In recent years, more and more SD-WAN companies have emerged, and SD-WAN has attracted heated discussions. Why is SD-WAN so popular? Before answering this question, let’s first understand what SD-WAN (software-defined wide area network) really is.

The really interesting thing about SD-WAN is that it defines different resources across the entire network space and creates, manages, and allocates them programmatically. Just like object-oriented programming, you can create an MPLS object and manage the object’s characteristic values, activating and releasing it when you need it.

More complex networks can be built on top of these network objects through calls and programming. You can easily build an HA structure, build dual-ring protection, and easily adapt a star network to a Fully Mesh network. You can also build SDH, MPLS and Internet services simultaneously on a physical fiber, which are isolated and dynamically adjustable from each other. These are all implemented through software calls and with the help of virtualization of underlying network resources.

At this point, we can now clearly see the difference between the two. The purpose of network optimization is to internet acceleration (accelerate a single service or balance the load of a single service). Whether it is the acceleration of large file transmission, the acceleration of video transmission or the acceleration of application systems, they are all optimization measures for a specific need and will not change the essence of the network architecture. Just like software, server optimization, database optimization, application optimization, and middleware optimization are all incomparable to the virtualized cloud systems of VMWare and AWS.

So, if it is essentially network optimization, how to deal with the challenges brought about by the increase in bandwidth and the decrease in network prices (costs)?

The answer is: No amount of optimization can cope with the pressure and challenges brought about by bandwidth expansion… Every large-scale Internet network expansion will greatly affect the performance of network optimization companies (we have learned from many network optimization companies).

The purpose of SD-WAN is to make disorderly networks orderly and predictable, and to get rid of the limitations of traditional physical resources (dedicated fiber optics, independent MPLS networks, etc.). Because SD-WAN can define and virtualize the required network resources by itself, and can arbitrarily expand or reduce a specific characteristic of the resource when needed. For example, virtualized MPLS resources can easily expand label items and change the network easily. Topology, of course, can also change network capacity instantaneously.

The value comparison between SD-WAN and other network systems is similar to the value comparison between IDC and cloud. What SD-WAN really solves is the transparency, simplification and virtualization of complex networks, and what it solves is network flexibility, orderliness and predictability. If the cloud is defined by AWS’s EC2, then SD-WAN should be described by ECN (Elastic Cloud Network).

Faced with the same question above, our answer is this: the increase in network bandwidth has nothing to do with network definition, control and management.

Just like no matter how wide the road is, the signal light system needs to become more and more intelligent, from the initial manual control and manual adjustment, to fixed timing, to regular timing adjustment based on big data, to future AI timing and Timing as needed. These methods are all designed to create predictable traffic situations on the road to meet the needs of every traffic participant.

At the same time, changes in network bandwidth and cost do not affect the definition of network resources, and more resources (bandwidth) will only be more conducive to the definition of complex networks. (In the same way, cheaper and cheaper hardware servers are a positive incentive for cloud services)

After we understand SD-WAN, we can look at why SD-WAN is so popular.

The SD-WAN network is built in a transparent, controllable, and predictable white box system.

The technical barriers are self-evident… Compared with the traditional network optimization technology that can no longer be traditional, “definition” as a brand-new concept is a revolution in the true sense. The definition can bring us a lot of interesting things (in fact, SD-WAN can also define SO-WAN, they are Master/Slave relationships).

Using SD-WAN, we have never controlled the network as effectively as we do now; using SD-WAN -WAN, we have implemented different levels of QoS on WAN (note, not SLA), allocated network resources on demand, implemented elastic networks, and implemented network slicing and layering.

On another level, the more complex the network business and the richer the business types, the more it can reflect the value of SD-WAN (such as the financial and telecommunications fields, which is why few Internet companies (giants) will become SD-WAN mainstream customers). This has brought enough market space and value expression, enough to make everyone from operators to solution providers extremely excited about it, and the pursuit of capital also stems from this.

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