What is SD-WAN?

SD-WAN has many advantages; here is what you need to know

What is SD-WAN? If the concept is new to you, you are not alone. In fact, SD-WAN has several possible benefits and understanding the use of this technology and how it can help you and your business in the current business environment can help you determine whether this technology is right for you.

First, let's tackle the term WAN. WAN stands for wide area network. It's essentially an extension of multiple networks over large distances, connecting remote offices to data centers and each other using a physical router appliance to route data between locations. Simply put, a WAN is a collection of networks across multiple locations.

On-demand applications such as streaming media, cloud applications, video conferencing, and Voice over IP (VoIP) put a strain on your network’s ability to route data and can require a costly increase in your bandwidth from a 3rd party provider. As technology improves and the demand for network resources grows, a traditional WAN becomes expensive and more difficult to manage.

What makes an SD-WAN different 

In the past, traditional WAN technology has been the go-to for IT, voice, and data networking infrastructure. SD-WAN has an alternative approach to wide-area networking because it measures the traffic and selects the best route for each data packet in real time. Additionally, if an outage occurs, your traffic is switched over to another connection instantly.

Benefits of a software-defined wide area network

The potential benefits of SD-WAN are many. Here are several we want to highlight.

1. Better performance. Today's working world often requires us to work remotely and check in via voice or video applications. To make that happen, you need optimal performance. With SD-WAN, these applications can be prioritized to create a better communication experience.

2. Improved flexibility. With SD-WAN your organization can streamline the rollout of updates, and even customize bandwidth. Setup efficiency is lightning-fast, so you can say goodbye to those long lead times.

3. Added security. With SD-WAN, traffic on your network is encrypted. This technology also allows you to easily implement and integrate additional security layers, such as a firewall and related services for unified threat management.

4. Unmatched scalability. SD-WAN allows for multiple WAN links, versus a single link. So as demand increases for nearly every enterprise, SD-WAN can accommodate the traffic and large files you need to relay between your staff.

Connectivity and more with SD-WAN

Today's remote working world and the demand for increased flexibility require new solutions to meet those needs. Want to learn more about SD-WAN and how it can help your business, school, or organization? At Locknet® Managed IT, we can help! Contact your Account Executive or give us a call at 844-365-4968.