Currently, Software-Defined Wide Area Networking (SD-WAN) holds a strong position in the Asia-Pacific region. It seems to be the perfect blend of technology and terrain, as the Asia-Pacific region encompasses many large nations, some of which have vast territories and populations spread across extensive geographic areas and remote locations, such as India, Australia, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, and other ASEAN countries, including China.

The vast expanse of China’s domestic territory, connecting distant branch offices, is indeed a massive undertaking. In recent years, the quality of internet connectivity and broadband speeds in China has greatly improved. Cloud enables domestic companies to work more efficiently, as business leaders focus on enhancing agility, cost-effectiveness, security, and application performance to bolster overall operations.

What Drives the Proliferation of SD-WAN?

Digital transformation is driving the development of SD-WAN. Companies are seeking to leverage all the benefits of digital transformation, including cloud computing, big data and analytics, mobility, and collaboration tools, to uncover creativity within the organization, with the ultimate goal of enhancing customer experiences and generating revenue.

The growth of SD-WAN in the Asia-Pacific region is also deeply influenced by the cloud. According to surveys, Software as a Service (SaaS) applications based on the public cloud were the fastest-growing cloud services in the Asia-Pacific region in 2017, with a year-on-year growth of 28%. The growth of cloud services across the region again reflects the geographic composition of the Asia-Pacific region and influences the use of WAN connections for branch offices: organizations are increasingly turning to SD-WAN for dynamic connection optimization and path selection through centralized management, embracing distributed network architectures.

Under cloud computing and digital transformation strategies, traditional infrastructures will be unable to keep up with the changing demands of cloud and hybrid networks. Additionally, the rise of Software-Defined Networking (SDN) has also propelled the growth of SD-WAN. The ability to better control network management and utilize resources on demand, thus bringing cost advantages to organizations, is also a major factor.

SD-WAN has the potential to harmonize with other emerging digital technologies and further drive its development in the Asia-Pacific region. Over time, its tools will adopt machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities to elevate WAN to a new level, able to predict network behavior in real-time and route network traffic through optimal pathways, identifying potential network issues before customers notice them.

For more information on SD-WAN solutions, feel free to consult Ogcloud anytime!