Managed networks - out with the old and in with the new ... or maybe not?

"Rip and replace". A phrase that will cause extreme stress for most CTO's and get a resounding "no" from most CFO's. Routinely proposed by many service providers as a viable way to address WAN infrastructure upgrade projects, this is seldom a practical approach. But how else do you simplify complexity and continue delivering against the changing needs of the business?

Imagine if there was a way for you to be the superhero who presents a plan to transition your existing WAN from inflexible, fixed-line, hardware, resource and CAPEX-intensive; to hybrid, flexible, and customisable, with a predictable and manageable OPEX model? If the network infrastructure could be tailored and scaled per site to perform against your stated business outcomes, rather than a 'one size fits all' approach that is frequently over or under-specced? And best of all, if the transition could be implemented incrementally to minimise the impact on business operations, while delivering valuable tools and information to drive better planning and decision-making? Well, there is!

Contrary to what many may think, software-defined networks have not meant the end of VPN and MPLS networks. While all 3 technologies privately connect geographically distributed people, systems and tools within an organisation, each has distinct benefits and relevance, depending on the business outcomes you want to achieve. This enables you to retain portions of the network that are still fit for purpose, while augmenting and optimising the overall functionality, visibility, and manageability of the end-to-end infrastructure.

VPNs revolutionised internet-based networks, turning public connections into private connections by encrypting the data being transferred between network routers, and remain the most effective way to create a secure connection for remote workers to access their company's private network.

The inherent security and reliability of MPLS means it is still an efficient way to prioritise and route traffic on a private WAN with relatively few sites and a limited geographic footprint, as well as companies that host their applications in centralised data centres and/or in the cloud.

With more and more applications being hosted in the cloud, a software-defined approach to WANs presents an exciting alternative to traditional router-based networking. Exclusively cloud-based, SD-WAN offers scalability, flexible bandwidth capabilities, as well as high levels of security and performance. Perhaps most importantly, it also enables centralised management of the entire network.

The beauty of SD-WAN is the ability to connect enterprises over vast distances using a variety of WAN connections such as broadband internet, LTE, 4G or MPLS, separating traffic based on security, authority, and quality of service - all managed centrally and virtually at a software level, not via complex hardware-based routing tables and protocols. So rather than being defunct, your existing VPN and MPLS connections can be optimised within a hybrid SD-WAN architecture.

Since 2020, the increase in remote workforces has led to a proliferation of IoT devices and the decentralisation of data storage. These multi-cloud environments at the edge of the network are part of the new frontier called edge computing, with Gartner predicting that by 2025, around 75% of enterprise-generated data will be created and processed outside a traditional centralised data centre or cloud.

The evolution of networks and data storage from centralised and device-centric, to distributed and software-centric has had a major impact on network and data security requirements, with cyber-attacks and data breaches recently becoming an almost daily occurrence.

So, when you are ready for the next step, integrating Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) with your software-defined WAN is a highly effective solution to this challenge, as it supports the move to edge computing, decentralised cloud and data storage, and the proliferation of IoT devices, by operating on the basis of adaptive trust. The ZTNA set of technologies grant access based on several configurable security posture checks regardless of the end user’s location or the site where applications/data are located. ZTNA gives users seamless and secure connectivity to private applications without ever placing them on the network or exposing applications to the internet.

No matter where you are in the journey of managed networks, have a talk to us and find out how we can plug you into our Digital Services Gateway and convert your standard WAN into a SuperWAN!