SD-WAN simplifies the delivery of WAN services to the branch office, improving connectivity and WAN management. Research firms continue to provide a positive forecast on the future of SD-WAN and its impending primacy in the network services market.But if you’re more of a practical businessperson than you are a tech junkie, you might ask yourself – do you really need it?
Most businesses can see the benefits of SD-WAN, but are curious about how they can incorporate it into their current network infrastructure. The thing about SD-WAN is that it isn’t built to uproot the world of connectivity and networking. In fact, it works to support existing technologies, rather than replace them.
Here, we will discuss some common ways to incorporate SD-WAN technology into your existing network services.
• Optimize cloud services and other real time applications over the public internet.
You don’t need fancy network architecture pre-installed to take advantage of SD-WAN. Simply laying SD-WAN’s dynamic path selection capabilities over your existing public internet links can improve real-time applications which run on it. SD-WAN can be used to enhance all connectivity types, including Internet, MPLS, and LTE.
• Fully utilize all of your WAN links at once.
Already have failover links? It doesn’t matter what types of links they are, SD-WAN can put them to use without compromising their primary function as back-up links. Think of it like gaining from your car insurance plan without getting into an accident. Instead of letting your back-up links sit there unused, SD-WAN will enlist these paths to provide traffic support for your primary links, improving overall connectivity while getting the most out of your failover services.
Combined all of your WAN links to achieve enhanced connectivity with SD-WAN.
• Build a secure, meshed tunnel networked over the public internet.No need to purchase private internet lines between branch offices. SD-WAN allows you to build a secure, meshed network using the public internet. You can encrypt WAN traffic and segment your network from your central SD-WAN configuration interface, all without making any changes to your existing network infrastructure.
• Combine SD-WAN with your existing MPLS to create a hybrid network.
Many talk about the rise of SD-WAN and the fall of MPLS as if the two technologies are incompatible. This is false. Even if you already have an MPLS network, SD-WAN is immensely helpful because it allows you to add public internet connections to that network with ease. Let’s say you want to open a new branch, but would like to avoid the costs of adding a new site to your MPLS network. With SD-WAN, you can connect new sites to your existing MPLS network using inexpensive public links.
Can you see your business using SD-WAN in any of these ways? If so, take a moment to check out AireSpring’s SD-WAN services here.