What is SD-WAN?

Technology is always changing.

As a business operator, that may seem frustrating sometimes — what with having to update obsolete tech, look for new solutions and keep up with the most recent developments on the technologies you use every day. But business needs are always changing too: when expectations grow, companies expand or new security risks emerge. Technology needs to keep up.

And you need an Internet connection that will support all of those new technology needs.

That’s where software-defined wide area networks (SD-WANs) come in. More reliable and high performing than traditional wide area network (WAN) technology, SD-WAN technology is able to keep up better with the demands of today’s businesses. If you’re relying more and more on Software as a Service (SaaS), Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and cloud environments to thrive, it may be the key to helping your business thrive.

But why is that — and what is SD-WAN, exactly? Let’s dig a little into how SD-WAN technology works and why it matters for your business.

What Is SD-WAN?

At their core, software-defined wide area networks (SD-WANs) connect local area networks (LANs) across long distances. This allows disparate sites — your offices, for instance — to easily connect with networks, data centres and cloud networks.

What’s different about SD-WANs is that they do that using software that works across a range of networking hardwares. All while providing high performance, low latency and reliable connections that keep up with the demands of businesses today.

That makes SD-WANs unique from the wide area networks (WANs) businesses have traditionally been using in several key ways.

SD-WAN vs. WAN

WANs were also designed to connect LANs across long distances. Businesses, for instance, use WANs to connect users in your office with applications hosted in remote data centres.

But with WANs, software — which defines how traffic flows — and hardware, which directs that traffic, are tightly connected and purchased from a single networking vendor. This can lead to complex management needs, unpredictable performance and security concerns.

And this is where WANs differ from SD-WANs.

SD-WANs are “software defined,” meaning they can integrate any hardware, including more than a single networking hardware and connection. And that provides them with some key benefits.

What that means for businesses

With SD-WANs, businesses can purchase any networking hardware they want, according to their needs and budget. They can use cheaper, off-the-shelf models that save on costs, or search out multiple hardwares that have higher performance capabilities. This makes SD-WANs more agile, scalable and flexible, since businesses can choose the hardware that best meets their needs and budget.

SD-WANs are also ideal across mixed environments that draw on cloud, on-premises and hybrid solutions — offering centralized orchestration and automation to improve connectivity across all those solutions. And that can be a competitive advantage for many businesses today.

Conclusion

SD-WAN connections are the ideal choice for modern organizations looking to keep up with their technology needs, to create a scalable, agile connectivity environment for their business. And for businesses that rely on new technology to thrive, they’re a step up from traditional WAN technology — providing a new network model for a new technology stack.

In our next blog post, we’ll delve deeper into the benefits SD-WAN offers businesses today.

Learn more about Xplore Business’s connectivity solutions.