For its latest cloud market trend report, leading analyst firm Futuriom surveyed nearly 200 qualified enterprise networking…
Software-Defined Wide Area Networking or SD-WAN, as it is popularly known, is a holistic WAN model that includes connectivity, orchestration and management and can support multiple security approaches. With ‘software-defined’ connectivity, enterprises have flexible control over what paths applications traverse, whether it is broadband internet, 5G/LTE, MPLS (Multiprotocol Label Switching) or a private network, through centralized policy management. By centralizing control in the cloud and combining multiple networking and optimization functions at the edge, customers gain greater flexibility, reliability, agility, and performance combined with better economics. An SD-WAN solution can be delivered as a fully or co-managed service or deployed by an enterprise as part of what is called a DIY (Do-It-Yourself) model.
SD-WAN offers several benefits to enterprises that operate in the digital economy. It provides improved application performance through a combination of WAN optimization techniques and the ability to dynamically assign QoS (Quality of Service) as per the application’s (and user’s) requirements.
SD-WAN technology automates and speeds up site deployments, configurations, operations and troubleshooting tasks. It provides for automatic failover, so, in the case of one link failure or congestion, traffic can be easily redirected to another link. SD-WAN’s flexible and agile nature provides for optimal choice and utilization of connectivity, thereby reducing upfront costs and lowering operating expenses.
