By Doug Farndale, Vice President, APAC Silver Peak
 
Software-Defined Wide Area Networks, SD-WAN, is set to have the same impact cloud had on the IT industry back when it first launched. But what exactly is SD-WAN?
 
In layman terms, SD-WAN is a WAN transformation that allows companies to use the Public Internet (in the form of cable, DSL, LTE, etc.) to augment or replace their current WAN connections (often Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS)). It opens the door for faster WAN provisioning and the ability to use multiple WAN paths at the same time.
 
Many of the networking concepts leveraged by SD-WAN are not new; however, how these concepts are being packaged, is changing the face of WAN networking. Today, Internet vendors offer various aggregation technologies and are happy to sell multiple links on a site. Simplified central management of WAN resources is a very typical end customer request. SD-WAN addresses these requirements in a new, innovative, applications-centric way delivering unique cost savings, improved ease of management and better application visibility and control.
 
Here are some characteristics that define SD-WAN:

1. Supports multiple connection types
   • It has the ability to manage multiple types of connections ranging from MPLS to broadband to LTE
2. Can do dynamic path selection
   • Has dynamic control over path selection allowing businesses to optimise load balancing across WAN connections, reducing data packet loss
3. Provides a simple, user-friendly interface for managing WAN – improves ease of deployment
   • Zero-touch provisioning simplifies setup to plug-and-play model at the branch level
   • A single central management platform allows application visibility, ease of deployment, and control bandwidth
   • Application-centric performance profiles applied pervasively throughout the WAN
4. Leverage partial & fully meshed IP VPN architectures
   • Overlay technology that is placed across the network, provides visibility to all apps and with capacity control features for optimising nearly all traffic types
   • Dynamic path control allows for the aggregation of bandwidth between both MPLS and the Internet, plus autonomous traffic rerouting based on pre-configured performance profiles

So why use SD-WAN?:

1. Realise costs savings
   • Traditionally MPLS/Internet pairs were deployed in an active/passive capacity (the Internet connection served as the passive backup circuit). With SD-WAN, enterprises are able to control multiple network links, load-balancing across MPLS and Internet connections in an active-active model – aggregating the effective bandwidth
   • SD-WAN enables any form of broadband from any carrier to replace or augment enterprises’ more expensive MPLS, driving cost savings of up to 90%
   • Hardware or software solutions are available to meet your network architecture needs
   • The Internet is typically 5 times cheaper than MPLS
2. Ease of management
   • With zero-touch provisioning and being able to use broadband from different carriers, it is quicker/easier to implement solutions at the branch, and manage the connections
3. More bandwidth
   • By aggregating both MPLS and Internet bandwidth, SD-WAN enterprises can grow extremely cost effectively
   • Bandwidth can be further optimised with low packet loss, low latency and load balancing features which return optimal application performance and the best customer experience

Gartner estimates that SD-WAN has less than 1% market share today, but it predicts that up to 30% of users will be managing their WAN through software by 2019.

To read the report and to learn more about the SD-WAN market and why enterprises should consider Silver Peak, click here.