The future of wide area networks (WANs) is wireless

Cellular wireless networks are an attractive alternative to traditional wired network infrastructure. Enterprise networks that leverage software-defined wide area networks (WANs) and secure access service edge technologies support multiple WAN links. However, networks are still dominated by wired links, with wireless links serving as connections used only when there is no alternative. 5G changes the way WANs are connected. 5G wireless WANs bring diversity, agility, and flexibility, allowing sites and devices to connect easily. Enterprises should jump on the 5G bandwagon to fully realize the benefits that SD-WAN and SASE can bring to their business.

Wireless is critical to the digital transformation of enterprises. IDC's Future of Connectivity Survey found that 50% of enterprises want to use 5G, SD-WAN and Wi-Fi 6 to strengthen their competitive position. These enterprises realize that there are many benefits to using 5G wireless broadband as the primary link. Let's take a look at why the future of WAN is wireless.

• 5G WWAN speed: One of the reasons why enterprises like SD-WAN is the ability to aggregate multiple links to provide greater bandwidth. 5G WWAN offers fiber-like speeds. According to Opensignal, the global average 5G download speed is 447.8 Mbps; according to the Ookla 5G map, as of November 2021, 112 countries or regions have deployed 5G.

Cellular networks can reach places that wired networks cannot reach, which have limited options and are time-consuming to set up. 5G wireless as the primary WAN connection makes a lot of sense for pop-up sites or temporary sites. Another key use case for wireless connectivity is remote work.

• 5G WWAN prices: SD-WAN deployments primarily use wireless connections for backup, simply because wireless networks don’t have fixed monthly fees. Most operators have realized this limitation. According to IDG, many service providers have begun offering fixed-rate pricing and no-overage data plans. Removing usage caps and speed limits will encourage enterprises to use 5G WWAN. Companies that have switched to WWAN claim that monthly broadband costs per site have been cut in half.
• Enhanced Network: Uninterrupted availability is critical in the cloud era. Most SaaS applications (such as Microsoft Teams, Office 365, Zoom, Google Docs, and Salesforce) require continuous connectivity to function properly, as do retail applications such as point of sale. 5G WWAN provides an excellent option to keep enterprises connected all the time. For example, Telstra is so confident in its 5G network that it guarantees a 99.9% service level agreement (SLA) for network uptime.

Facebook suffered an outage in October 2021, and outages like this one pose challenges to diagnosis and resolution, and they also impacted its internal tools and systems for daily operations. Enterprises can use wireless connections for out-of-band management during outages, which can provide remote access when troubleshooting a site is required and cannot rely on traditional wired connections.

• Evolution to the edge: Fixed locations do not represent modern enterprise networks. Enterprises need to connect home and mobile employees, as well as vehicles, pop-up sites, IoT devices and cloud services. IoT and smart city use cases (such as monitoring, telemedicine and manufacturing) generate a large amount of data that needs to be transmitted through the network in order to process the data. Cellular wireless can connect these devices to edge nodes, where the data can be quickly processed to provide low-latency responses.

5G WWAN accelerates enterprise digital transformation. Wired links can take weeks or months to provision. With 5G WWAN, enterprises can launch branch offices instantly. They can reduce the hundreds of regional service providers they need to manage contracts with to two or three national providers. Every enterprise should take advantage of the bandwidth, latency, and ease of deployment that 5G WWAN offers.

One of the best ways to get started with 5G WWAN and convince your organization is to select sites where wired connectivity is an issue. These could be remote sites without fiber buildouts, or mobile or temporary sites with wireless plans from multiple carriers on different client devices. Quickly launching sites with these demonstrates the viability of 5G WWAN, which will be a precursor to more sites switching to wireless. It will also turn any skeptics in the enterprise into 5G enthusiasts.

5G WWAN has the potential to be a game changer for enterprises that adopt it early.

Original title: ​​The Future Of WAN Is Wireless ​​, Author: Dr. Ritesh Mukherjee