Tidal Wave - SD-WAN

What is SD-WAN?

This article is to answer all the questions I get about this technology in the Greater Cincinnati Area.  I get asked this question daily by technology engineers as well as CFO’s, CEO’s, and CIO’s so I thought this might be a good topic for my next article.

I’m going to go into the history of WAN’s prior to discussing SD-WAN.  This should help define some of the challenges and problems SD-WAN is here to address.

What is a WAN?

The formal definition is - A wide area network (WAN) is a telecommunications network or computer network that extends over a large geographical distance. Wide area networks are often established with leased telecommunication circuits.

These were first needed by companies with many locations that wanted to communicate with each other. 

The types of major types of WAN’s that exist today are listed here:

• ATM – Not used for ATM machines.  ATM sends frames of a fixed (53 octets or bytes) length and specifically called "cells".
• Cable modem – Primarily used to deliver broadband Internet.
• Dial-up – Used by everyone in the 90s for internet access and was generally slow.
• DSL – (Digital subscriber loop) is a family of technologies that are used to transmit digital data over telephone lines.
• FiOptics – Cincinnati Bell’s super-fast internet competing with cable services.
• Fiber - Fiber-optic communication is a method of transmitting information from one place to another by sending pulses of light through an optical fiber.
• MPLS – MPLS is a type of data-carrying technique for high-performance telecommunications networks that directs data from one network node to the next based on short path labels rather than long network addresses, avoiding complex lookups in a routing table.
• SD-WAN - An SD-WAN is a Wide Area Network (WAN) managed using the principles of software-defined networking

The evolution of WAN is can be thought of in 4 eras.

1. Era 1 – Functionality / Efficiency
   • ATM / Dial Up / ISDN
   • No larger lines existed and people just needed access to low bandwidth applications. Cost was a factor but no matter how much you paid the lines just didn’t exist.
   • This was the dial up era and as the applications started to grow more bandwidth intensive the need for new forms of communications started to exist.
   • Efficiency was mandated so all protocols and applications were designed for the poorly connected world.
   • I truly believe the coders of this era were the best!
2. Era 2 – Innovation – Gluten
   • Now was the time of innovation where service providers realized an ocean of demand existed and that more applications would be delivered than ever before.
   • Leased Lines, Fiber, Cable modems, Fioptics, MPLS
   • This era was about spending what it took to get the right access.
   • Programmers were pushing bandwidth providers to get ever faster speeds. Consumer demand was pushing the envelope.
   • Security was starting to creep into the picture.
3. Era 3 – Flexibility – Utility
   • This is our era now. People want the fast speeds without the steep cost.
   • Security is tremendously important so more complex private networks are increasing by the day.
   •  MPLS / VPLS are incredibly popular and have allowed us to experience strong communication for the business world.
   • The demand of a more flexible option in WAN technology pushed service providers to deliver a model which allows the business consumer to choose exactly what they want at each location and still maintain the same privacy, security and control as traditional MPLS / VPLS solutions.
4. Era 4 – SD-WAN – The Future

WHAT IS SD-WAN?

Formal definition - An SD-WAN is a Wide Area Network (WAN) managed using the principles of software-defined networking. The main driver of SD-WAN is to lower WAN costs using less expensive leased lines, as an alternative or partial replacement of more expensive MPLS lines. Control and management is separated from the hardware, with central controllers allowing easier configuration and administration.

The financials / functionality benefits mean that SD-WAN is tremendously valuable for a multi-location organization.   The more locations the more attractive the solution gets.

An SD-WAN service is an edge device implemented by a service provider which then creates private networks over any type of WAN interface (T1, Cable, FIBER, FI Optics, Ethernet).  This allows the business consumer to choose which bandwidth they want at each location.  This sort of flexibility can save 10’s of thousands of dollars per month for a 40 location organization.    SD-WAN edge devices normally come with built-in security solutions to provide even more governance over the communication.  SD-WAN provides control at your fingertips with management interfaces allowing you to control all your SD-WAN Devices from a single pane of glass.

You will find that this solution exists across almost all the major service providers now.  Major Manufacturers like Cisco (Meraki) as well as a multitude of others are the main players. 

For the tech who say its just marketing:
Most techy folks will say I could get a layer 2 tunnel over a WAN interface for many years.  I agree that’s true but it was not turn key or a point and click solution to accomplish without some fancy automation on your part.   SD-WAN may not be a brand new technology, but like the term “CLOUD,” its now packed and backed / marketed by all the big boys.  That means all technology companies needs to get on board.

Benefits SD WAN:

1. Security – Built in IDS, IDP in a lot of scenarios
2. Lower cost – Utility based approach.
3. Ease of management – Lowering your network operations head count
4. Fast deployment – Turnkey solution – Ship and install.
5. Dual WAN – High up time & loads of capabilities
   
   

We have a ton of experience in this space and would love to help you if you are a multi-location business in the Greater Cincinnati Area. To reach out to us regarding SD-WAN please feel free to reach out to – [email protected]

Sincerely,

Jon Salisbury – CTO & Co-Founder @ Nexigen