Where will the evolution of SD-WAN go?

Since the advent of SD-WAN technology five years ago, enterprises have been using it to create more flexible, agile and scalable networks, and some evolved SD-WAN products have now appeared before the public.

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The rise of SD-WAN

From a technical perspective, SD-WAN is very different from traditional multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) networks, which cannot connect users and their applications through the cloud. SD-WAN is different from MPLS in that it separates the management of policies and behaviors from individual edge devices. With the ability to allocate bandwidth based on applications, enterprises can consider moving away from rigid and expensive dedicated circuits and start using lower-cost broadband Internet access.

The initial enthusiasm for SD-WAN was driven by cost savings. Enterprises wanted to significantly increase bandwidth, but they wanted to achieve this goal with almost no additional expenditures. In addition, SD-WAN also brought centralized management, load balancing, zero-touch deployment and other advantages to enterprises.

Security at the edge: SASE proves itself

For many enterprises, edge security is a top concern, and the combination of security and SD-WAN seems to be a natural fit. In the Gartner 2019 Hype Cycle report, Gartner calls it Secure Access Service Edge (SASE). SASE combines security functions with WAN functions, enabling the solution to identify malware or malicious activities affecting WAN traffic in real time.

Another advantage of SASE is that enterprises can use security components on demand and provide more dynamic responses to security threats/issues. Providers such as Cato Networks and Palo Alto Networks have already provided SASE products and are trying to occupy this market segment.

But SASE isn’t the only approach. Some SD-WAN vendors, such as Silver Peak, are incorporating edge security into their offerings by partnering with technology from security vendors such as Zscaler and Check Point. While this isn’t an all-in-one SASE solution, this approach makes SD-WAN the primary transport for delivering secure applications and services.

The future of automation

In the future, automation may be another development direction of SD-WAN, because there is still a lot of work to be done to make the network edge "more intuitive and more responsive to business needs." Artificial intelligence and machine learning functions will become more common, and "self-driving edge networks" will be able to automatically correct network problems without IT staff manually configuring patches. This will further reduce manual and tedious work and free up more time for more meaningful work.

It may take some time for full automation to be achieved, perhaps five to seven years. Over time, SD-WAN management will be gradually automated. Currently, SD-WAN is much more automated than traditional WAN.

SD-Branch

In the future, SD-WAN will also exist in SD-Branch services, which can provide stricter control over the infrastructure within the branch office, including wired LAN, Wi-Fi network and security. SD-Branch is an emerging trend. Recently, Juniper and Aruba have both strengthened their SD-Branch business, and this trend is expected to continue this year. Looking ahead, how SD-Branch integrates other technologies such as analysis, voice, unified communications and video will become a key driver of the technology.