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SD-WAN
What is
SD-WAN
With organizations looking to save money and provide for a high degree of Wide Area Network (WAN) availability, one must begin using the internet and Virtual Private Network (VPN) technology to replace and/or enhance Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) circuits. Software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN) is a technology which allows you to use multiple circuits regardless of whether they are internet, cellular wireless, or MPLS.
Overview
HOW IT WORKS
Application traffic can be set up to require a minimum service level agreement (SLA) and the link that matches the SLA will be used. For instance, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) needs low latency and low jitter. Best effort traffic that does not need any delay or jitter requirements can use the other links as appropriate. Any traffic can be steered based on the application as an organization desires, with other links for failover. The links can be monitored for these characteristics and the traffic can be sent down the appropriate link. Internet traffic can be sent back to a central firewall or using Direct Internet Access.
OPTIONS
There are a couple of different flavors of SD-WAN. Some providers use a cloud managed solution where the control plane and data plane are separated, and an SD-WAN orchestration application is used for management. The second option is to use devices with SD-WAN capabilities where the Control and Data Plane integrate as in Next Generation Firewalls. Either way, there are great benefits progressing to an SD-WAN solution.
WHY DO NEED SD-WAN
REDUCE COSTS
SD-WAN is a great way to reduce costs by taking advantage of lower cost internet circuits; having multiple paths available to choose from; application steering using Policy Based Routing; and WAN redundancy, instead of or in addition to expensive dedicated WAN circuits. Since many applications are going to the cloud through Software as a Service (SaaS) or Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) you will now have the option of sending traffic directly from the branch to the internet or keep routing through the central data center.
SD-WAN BENEFITS
We are here to help.
Nth Generation offers teams of tenured experts that provide the expertise and certifications needed to assist with analysis, architecture, deployment and knowledge transfer of modern network solutions that can leverage SD-WAN and other modern technologies.
Partner with Nth to determine:
Is your current WAN and/or SD-WAN implementation providing optimal performance, redundancy, and cost containment for your remote applications?
Is using the internet for your company secure?
Can you use your existing firewall for SD-WAN?
How does SD-WAN work compare to secure access service edge (SASE)?
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