SD-WAN vs iWAN

Software-defined wide area networking (SD-WAN) is a specific application of software-defined networking (SDN) technology applied to WAN connections, which are used to connect enterprise networks – including branch offices and data centers – over large geographic distances.

Intelligent WAN (iWAN) is the name of Cisco’s SD-WAN product that was built from an existing Cisco product (also called iWAN). Cisco’s iWAN provides traffic control and security features for the WAN that has been integrated into Cisco branch-office routers. Cisco says its iWAN product provides customers with capabilities similar to MPLS VPN, such as quality of service, WAN optimization, and VPN tunneling.

Technologies used in Cisco iWAN:

• Secure DMVPN
• PfR
• WAAS
• QoS
• Direct Internet Access (DIA)
• Cisco Cloud Web Security (CWS).
• Application Policy Infrastructure Controller—Enterprise Module (APIC-EM)

Cisco IWAN uses Dynamic Multipoint VPN (DMVPN) to provide transport independence via overlay routing.

Overlay routing provides transport independence so that a customer can select any WAN technology: MPLS VPN (L2 or L3), metro Ethernet, direct Internet, broadband,cellular 3G/4G/LTE, or high-speed radios. Transport independence makes it easy to mix and match transport options or change SPs to meet business requirements.