Many people are now familiar with software-defined wide-area networks (SD-WANs) and what they can do for businesses. As a quick primer for those with less knowledge on the subject, SD-WAN allows enterprises to vastly upgrade the functionality of their networks.
As a software-defined layer, SD-WAN is essentially a virtual network laid on top of your preexisting network. While this might sound confusing, it can actually help simplify your organization’s network infrastructure. We’ll explore this idea a bit more in the next section. First, let’s look at what it means for SD-WAN to be provided as a service.
What Does SD-WAN as a Service Mean?
If you’re in the business world, you’ve almost certainly heard of other things coming “as a service.” Software as a service (SaaS) is probably the most popular iteration of this idea. Essentially, this means a third-party company provides you with something in the form of a subscription service, as opposed to selling you a license or download to a product. There are a few benefits to note when it comes to opting for “as a service” offerings:
- You can save on upfront and continuing costs, as you don’t have to invest nearly as much in hardware or personnel.
- You’ll get a more secure product when the creator is responsible for keeping it safe and offers continual support.
- You can scale up and down much faster with the “as a service” model, in addition to only opting for the exact services you need at any given time.
- You’ll have a cloud-native service, which will allow for much more flexibility in terms of locational use and integration with other products.
So, what does all this mean for SD-WAN as a service? Essentially, you’re hiring an SD-WAN provider to keep your enterprise’s networks up and running. While this might seem like a risky bet at first, it’s actually a smart move in most cases, as the people working within the provider company understand the nuances of the product better than you could ever teach someone at an internal team. The combination of cost, compliance, scalability, and security all make SD-WAN as a service a solid move for enterprises today.
Virtual Overlay on Top of Your Network
As mentioned earlier, SD-WAN essentially functions as a virtual layer placed on top of your existing network infrastructure. This might sound confusing to people who aren’t familiar with the technology.
Traditional WAN is a bit of a mess. It requires lots of maintenance; it’s hard to keep current and secure; it’s inefficient and often running into connection issues; and there’s basically no overarching visibility. By creating a software-defined layer to run on top of the network, you’re able to solve all these issues.
Many Benefits Over Traditional WAN
Of course, it’s one thing to say SD-WAN will fix the problems with your traditional WAN; but it’s a whole different thing to see the details. These are a few benefits SD-WAN provides over more antiquated network infrastructures:
- SD-WAN creates a cloud-native network infrastructure, which makes migration and deployment of new cloud products and services much smoother.
- SD-WAN isn’t dispersed through branches like traditional WAN. This means you’re able to have visibility and control over the entire enterprise network from anywhere, without having to make changes at the local level.
- SD-WAN leads to vast efficiencies in terms of bandwidth usage and connection quality. By creating internal governance policies, organizations can prioritize which types of traffic connect through certain protocols and take precedence. This can improve overall network performance while also limiting downtime and brownouts.
- SD-WAN enhances security, as everything can be viewed and altered by those with permissions from anywhere. You can also get alerts for unusual network activity, which can lead to threat mitigation that otherwise would go totally under the radar.
With all of these factors, having the “as a service” element only improves the overall quality of the offering. Enterprises can and should reap the benefits of having true SD-WAN experts implementing and securing their networks.