SD-WAN: The what & The Why.
We may only be 38 days into 2020, but there are already some massive trends emerging in the adoption of technology, certainly within the microcosm of my existence.
It is no secret that over the past decade businesses of all sizes have had to adopt and manage an increasing number of platforms, systems, and by proxy, network solutions. There is absolutely no sign of the rate of change slowing down. Where once there were physical servers on premises, there is now the cloud. Where once there was PBX deployements there are now hosted, vitrualised or soft client systems. Oh, and the mobile phone featured a bit as well.
SD-WAN is the latest solution to the latest problems that are in the business world.
Essentially SD-WAN (Software Defined Wide Area Network) is a mechanism that allows you to enjoy the spoils of your cloud deployments without critical services, such as voice, suffering.
If you as a business, believe that your internet has gotten worse over the last year, it hasn't. However, this is the number 1 sentence I am hearing from existing and prospective clients. The cold, hard truth of the matter is it is likely your rapid eager adoption of cloud is to blame.
Let me explain.
If you previously ran all your applications on site in a server (Mail, Voice, data backups etc), your internet connection only dealt with web browsing and emails being sent back and forth.
Now, you have Office 365, with powerpoint, outlook, excel etc, your phone system is in the cloud, your backups are in the cloud, maybe you use web conferencing or collaboration tools. All the while, your email data limit which used to be 2MB can now be upwards of 100MB.
Oh, and you still send all that information up and down through the same internet connection you bought years ago.
Where there are premium services (EoFTTC, Leased Lines etc) these can be really pricey, and you might not need them. So, this is where SD-WAN comes in.
SD WAN sits at the front of your network and controls your data flow. Critical applications flow unhindered where non time critical applications (backups, browsing for example) are held back.
Think of it like 1000 people on Black Friday trying to burst through a single door, it is madness as people shuffle & fight through the small space. SD-WAN is the organised queue of people with certain VIP's getting early, first access.
Efficient & cost effective
Your Data moves efficiently, often negating the need to spring for additional data connectivity in the menatime. Many suppliers have hardware that also includes a security mesh and LAyer 7 firewalling, as well as redundant, load balanced networking ability, so you can add a 2nd standard broadband to share the load.
All this means you are reducing your outlay for premium data circuits that may very well be overkill for a businesses needs, as well as giving you robust security, a faster network (or at least the feeling of one) as well as a resilience option to give you additional peace of mind.
Just food for thought guys, if you, or your employees think your broadband has been crap recently, phone me, or someone like me, and see if there is not something can be done to it.