SD-WAN: Affordable, Secure, and Flexible

Software Defined Wide Area Networks (SD-WANs) help businesses that struggle with costly and cumbersome WANs to connect multiple branch offices over large geographical areas. Better yet, they’ve cost affordable, secure, and flexible!

WAN’s Drawbacks

Buying sufficient bandwidth to run WAN in rural areas poses financial and technological challenges. It’s difficult to configure separate locations with incompatible network accesses (3G/4G LTE, MPLS, Wifi, Ethernet, etc.). Imagine an audio player that runs on either alternating current or as many as six D-cell batteries. A physical switch selects the AC or battery power source. The latter makes the record player heavy. Performance is limited and quickly becomes sluggish, requiring frequent battery changes.

It’s the same with WAN connectivity. Each site in a network has to connect according to the technology available locally, pay for its own technical support, and risks security breaches between platforms. Each location must maintain several ways for the various branch offices to “talk” to each other.

SD-WAN’s Advantages

SD-WAN changes all that. Just like a smart car that uses multiple fuel sources (gasoline, hydrogen, diesel, or electricity), SD-WAN can use any of several connectivity options. The software senses them seamlessly. This allows users in each location to concentrate on their work, not on the hardware that makes it possible. Think of the smart car that responds to verbal cues, rather than requiring manual manipulation. Radio, air conditioning, or GPS systems respond to the driver’s voice. The driver touches no controls, but the car’s operating systems all function without fail.

SD-WAN also offers affordable, secure data transmission. Traditional WAN systems may require multiple security approaches, independently installed and maintained at each branch location. This often results in inconsistencies between branch offices.

SD-WAN systems can encrypt sensitive data in real time, and software is replicated so each location is assured of identical security configurations.

SD-WAN’s ability to use several connectivity options reduces downtime, too. If a traditional WAN is down, employees literally have no way to work. Productivity suffers and revenue is lost. If any part of the SD-WAN system fails, the system itself searches for the best way to connect. Work continues without interruption.

An SD-WAN system is also smart enough to sense what type of data is being transmitted. It selects the best traffic path for a particular application.

Best of all, the cost of installing and maintaining an SD-WAN is about a third of the cost of a traditional WAN. A WAN that cost $1.24 million to install can be replaced by an SD-WAN costing just $450,000.

Barriers to Adoption

With all these advantages, why isn’t the use of SD-WAN more widespread?

Simple economics: WAN systems cost so much to install that companies want to get the full measure of use out of their existing investments. As their WAN equipment ages and requires replacement, an ever-increasing number of companies will make the switch to more efficient, more economical, and more user-friendly SD-WAN.

When you’re ready, Ideal Solutions Provider, LLC, has the expertise to install your SD-WAN system. Give us a call at  (813) 388-4935. Learn more about telecommunications service at http://www.idealsolutions-provider.com/.