SD-WAN: All your locations securely connected

Able to respond quickly to changes. That's what you expect from your network. You don't know what the future will bring, but you do want to be able to respond to it and not fall behind. That is why it is important that your network is as flexible as you are. Is SD-WAN an option then?

All these changes affect the requirements you place on your network environment. Usually you want more and more. More traffic, more bandwidth, more analytics and, above all, more SAAS applications. You then quickly tend to deploy more and more capacity, in terms of hardware and FTEs. But is that always the solution? What you really need is a network that moves with you and enables your organization to be agile. And all this without jeopardizing your performance or costing you.

The Limitations of MPLS and Traditional WAN 

A traditional network is no longer good enough: MPLS connectivity is expensive, rigid and no longer suited to a modern business environment. A WAN is built to connect and secure static and physical locations, but it is not designed for mobile employees who use cloud services. Cloud-based applications increase your traffic and require low latency to function properly.

A WAN typically requires backhauling all your traffic, including that to the cloud. This means that all traffic is first routed from your branches to the data center of your head office for the necessary security checks. The delay this causes degrades the application's performance, resulting in a poorer user experience and productivity loss. That means you need an architecture that enables internet breakouts per location for direct access to cloud services.

SD-WAN: flexible, cost effective and easy management 

SD-WAN stands for Software-Defined Wide Area Network. As the name might suggest, this is an approach based on software defined networking (SDN) technology applied to WAN connections. This makes it easier to connect different locations via your network. In addition, it is cost effective and SD-WAN simplifies the management of your network.

Unlike traditional WAN architecture, the SD-WAN model is designed to support applications hosted in local data centers, private or public clouds, and SaaS solutions. It also ensures that the performance of your applications remains high. How is that possible? By using and combining multiple active load-sharing connections of any type (broadband/cable, MPLS, 3G/4G). Advanced data caching, traffic compression, and other WAN optimization capabilities maximize available bandwidth. SD-WAN automatically makes dynamic adjustments to your quality of service and application policies, so you always have enough bandwidth for your applications. For example, you can send Citrix traffic that must always be given priority over line 1 due to latency,

Keep it safe with Secure SD-WAN 

But how secure is SD-WAN? It does have its shortcomings when it comes to security with instant internet access. A secure SD-WAN is a good solution for this. So if you choose SD-WAN, go for Secure SD-WAN. You support SD-WAN with a Next-Generation Firewall. That way you add intrusion prevention, application control and anti-malware to your traditional firewall-VPN combination. In addition, you only have one platform for end-to-end security throughout your network, so you can easily keep an overview. This way your network performs optimally and you have the very best protection against cyber attacks.

Are you ready for SD-WAN? 

How do you know if SD-WAN is for you? If your employees increasingly work with cloud services from different locations, you can no longer do without. SD-WAN increases the reliability, agility and performance of your network. In addition, your operational costs are also reduced. What are you actually waiting for? We summarize the advantages below.

Benefits SD-WAN

• More speed and flexibility
• Uptime improvement
• More insight into traffic
• Lower operating costs
• More efficient use of bandwidth
• No backhaul internet traffic
• QoS per application (only with Secure SD-WAN)
• Easy to link with cloud services
• Integrated central management & performance monitoring

Are you ready to upgrade your network to the future?

Download the e-book Manage network: Maintain control over your company network and the Security Wheel e-book: good Cyber Security in 12 steps .