SD-WAN
SD-WAN is one of the most flexible and beneficial technologies to come to the world of information technology. Technically the idea behind it is allowing software to control the wide-area network and this has dramatic benefits for every business, school, hospital and government agency.
The benefits include:
- COTS or commercial off the shelf-based hardware supports the network and which can dramatically decrease networking cost while also decreasing complexity. In addition, replacing failed equipment becomes a lot easier in this scenario as spare computers are typically more common than spare switches.
- Cloud VPNs can be deployed easily and providers can bolt on additional services like increased encryption levels and intrusion detection or IDS.
- WAN Optimization is sort of a given – as a side benefit, the enterprise or government agency can enjoy lower costs thanks to less reliance on MPLS.
- Application Performance Enhancement in other words, SD-WAN allows networks to take advantage of ADC-type performance levels or better without the need for the proprietary box.
- Broadband Link Balancing allows a company to take advantage of the best broadband service depending on the application. As a side benefit, it also allows connectivity in the case of a failure of one of the providers. For increased redundancy, LTE can be added to the mix as a third choice if only two wired providers are available.
- Network as a Service allows a corporation to purchase their network the way they purchase other services such as voice or CRM.
Other benefits include:
- Improved Transport Options
- Intelligent Pathway Control
- Automatic Provisioning
SD-WAN should be considered in all organizations to ensure a redundant pathway for business continuity while also providing a host of other features mentioned above.
Apex engineers are ready to consult and advise on a solution which makes sense for your application, needs and budget.