DIY is not the best way to implement SD-WAN

Wide Area Networks (WANs) are not designed for the loads that most companies need to handle today. The demand for data across distributed enterprises is growing exponentially. Almost all companies use cloud computing technology in some form, and the Internet of Things is expanding the scope of the network. The devices connected to the network have far exceeded servers, PCs, tablets and smartphones. Therefore, many people are eager to turn to software-defined wide area networks (SD-WANs) to cope with these growing demands.

SD-WAN reflects the continued evolution of software-defined IT assets and an increasing reliance on virtualization to make those assets available on demand. But few organizations have the robust capability to replace core parts of their existing infrastructure, such as MPLS, with service prioritization and quality of service management.

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MPLS has been the go-to solution for connecting branch offices to headquarters and data centers, and to each other, but when it comes to changing bandwidth to accommodate changing business needs, providing services using MPLS can be time-consuming and relatively inflexible.

SD-WAN provides a flexible, more dynamic network infrastructure that enables organizations to quickly provision and manage digital services. It is a specific application of software-defined networking (SDN) that efficiently routes data traffic over the WAN by selecting access connections to achieve the best performance.

Brandon, senior editor at Network World, said: "In the past, customers would typically have a single connection to a branch office, but SD-WAN enables enterprises to aggregate multiple types of network connections to the branch office and have one software management platform to achieve high availability and automatically prioritize traffic. SD-WAN can save customers the expense of expensive custom WAN acceleration hardware and allow them to run software overlays on cheaper commodity hardware.

"Simply dropping an SD-WAN appliance into a branch office isn't necessarily a solution to complex network needs," said Steve Garson, founder of SD-WAN-Experts. "Enterprises need firewalls, IPS, anti-malware, URL filtering, and anti-virus to ensure security. Internally, the network needs Active Directory, DHCP, DNS, and print services. Externally, the edge may need WAN optimization, bandwidth management, QOS, traffic balancing, and yes, SD-WAN."

Few organizations have the internal resources to consolidate and manage an environment of stacked network devices, especially if they also want to be able to leverage existing infrastructure. Instead, they are more likely to benefit from SD-WAN services that provide dynamic hybrid networks and the ability to integrate multiple network connections using MPLS, IPsec, broadband and LTE to optimally meet the needs of different branch offices.