SD-WAN as a Hybrid Solution

Many companies are starting to realise that traditional legacy WAN’s are limited by the ‘Hub and spoke model’ that has become the default infrastructure for reliable business connectivity, especially branched businesses like those in finance or retail.

As internet usage has ballooned in the last decade, these companies are all uncovering latency problems and bottlenecks during peak-times. This is unacceptable for modern businesses that expect superfast and robust

connectivity for their employees, in order to maximise their productivity and efficiency.

Adopting SD-WAN

One alternative, already starting to revolutionise global networking, is the SD-WAN model.

What makes the adoption of SD-WAN so compelling is the ability to amalgamate itself in to whatever network architecture preceded it and, requiring little to no expertise to physically install, optimise the transport methods that were previously slowing the network down.

The SD-WAN can then hybridise the existing secure network through the utilisation of cheaper, consumer internet networks like broadband or 4G. By providing alternative routes for the transmission of data, the amount of data sent over essential connections like MPLS lines is reduced and spreads the load over a wider spectrum of connections, increasing efficiency and resiliency.

Customisable SLA's

Traditionally, enterprises have been slow to adopt public internet connections for corporate use, due to the lack of guarantees or Service Level Agreements compared to a private MPLS solution.

However, using Silver Peak SD-WAN network administrators are able to configure their own SLA’s for applications and overlay these over one or more transport connections that can be used as alternative routes if one suffers an outage. For example, an admin would be able to configure an SD-WAN where, if latency “SD-WAN as a Hybrid solution” reaches a certain threshold in milliseconds, the SD-WAN will transfer all traffic off that network and use an alternative route instead.

The ability to intelligently re-route traffic around bottlenecks ensures applications keep running, staff remain as productive as possible and reduces the reliance on ISP’s to resolve issues before normal service can resume.

SD-WAN for Cloud Services

This network arrangement forces the WAN to work for the intended applications, instead of constraining the applications to work on a specific network, even if quality suffers. Therefore, SD-WAN is ideal for the facilitation of various cloud services that businesses have found to be essential in modern working practices, like video calling and collaboration software like Office 365 or Salesforce. The amount of resources required to install and manage an arrangement like this is usually far less than equivalent legacy WAN’s too.

Not only will SD-WAN be able to complement any current networks used, but only requires a member of staff to install the appliance by connecting the appropriate cables. This negates the need for IT admins at each branch to continually maintain the network and reduces the frequency for service and maintenance, as well as the need for trained IT staff to install such advanced hardware at each branch.

Ultimately, a hybrid WAN model that utilises an SD-WAN will reduce costs in the long term. This is accomplished through the reduction of expensive IT admins, the improvements in productivity of staff that aren’t limited by their network and the possible reduction in bandwidth of MPLS connections.

Why Wavenet?

Your business needs to be able to flexibly secure and connect users to applications via the most cost-effective connectivity available.

Wavenet’s SD-WAN solutions augment and replace MPLS networks with secure broadband Internet connectivity, dramatically reducing WAN costs and complexity.

Benefit from unprecedented levels of visibility, control and security, whilst improving application and network performance.

At Wavenet, we future-proof technology. Protecting your business for today and tomorrow. Our SD-WAN solutions do just that, making your business brilliant.