SD-WAN in simple terms is a central location used to direct network traffic across a wide area network (WAN) for maximum performance, improved user experience, and cloud service usage. Explaining SD-WAN in simple terms while including the capabilities is your pathway to understanding how SD-WAN works and why your business needs it.

SD-WAN is a “new” technology that’s been around for years, first making an appearance in the public market in the early 2000’s. Despite this, SD-WAN wasn’t utilized until 2010. SD-WAN has led businesses into simplified management and operations of a WAN and has brought organizations into the 21st-century idea of efficient operations. Understanding what SD-WAN is and how beneficial it is to business operations is the easiest route to understanding what managed SD-wan is and why your business needs it.

What Is SD-WAN

SD-WAN in simple terms is a central location used to direct network traffic across a wide area network (WAN) for maximum performance, improved user experience, and cloud service usage.

The acronym “SD-WAN” stands for “Software-Defined Wide Area Network”. A WAN or “Wide Area Network” is the connection between local area networks (LAN) for communication between each network. Although this was once efficient, times have changed, and usage of SD-WAN is becoming more common.

SD-WAN being adopted isn’t simply a fad of the times. It’s an entire evolution into the future of networking. SD-WAN allows for applications to be hosted on data centres and can be shared across public and/or private clouds. This means services such as Microsoft Office 365 and Salesforce can be used and accessed by those on the cloud.

How SD-WAN improves From Traditional WAN

How SD-WAN improves from a traditional WAN system is that it routes data packets between a WAN while being accessed at a central data centre. SD-WAN creates direct access to the internet through connection to the data centre or branch office, allowing for efficient data transfer.

To further understand how SD-WAN improves from a traditional WAN, it’s necessary to understand how a WAN works. A traditional WAN allows for users to connect to the branch office for application and file access. As traffic changes with cloud applications being used such as Microsoft 365, or SaaS (Software as a Service), traditional WANs became less efficient as traffic is routed from the branch office WAN but must be sent back to the central location before deployment onto the internet. This caused problems as data that was meant to be sent directly to the internet would still be sent back to the central WAN location. There was no sense in sending the data through a middleman, so a direct connection to the cloud was needed to reduce delays caused by traditional WAN usage.

This is where SD-WAN comes in, as SD-WAN is intelligent and routes traffic across a WAN to the necessary locations. The improvement in productivity from an SD-WAN is evident, as businesses now can route traffic accordingly. Delays are less common, because of SD-WANs capabilities, where access to the programs are direct without the middleman of the data centre.

Do You Need Managed SD-WAN

If you’re an enterprise-level company with a large infrastructure in 2021, SD-WAN should be considered crucial for maximizing business operations. With the ability to connect users from different locations, allow usage of different services such as Microsoft Azure, and being able to integrate technology such as 5G seamlessly, SD-WAN allows for easy automation and cloud access that traditional WANs can’t provide.

SD-WAN is a new technology with its current rise in adoption, yet it’s been around for years. The adoption happening now is merely a sign of the times, with innovations going further and faster than ever before. Keeping up with these innovations can be challenging and if you’re looking for Managed SD-WAN in Canada, TeraGo has been delivering industry network management solutions for over 20 years and would be happy to help. Contact TeraGo about SD-WAN and connect with a specialist who can get you on the path to meeting all your business network needs.