Game changers for the branch office: Wi-Fi 6, 4G, 5G and SD-WAN

Today, the use of cloud computing services continues to grow and is changing the patterns and amount of data handled by branch offices over the WAN, but wireless cellular services and intelligent software-defined wide-area networks (SD-WANs) can help keep traffic and costs consistent.

Using 4G and 5G technologies in conjunction with SD-WAN can provide enterprise IT professionals with faster connectivity options than wired network products such as Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS), with benefits including fast provisioning, improved reliability, more bandwidth, and less overhead.

Branch offices are seeing a dramatic shift in the amount of traffic they generate and where it flows, and they can particularly benefit from 4G and 5G, one enabler of which is SD-WAN.

SD-WAN combines multiple physical WAN links into a single logical network and provides traffic prioritization to accelerate the performance of applications deployed in on-premises data centers and the cloud. When integrated with Wi-Fi 6, SD-WAN enables IoT, edge computing, and end-to-end traffic visibility at branch offices.

[[315555]]

Changing traffic patterns at branches

As cloud computing services such as IaaS and SaaS become the primary method for delivering applications to branch offices, more and more branch offices are connecting to cloud platforms provided by cloud computing providers in addition to enterprise data centers.

With WAN bandwidth requirements growing at an average rate of 20% to 30% per year, SD-WAN is becoming increasingly attractive because it enables hybrid WANs to blend expensive wired circuit Internet connections such as MPLS in a less expensive and bandwidth-rich way. By combining 4G LTE and 5G services, IT leaders can gain wireless links that can provide the necessary supplement and, in some cases, replace existing wired services.

4G LTE is already widely used in branch offices to ensure high availability and reliability in the event of a failure or outage in the primary wired network. It also provides rural sites with an additional WAN option beyond DSL and T-1 circuits. As leading wireless carriers compete for 5G customers, more options may emerge, such as unlimited data plans that provide higher bandwidth to branch offices at a fixed cost.

5G promises many other advances, including speeds exceeding 1Gbps, lower latency, and network segmentation. Some of these features will require more work before they are available, but the reality is that existing 4G and 5G networks offer performance that is as good as or better than many wired Internet connections. Connection speeds of 1Gbps or higher can meet the WAN needs of most branch offices, even as the amount of traffic to and from them continues to grow.

IoT means more branch traffic

IoT applications are another reason for the growing WAN traffic in branch offices. IoT sensors collect large amounts of data, much of which needs to be turned into useful information by cloud-based or enterprise data center-based analytics systems. Edge devices analyze some of this data locally to improve response time and reduce WAN traffic, but overall, expanding the use of IoT in branch offices will increase WAN traffic.

4G and 5G services used in conjunction with internal Wi-Fi can provide secure, high-speed links from these IoT devices to the LAN to the WAN to the cloud. Such end-to-end connectivity is facilitated by SD-Branch solutions that combine SD-WAN, routing, integrated security, and LAN/Wi-Fi capabilities, all of which can be centrally managed. As SD-WAN vendors roll out full-featured SD-Branch solutions, they can provide end-to-end traffic visibility.

Wi-Fi 6 improves branch office connectivity

Most organizations will continue to rely on Wi-Fi to provide connectivity for IoT devices as well as users and guests. Over time, they will upgrade to the latest standard, Wi-Fi 6. Wi-Fi 6 offers significant improvements in performance, latency, quality of service, and battery life over previous versions. Combined with reliable, high-speed WAN links, Wi-Fi 6 will improve application performance and the ability to deploy IoT systems.

SD-WAN and SD-Branch are becoming standard technologies that enable enterprises to improve security and reliability and intelligently direct traffic over multiple WAN links. 4G and 5G cellular networks fit well into this architecture by making it easy to provision links while providing link diversity that protects against cable outages that can disrupt wired network service. Together, they represent a game changer for branch office connectivity.