Connectivity

SD-WAN is a technology that increases network reliability, performance, and transparency. Networks implemented over SD-WAN offer the benefits of traditional carrier-provided private networks such as MPLS, but without the high cost or lock-in to a single network provider. SD-WAN also offers a single ‘head-end’ for the system administrator to control the entire network without needing to open tickets with a service provider. Changes are near-instantaneous and performance can be monitored in real time.

What it does

SD-WAN connects multiple sites over the public Internet. In a typical deployment, each site will have at least two Internet connections to different vendors. Each site will have an SD-WAN appliance that automatically establishes and manages VPN (Virtual Private Network) tunnels between the different sites. Users at different physical locations can easily access shared network resources and private sites in the corporate intranet. The appliance will detect any degradation or outages in the uplinks and re-route traffic accordingly. Additionally, because SD-WAN provides a transparent private address space for all endpoints within the system, many applications and devices will not have to re-connect with a new public IP address in the event of a connectivity disruption.

Why you want it

Security is at the forefront of IT for many modern organizations. SD-WAN can simplify your overall security approach by providing a single pane for network management, analytics, and provisioning. SD-WAN deployments can also significantly increase reliability for connected services that rely on endpoint registration (such as VoIP services). SD-WAN can also ‘bookend’ multimedia traffic to enforce address consistency and quality of service. In addition to the operational advantages, SD-WAN provides excellent analytical capabilities. You can monitor activity from internet connections all the way down to individual users and applications. AI-enabled tools can detect anomalous activity in log files that may be overlooked by humans. The collected data can also be used to generate usage reports, forecast capacity increases, and perform network troubleshooting and alerting.