SD-WAN, or Software-Defined Wide Area Networking, is a technology that has gained tremendous popularity in recent years. According to a survey by Gartner, by the end of 2020, over 60% of enterprises would have employed SD-WAN in their network infrastructure. This surge in adoption can be attributed to SD-WAN’s ability to address some of the common issues that traditional WANs encounter, such as latency, packet loss, and poor application performance.
SD-WAN is a network architecture that allows for the centralized management of network traffic, policies, and security across multiple branch offices or remote locations. It uses software to intelligently route data traffic across various transport options, such as broadband internet, LTE, or MPLS (Multiprotocol Label Switching), according to predefined rules and policies.
To get a better understanding of SD-WAN, let’s break down the basics using the ABCs of SD-WAN:
A – Application Awareness: One of the key features of SD-WAN is its ability to identify and differentiate various types of traffic, such as cloud applications, video conferencing, voice over IP (VoIP), and web browsing. This application awareness enables the SD-WAN to route the traffic based on priority and importance to ensure that critical applications receive the bandwidth they need.
B – Bandwidth Aggregation: SD-WAN can aggregate and bond multiple internet links, including broadband, 4G/LTE, and MPLS. This approach provides increased bandwidth, redundancy, and resilience, while also significantly reducing WAN costs compared to MPLS-only networks.
C – Centralized Management: One of the biggest advantages of SD-WAN is that it enables centralized management of network traffic using a unified interface. This allows network administrators to control and manage network policies, configurations, and security across all remote sites from a single location.
D – Dynamic Path Selection: SD-WAN can dynamically select the optimal path for packet delivery, based on various factors such as link quality, latency, and congestion. By selecting the best possible path, SD-WAN can ensure high network availability, faster application performance, and reduced packet loss.
E – Encryption and Security: SD-WAN provides enhanced security features, including encryption for data in transit, secure access, and end-to-end visibility for network security monitoring. This ensures that enterprise data is protected from data breaches and cyberattacks.
In conclusion, SD-WAN is a transformative technology that has the potential to revolutionize enterprise networking. It provides increased network agility, flexibility, and security, while also reducing WAN costs. By understanding the basics of SD-WAN, network administrators can leverage its benefits and take the first necessary step towards digital transformation.