. A solution that can integrate with your local branch infrastructure could boost security and ease management.

Bandwidth efficiency

With the need for cloud services, bandwidth is necessary to operate your business to the fullest. Because traditional networking was not built to support cloud networking, SD-WAN can address these challenges and offload some of the work to broadband. All of this is done while focusing on the important applications necessary for business — without sacrificing the quality of service or scaling capacity.

Improved performance

Prioritization and tiered networking can help support improved overall network performance. With the right configuration, your SD-WAN infrastructure can boost real-time performance like VoIP and video conferencing. Pushing priority applications forward, your customers can enjoy an optimized experience with reliable, high-performance connectivity. IT teams, in the meantime, can reduce packet loss and latency issues, thereby improving employee productivity and staff morale.

Reduced costs

Modern network teams that overcame the struggles of the pandemic probably adopted SD-WAN as their networking solution. With lower latency and higher performance, companies can save a lot in overhead costs by buying into more bandwidth with traditional network solutions. There are several more advantages to consider as well.

With a properly deployed SD-WAN network, it can extend deep into the local branch LAN and improve security and network performance with end-point protection. This can help eliminate network sprawl, lower security risks and improve uptime — saving your business a lot of money over the long run by improving the efficiency of your IT teams and budgets.

Connecting your SD-WAN solutions with AI

With so much leaning on SD-WAN to support digital transformation, it needs to keep up with the pace. Think of SD-WAN as a superhighway that is running perfectly fine, even with new groups of people moving to the city. For it to continue to run efficiently, there has to be a system involved that identifies where inefficiencies are happening along the way that could affect the drivers.

Machine learning (ML) technology has emerged to save time in deploying updates and changes. It has helped with managing networking issues and supports a fast-paced digital world.

ML’s close ally, AI, works together to improve security, data processing and application performance. The entire network gets smarter and can do its work more efficiently with automation tools and ML that can monitor, analyze, correct and adjust with minimal human intervention.

Some specific ways ML and AI work together to improve SD-WAN networking include:

• Automated statistical analysis on how certain events affect the network.
• Smart analytics around security alerts and update recommendations.
• Performance visibility and bottleneck identification.

As the use of SD-WAN continues to grow, ML use should continue to expand to shift the focus from branch connectivity to automated operations. The goal is always greater performance and flexibility while reducing operational costs.

Telesystem is your all-in-one networking solution

Managed SD-WAN solutions for any sized business can give you a personalized network experience you can count on. Telesystem has collaborated with several strategic partners to build a full range of networking and security features within our SD-WAN solutions.

We can help enhance security, improve branch deployments, reduce costs and so much more. Our automated decision-making controller finds the best routes for your applications so employees and customers will only experience the best of your business.

To learn more about your options and how to build a custom solution for your organization, request a quote today and a Telesystem SD-WAN professional can usher you into the next generation of network connectivity.