SD-WAN is changing the traditional way of enterprise networking with strong momentum. Why is SD-WAN developing so rapidly? Let’s explore the reasons together.

Traditional enterprise networks usually consist of campuses, branches, and data centers, which are connected to each other through the enterprise WAN network. Considering service quality factors, enterprise networks generally use operators’ traditional dedicated lines.

Traditional enterprise network solutions suffer from the following problems:

1. The cost is too high: The price of traditional dedicated lines of operators is relatively high, while the price of ordinary Internet dedicated lines is low but the quality requirements cannot be met.

**2. Unable to guarantee the differentiation of key applications: **Traditional dedicated lines do not have business identification capabilities, cannot distinguish services, and cannot meet the user experience of key services such as video conferencing, multinational services, OA, and CRM.

3. Complex deployment and long online time: Traditional dedicated lines have high requirements for engineers and involve a lot of configuration and debugging work. Moreover, the online process is complicated and requires checking various resources, which can take several months to go online.

4. Operation and maintenance is difficult and IT investment is large: Operation and maintenance of traditional enterprises is a hard and unpleasant job. Due to the lack of effective fault location methods, operation and maintenance problems often cannot be solved. Locating and handling problems often consumes a lot of manpower and energy.

SD-WAN is an emerging WAN technology that emerged to solve the above series of problems. So, in contrast, SD-WAN has the following advantages.

1. Allow multiple connection types

SD-WAN is no longer forced to only use MPLS, but allows multiple connection types such as MPLS, xSDL, PON fiber broadband, 4G LTE, and even 5G.

In this way, enterprise users’ reliance on MPLS dedicated lines is greatly reduced, and ordinary fiber optic broadband and 4G can also come in handy. Users’ bandwidth utilization has improved, and traffic costs have also dropped.

2. Choose the best path independently

The key to WAN wide area network technology actually lies in path selection. For different branches, SD-WAN can independently select the best path based on the existing network conditions and configuration strategies. SD-WAN also has load balancing capabilities to enhance network reliability.

3. Deployment is simple and can be completed in seconds

Zero-touch deployment, just plug and play. In addition to automatically obtaining the configuration after the CPE is powered on, it can also be configured by scanning a QR code or by email. There is no need for professional IT professionals to be present for configuration and installation.

4. Low difficulty in operation and maintenance

All SD-WAN management platforms are graphical and visual. Administrators can clearly see the running status of SD-WAN through the network management interface and deal with problems in a timely manner. This greatly reduces the difficulty of maintenance and reduces the troubleshooting time.

All in all, the advantage of SD-WAN is that it saves money and is easy to use. According to calculations, SD-WAN can save at least 30% of annual cost investment compared with traditional dedicated lines at the same bandwidth.

If you have SD-WAN service needs, welcome to consult us. Ogcloud provides you with cost-effective global network connection solutions!