Arjun OutreachDeal
Email: vendor@outreachdeal.com
Imagine you have offices or branches of your company spread across different cities. You need them all to have good and reliable network connectivity. This means MPLS lines, leased circuits, and expensive setups are often rigid in adapting when things change rapidly.
An SD-WAN solution (Software-Defined Wide Area Network) is a modern way of building wide area network infrastructure that is more flexible and centrally managed. Instead of relying purely on expensive static circuits, SD-WAN uses software intelligence to manage and avoid traffic over a mix of underlay networks. This applies policies for performance and failover. Organisations increasingly favour managed SD WAN offerings so they do not need to build and maintain all the technical complexity themselves.
Comprehending SD-WAN
Software-Defined Wide Area Network is a virtualised networking framework that has made the process of interconnecting branch offices and even cloud applications easy in companies. An SD-WAN utilises various forms of underlay connections and smartly directs traffic depending on its performance and security requirements.
This is a smart traffic controller for your network. It determines the optimal route of data in real time. It is efficient and cost-effective.
Why SD WAN Is Required?
Businesses are currently experiencing a number of issues that make traditional WAN inadequate. The reasons why SD WAN is required assist in the realisation of its time:
● Expensive MPLS: MPLS can be used in traditional WANs and is very reliable. This is also expensive. The cost is greatly inflated when these networks are scaled or redundancy is put on them.
● Cloud-Centric Workflows: Sending everything back to a central switch causes latency and inefficiency because the majority of applications are currently being hosted on the cloud.
● Distinct and Hybrid Work: Remote teams need to access business applications remotely in a secure and fast way. This is why legacy WANs cannot meet efficiently.
● Agility Requirement: Companies need to be able to expand and contract at a fast rate. Expansion with traditional WANs can take months, whereas SD-WAN allows expansion.
● Reliability and Uptime: Network unavailability has a direct effect on revenue. This provides automated failover and resiliency to switch between available connections automatically.
The above reasons are why SD WAN is required by organisations intending to modernise their network strategy.
How Does SD WAN Work?
So, how does SD WAN work in reality? The answer lies in its smart architecture:
● Overlay and Underlay Separation: The physical circuits are part of the underlay. A virtual network is formed by the overlay. This is controlled by SD-WAN software and determines the flow of data through those links.
● Centralised Control Plane: Administrators define policies on a central dashboard. This is automatically implemented across all sites. One can always direct video calls to the lowest-latency link, and backups to lower-cost broadband.
● Edge Devices: SD-WAN appliances or virtual gateways are deployed in branch offices that implement policies and send traffic in the direction of these links.
● Dynamic Path Selection: SD-WAN reviews link health on a regular basis. The traffic is automatically diverted to a more reliable path without negatively affecting the user experience when one of them fails.
● Built-in Security: Traffic routes can frequently cross through public internet links. The SD-WAN solutions include security services such as firewalls and web filtering.
The future of enterprise networking is SD-WAN because of its smartness and flexibility.
The Value Of Managed SD WAN
Whereas there are organisations that adopt the idea of deploying and managing SD-WAN internally. Some are more inclined to use a managed SD WAN service by a reputable partner. This model offloads the design and optimisation to the service provider.
Managed SD-WAN has the following benefits:
➔ Expert Deployment: The solution is designed to fit the applications and compliance needs of the customer by the providers.
➔ Zero Touch Provisioning: Branches are easily added with a low level of manual intervention. This eases the scale.
➔ Round-the-Clock Monitoring: 24x7 proactive and automated notifications are frequently provided with managed SD-WAN solutions.
➔ Security Built-In: It has in-built advanced firewalls and web filtering that offer coverage in all locations.
➔ Continuous Optimisation: Providers dynamically adjust network policies as the usage changes, so that there is the same performance.
Managed SD WAN provides a solution with the ideal balance between agility and reliability without the requirement to develop a dedicated internal network department, which is the case with most enterprises.
ACT’s SD-WAN Solution
ACT Fibernet is one of the providers of managed SD-WAN services. This is aimed at assisting business entities of any scale to have a secure and high-performance connectivity between multiple locations.
Some of the standout features include:
● Zero Touch Provisioning: Makes it easier to deploy branches. This minimises the manual work.
● Improved QoS: Provides the bandwidth needed for mission-critical applications like video conferencing and ERP.
● High Availability: Redundancy is built in, and automatic failover minimises the risk of downtime.
● Streamlined Control: Network control is simplified through centralised dashboards and user-friendly controls.
● Integrated Security: Firewalls and filtering tools are enterprise-level solutions that safeguard data that flows through various networks.
● Converged Connectivity: Allows a variety of options in the underlay to deliver cost-effective yet resilient networking.
● Extensive Surveillance: AI-based analytics and automatic reporting will provide visibility at all times.
The SD-WAN provided by ACT Fibernet is a tailored enterprise product. Pricing and configurations are made to suit specific business needs. The organisations receive the flexibility and features that best suit their needs.
Benefits Of SD WAN Solutions
The following are the advantages that organisations will have by implementing SD WAN solutions:
- Reduce Expenses: The enterprises can save on expenses with the help of the low-cost broadband and high-quality links, where needed only.
- Better Application Performance: Real-time traffic steering ensures that latency-sensitive applications get the best path.
- High Reliability: Automated path diversity and failover reduce downtime.
- Cloud-Readiness: The direct access to the SaaS and cloud services enhances the user experience and minimises overcrowding.
- Better Security: Built-in security prevents cyber-attacks even in the case of using public networks.
Closing Thoughts
The question of what is SD-WAN and why it is required has become clear with the increasing demands of cloud adoption and cost optimisation. SD-WAN outperforms traditional WAN models by smartly routing traffic and enabling scalability.
Enterprises that choose a managed SD WAN approach can focus on their core business while relying on a provider for seamless deployment and robust security. Investing in SD-WAN solutions is a strategic step forward for organisations aiming to build a network that is flexible and future-ready.
