I. Background of SDWAN (Software Defined Wide Area Network) Technology

Traditional Wide Area Networks (WANs) are primarily based on leased line connections, such as MPLS (Multiprotocol Label Switching) networks, which are used to connect an organization’s branch offices to its headquarters. These traditional WAN networks were designed in the past to meet data center-to-data center communication needs, and the performance and flexibility of traditional WANs are becoming increasingly difficult to meet for the growing demand for cloud computing applications and Internet usage in modern enterprises.

With the cloud-based enterprise applications, increasing number of branch offices, and increasing user demands for network performance and reliability, traditional WANs are facing many challenges, including high costs, lower bandwidth utilization, and complex deployment and management. In addition, the limited reliance of traditional WANs on the Internet has led to user dissatisfaction with the performance and availability of Internet connections.

II. The Evolution of SDWAN

The development of SDWAN technology originated from the inadequacy of traditional WANs and the new demand for network management and optimization. The following are the key milestones in the development of SDWAN technology:

1. The rise of cloud computing and cloud applications

With the development of cloud computing technology, enterprises began to migrate applications and data to the cloud instead of being limited to traditional data centers. This resulted in users in branch offices having to access cloud applications over the Internet, while traditional WANs had limited support for Internet connectivity, leading to performance issues.

2. The rise of SDN (Software Defined Networking)

SDN technology separates the control plane and data plane of the network, thus enabling centralized management and flexible configuration of the network. This provides the technical foundation for the development of SDWAN, which allows SDWAN to manage and optimize network connectivity through software definition.

3. Initial Applications of SDWAN

SDWAN technology was first experimented with in enterprise networks with success. Due to the benefits of SDWAN, such as cost reduction, improved network performance and flexibility, more and more organizations are adopting SDWAN technology as an alternative to traditional WANs.

4. Emergence of Vendors

With the rise of SDWAN technology, more and more network equipment vendors and service providers have started to introduce SDWAN products and solutions. These vendors offer a variety of SDWAN products, from hardware devices to virtualization software, to meet the needs of different enterprises.

5. Popularization of SDWAN

As SDWAN technology continues to evolve and improve, more and more enterprises are adopting SDWAN to build their networks.SDWAN has become an important part of enterprise network transformation, and many organizations see it as an effective way to improve network performance and reliability.

To summarize, the background of the development of SDWAN technology is the insufficiency of traditional WAN and the pursuit of new network requirements. SDWAN technology effectively solves a series of problems with traditional WANs through technologies such as software definition and intelligent routing, improving the performance, reliability and flexibility of networks and enabling enterprises to better meet modern network challenges. As SDWAN technology continues to mature and gain popularity, it will continue to play an important role in the field of enterprise networking.