The whole premise of SD-WAN (software-defined WAN) is around the evolution of networking, according to Paul Griffiths, Riverbed EMEA Senior Director, Advanced Technology Group, Office of the CTO. "If an organisation was to look at the way that its entire IT infrastructure has evolved over the past 20 years, it would see the enhancement of operating systems, the addition of new features and applications, as well as the evolution of storage and cloud-hosted infrastructure. What the organisation wouldn't see is equal advancement in the underlying network infrastructure."
Users are accustomed to their computer screens having the same touchscreen capabilities as their phones, smartphones themselves have evolved significantly, the past decade has seen massive technological evolutions come to the forefront. However, says Griffiths, the network is still trapped in the 20th century.
He says: "Companies are finding themselves with enormously complex networking infrastructures over which their users are trying to access applications and services spread across the organisation, not just in data centres, but in branch offices and the cloud. That type of networking scenario is very difficult to manage. And it's disastrous should the network stop working for some reason, where do you even begin to troubleshoot?"
Griffiths warns it'll prove equally challenging to change the way the network itself is transporting the applications and services that users need to perform their jobs. "How do you ensure that users will have access to key apps and services on a specific deadline, such as over a long weekend or at the end of a campaign? Will you be able to control your network bandwidth to ensure users who need capacity and performance actually receive it? Then there's the increasing need for business agility - the ability to quickly evolve with changing customer preferences."
You need a network solution that fundamentally redefines the way networking is done to better align with new, cloud-centric business practices. This is where SD-WAN comes into its own, providing ubiquitous connectivity, connecting anyone to anything regardless of where the user is located and regardless of where the application is located. Griffiths says: "SD-WAN is about IT agility and reducing the risk inherent in change. If you can reduce the risk, you can implement change quicker, resulting in greater productivity and making your organisation more competitive compared to your opposition."
SD-WANs are quickly replacing traditional wide area networks (WANs) as more businesses move more of their applications and services to the cloud. However, Griffiths believes there's a need for education around SD-WAN, as the array of options can prove confusing to organisations wanting to embark on the path towards adopting SD-WAN.
SD-WAN is an intelligent and intuitive way of designing, deploying and managing distributed networks. It can provide any type of connectivity in terms of source and destination, from branch to datacentre, branch to branch, branch to cloud and cloud to cloud. And it does so simply, able to connect into cloud-hosted services, which traditionally don't have simplified controls or the provisioning to set up this type of connectivity. Griffiths points out: "Any kind of complexity leads to risk and a barrier to making the change, so keeping IT simple is key. Implementing the right kind of SD-WAN for your organisation won't just result in IT agility, it'll make the business as a whole more agile."
Business benefits of software-defined WAN
* Lower costs as it eliminates reliance on expensive MPLS connections to interconnect remote sites;
* Higher performance by leveraging multiple network paths and faster broadband connections for certain applications including cloud;
* Increased network agility by decreasing manual configuration steps through increased programmability and automation; and
* Future-proofs the organisation's network for cloud computing, enabling it to adapt to rapidly changing application and business requirements.
You can read more about the SD-WAN by downloading the Forrester report The future of the WAN is software-defined here.
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