What is a Software-Defined
WAN (SD-WAN)?
Existing MPLS WANs are designed to connect branch offices, remote facilities, and distributed campuses to applications running on servers in a central data center.
Dedicated MPLS WANs perform the routing task and ensure a reliable connection. All local and remote users accessing the internet and cloud applications are typically routed back through the data center via the WAN and then out to their application or the web.
On average, roughly 70% of enterprise applications run on the cloud or with a SaaS provider
The SD-WAN market is expected to grow from USD 1.9 billion in 2020 to USD 8.4 billion in 2025
The growth of the global SD-WAN market from 2020 to 2025 represents a CAGR of over 34%
The Increase in Cloud and Internet Traffic
Overwhelms Traditional MPLS WANs
Users aren’t shy. It doesn’t take long for IT departments to learn when their workforce, customers, and partners are experiencing poor and unreliable internet and cloud performance.
Traditional WANs are cumbersome, lack intelligence, and are often challenging to reconfigure to address shifting user requirements and rapidly changing traffic patterns.
They are also too expensive when used for applications that don’t require the guaranteed performance and consistency provided by MPLS WANs.
In addition, IT professionals can’t bypass the WAN and allow remote users direct access to their cloud-based applications and the internet without significantly increasing the cyber-attack surface and likelihood of a breach.
Understanding SD-WANs
Automation – Performance – Access
- Next-generation firewalls with granular global and local security zoning
- Secure Web and Email Gateways
- Worldwide secure entry points for protecting mobile users and remote facilities
- Endpoint threat detection and response
- Globally distributed and meshed security sensors
- Edge to core event logging, machine learning, and AI-driven threat detection
Reinvented for Cloud-First and
Widely Distributed Organizations
SD-WANs (software-defined WANs) overlay the physical WAN infrastructure with an intelligent software layer. It provides simpler management for the entire network. In addition to the traditional MPLS infrastructure, SD-WANs leverage software-defined networking (SDN) to deliver services across other connections, including LTE, satellite, wireless WAN, and broadband, and can more easily and cost effectively span oceans and continents to encompass a global enterprise.
In contrast to traditional WANs, SD-WANs are dynamically managed by policies and service level agreements. Once policies are created or updated they are delivered to the WAN devices. Traffic and application performance are monitored across the entire SD-WAN network to ensure user service levels are met.
Unlike traditional WANs, the additional software layer monitors and reconfigures the network with minimal user intervention. Routing traffic is policy-driven and automatic. Traffic is no longer directed along a predetermined path but along the path that will ensure the prescribed quality of service. SD-WANs deliver the intelligence and agility needed to optimize WAN performance. SD-WAN technology overcomes the latency inherent in rigid legacy WANs to help IT professions address the growing traffic generated by cloud applications and the internet.
SD-WANs Connect,
But Don’t Fully Protect
SD-WANs significantly improve connectivity, reduce costs and network performance but don’t’ inherently offer robust cybersecurity. Basic SD-WANs will require bolt-on security solutions and additional staff to manage, detect, and remove cyber threats and intrusions.
Leading managed SD-WAN services provide a comprehensive multi-layer suite of integrated cybersecurity technologies that function in unison and are seamlessly layered over the SD-WAN infrastructure. The SD-WAN with integrated cybersecurity is managed through a single pane of glass and managed 24×7 by security experts.
SD-WAN devices and SD-WAN technologies, which provide cybersecurity include,
SD-WANs (software-defined WANs) overlay the physical WAN infrastructure with an intelligent software layer. It provides simpler management for the entire network. In addition to the traditional MPLS infrastructure, SD-WANs leverage software-defined networking (SDN) to deliver services across other connections, including LTE, satellite, wireless WAN, and broadband, and can more easily and cost effectively span oceans and continents to encompass a global enterprise.
In contrast to traditional WANs, SD-WANs are dynamically managed by policies and service level agreements. Once policies are created or updated they are delivered to the WAN devices. Traffic and application performance are monitored across the entire SD-WAN network to ensure user service levels are met.
Unlike traditional WANs, the additional software layer monitors and reconfigures the network with minimal user intervention. Routing traffic is policy-driven and automatic. Traffic is no longer directed along a predetermined path but along the path that will ensure the prescribed quality of service. SD-WANs deliver the intelligence and agility needed to optimize WAN performance. SD-WAN technology overcomes the latency inherent in rigid legacy WANs to help IT professions address the growing traffic generated by cloud applications and the internet.
SD-WANs significantly improve connectivity, reduce costs and network performance but don’t’ inherently offer robust cybersecurity. Basic SD-WANs will require bolt-on security solutions and additional staff to manage, detect, and remove cyber threats and intrusions.
Leading managed SD-WAN services provide a comprehensive multi-layer suite of integrated cybersecurity technologies that function in unison and are seamlessly layered over the SD-WAN infrastructure. The SD-WAN with integrated cybersecurity is managed through a single pane of glass and managed 24×7 by security experts.
SD-WAN devices and SD-WAN technologies, which provide cybersecurity include,
- Next-generation firewalls with granular global and local security zoning
- Secure Web and Email Gateways
- Worldwide secure entry points for protecting mobile users and remote facilities
- Endpoint threat detection and response
- Globally distributed and meshed security sensors
- Edge to core event logging, machine learning, and AI-driven threat detection
Open Systems SD-WAN Raises the Bar
Rule Your WAN, Rule the Cloud
Our managed SD-WAN solution provides WAN automation, performance, and security for cloud-first and widely distributed organizations.
Contact our customer advocates to learn more or to obtain an assessment of how our managed SD-WAN technology and service with integrated cybersecurity services can augment or replace your current WAN.
