Enterprises have been building their wide area networks in the same way for the past 20 years. Private branch networks built largely around MPLS have been the norm, but this strategy is being completely upended today by the new technologies of software-defined wide area networks (SD-WAN).
SD-WAN is a transformational technology that promises to dramatically impact the entire enterprise networking ecosystem, bringing it into the cloud era of the future. The channel will play a major role during this exciting growth period.
In order to get the bandwidth and reliability to serve today’s mission critical applications and online services across the enterprise, businesses have to buy private links (MPLS) like a T1 line. The problem is these private links can be expensive, costing $300 or more per month for minimal (1.5Mbps) speed. These costly links can hinder the ability of IT departments to provide their business with today’s web-based services such as VOIP, online calling services, video conferencing, or virtual desktops.
Only a year ago, software-defined wide area networking (SD-WAN) was still emerging as an application of SDN principles directed at the enterprise WAN. Since then, the SD-WAN bandwagon has grown to include not only new entrants and the incumbent networking vendors but related solutions such as WAN optimization and WAN path control, and even wireless.
Enterprise wide area networks (WANs) are expensive, their bandwidth is often used inefficiently, and they offer few automation capabilities. For enterprises with many branch offices these deficiencies inhibit the advancement of branch-office capabilities, but SDN presents an opportunity for improvement. This combination, known as SDN WAN or SD-WAN, is one of the fastest growing SDN application areas. By separating the data plane from the control plane, SDN helps distributed enterprises automate network provisioning and gain flexibility in the use of the links between their offices and data centers or cloud locations.
As quickly as 2015 passed, it left us with a clear understanding that SD-WAN would remain a hot topic for the foreseeable future – if for no other reason than for the number of players entering the space. Here are some of the ways I see SD-WAN impacting us in 2016.
The Net Neutrality fight has been all over the news this year with the latest installment on Net Neutrality coming in from T-Mobile. Private and public companies alike are tuned into to this continual saga to see how the eventual outcome will affect business and ultimately their online lives. But whether the FCC's recent ruling on Net Neutrality stands the test of time or not, there is a new technology that will provide customers fast, reliable Internet services at much lower costs than private business lines.
The software-defined WAN has come just in time to support the decentralized, cloud-based, bandwidth-hungry applications remote users demand.