SD-WAN, short for Software-Defined Wide Area Network, is a cloud-based system that allows businesses a highly improved WAN experience through changes in the configuration at which WAN routers work.
To simplify, SD-WAN is a simple, cost-effective and highly flexible technology that’s fast replacing conventional WAN solutions by enhancing the performance of applications based in the office premises and in the cloud.
Here are 5 reasons why businesses globally are opening up to SD-WAN, which is rapidly redefining the way branch offices connect with the head office and with each other.
Simplified networking
SD-WAN solutions simplify the way branch offices use wide area network to communicate with each other. It enables several devices and services to work in tandem, thus bringing never-before agility to your branch operations. The inherent application programming interface (API) allows all your systems to communicate with each other, delivering greater coordination between various enterprise solutions being used by the business.
Lower costs
Deploying SD-WAN helps make significant cost reductions by upgrading ordinary WAN to business-level broadband-based WAN. The cloud-based system ensures that you don’t have to invest in building a network of expensive hardware across branches. Consequently, maintenance costs also come down over time.
Never-before flexibility
This disruptive technology empowers the hybrid WAN to adapt to all kinds of network conditions with minimum intervention. This leads to greater savings on time, money and other resources for your IT team, as they no longer need to build as many new circuits or deploy additional infrastructure.
Improved security
It is well known that conventional WAN systems handle security by way of multiple devices placed at each of the branch offices. This method is both cost-intensive and effort-intensive. SD-WAN, on the other hand, can insure high-level security for your cloud network operations by integrating into the system all possible security measures—from protection against malware to filtering of web content to botnet control.
What’s more, SD-WAN can do this remotely for each of your devices at a much lower cost.
Greater control over pathways
SD-WAN is an agile, user-friendly technology that is programmed to offer intelligent pathways control. This means that traffic is maneuvered and forwarded based on the application. All of this is achieved through a central traffic controlling capability, which works for all devices in the system. This system can be programmed to respond to a number of parameters, such as time of the day, IP address, port number, and more.
To conclude, enterprises today are increasingly looking for advanced cloud-based solutions that can help elevate the performance of their existing WAN systems as well as the applications they support.
With the enormous amounts of data that is transferred on a daily basis across branches, centralized data centers and the cloud, SD-WAN has emerged as a cost-effective, responsive, and reliable solution to traditional WAN woes businesses have been grappling with for decades. Adopting SD-WAN technology is the prudent next step if you’re looking for a networking system with high-quality capabilities to cater to the needs of your growing business.
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