The team at CloudZen Partners will save you time, money, and energy determining the best network architecture solution for your business. Our engineering team will assist you in understanding your existing infrastructure and the best path forward into your SD Wan evolution. One of the biggest decisions in adopting SD Wan is determining if a DIY , hybrid or fully managed service is right for your business. The team will assist regardless of the path selected to be sure your network performance is optimal and the consumption model meets your unique business needs and budget. The CloudZen team works with the top global SD WAN vendors in the crowded SD Wan market and understands who does what well and where they have challenges. In addition, the CloudZen team owns tools to ascertain what telecom facilities are obtainable in any region around the globe and the providers who can service it. Our tribal knowledge of the SD Wan vs MPLS space will give you the upmost confidence in your buying decision so you can sleep well at night. Best of all, our clients never pay for our consulting services as we are compensated by the channel.
CloudZen Partners will:
- Evaluate the needs of a company and comprehend how to use the WAN, the applications that ride the network, the applications and users location, as well as where the data or destination servers are located.
- Identify the WAN technology that is best for a business based on the specific needs of the business. Look for a solution that uses the suitable access facilities, is highly dependable and can merge with the general network strategy.
- Come up with a completely diverse high-availability WAN to ensure the highest up time and SLA’s .
- Determine which suppliers are able to deliver the required solution as well as negotiate pricing and terms on behalf of your business.
In the industry of networking, there might be fatigue when it comes to using “software-defined,” but it is not the case with WAN. Whereas the excitement surrounding software-defined networking is not there anymore, software-defined WAN keeps on generating a lot of buzz.
According to networking experts, SD-WAN is doing well since it gives businesses a concrete solution for a particular problem: the intricate and expensive WAN. Technologies of SD-WAN, which utilize several of the same ideas as SDN, permit businesses to mix and match broadband, other WAN links and MPLS, and contains a central controller to prioritize traffic as per the policies formulated. The products rationalize managed SD Wan as well as configuration and can lessen costs by decreasing the amount of traffic in costly links of MPLS vs SD Wan.
SD WAN products will transform one of the most exasperating networking technology aspects for us… traffic analytics, IPSec VPNs as well as application identification are so easy it is frightening. That is the SD-WAN’s power!
Market research analysts assert that the market of SD WAN services is red hot. In addition, IDC has predicted that fast company adoption will increase market income to $6 billion in the year 2020.
Businesses attempting to enable WAN optimization with an SD-WAN provider experience can become discouraged with the vast range of choices. The market is jam-packed with pure-play startups as well as the household names adopting the technology. This makes it extremely important to work with a trusted adviser in the space who can lead you through the decision making and procurement process.
Specialists anticipate the market of SD-WAN will start combining this year. However the question is in the meantime, how does a firm make a decision? Do not presume these products of SD-WAN are just similar. They contain various functions as well as features, so you are required to do your homework concerning what these platforms of SD-WAN can do. This is where CloudZen Partners team of experts will help navigate the way and quiet the noise to ensure a sound decision is made for your business.
Products of SD-WAN have various ways of incorporating into your network as well as various models of pricing. CloudZen Partners will carry out the market research to be sure you are equipped with plenty of information to make an informed decision.
SD-WAN vs. MPLS
What’s the Difference?
What is SD WAN Providers?
SD-WAN (software-defined wide-area networks) is a software solution to control the management, connectivity and services between remote branches or cloud instances and data centers. SD-WAN separates the data plane from the control plane. An SD-WAN disposition may consist of the existing switches and routers or VCPE (virtualized customer premises equipment) that use the software to manage security, policy and networking functions based on customer and vendor configuration.
One of the main features SD-WAN shows is the ability to manage multiple connections and segregate and secure the traffic navigating the WAN. SD-WAN solutions provide a combination of reliable performance, price and flexibility and streamline the utilization of the links of any big company for data, video, or voice. It protects the assets against vulnerabilities in other parts of the operation and is popular in organizations, such as healthcare, retail and financial. It facilitates customers to set up the network traffic in sync with their internal security policies.
What is MPLS?
MPLS (Multiprotocol Label Switching) is a path-finding technique in telecommunications networks that directs data from one point to the next through a short path via labels instead of long network addresses. MPLS averts fiddly lookups in an IP routing table and improves the speed of traffic flows. MPLS supports diverse data transmitting technology that organizes the flow of network traffic. The technique functions with IP (Internet protocol) and ATM (Asynchronous Transport Mode) and is protocol independent and accessible.
In the traditional IP network, the data packet moves among the intersections, and each router has to decide about the next stop on the network itself. MPLS connections simplify the process by assigning labels to each packet and creating predetermined paths through FEC (forwarding equivalence class). MPLS is popular in branch offices, campus networks, metro Ethernet services and ventures that require QOS (quality of service) for real-time applications.
SD-WAN vs. MPLS
The main difference between SD-WAN and MPLS is that SD-WAN has a virtualized infrastructure that is centrally managed while MPLS runs on hardware and functions as dedicated lines. SD-WANs offer multiple types of network connections that include MPLS lines. This cloud service operates on the network infrastructure and virtual network functions to run as software on the product hardware, whereas MPLS technology operates on proprietary hardware.
SD-WAN offers several benefits over MPLS:
Increased bandwidth
SD-WAN allows a company to benefit from high bandwidth by combining multiple connections at a low bandwidth cost.
Improved uptime
With a combination of the multiple ISP internet connections and WAN connections, a company can have flawless circuit redundancy for the WAN over service provider networks.
No bandwidth penalties
Unlike MPLS, SD-WAN users can upgrade bandwidth conveniently by adding new links at no extra cost and without any bandwidth penalties.
Enhanced performance
SD-WAN improves performance by forwarding the WAN traffic of a company across the internet circuit at an enhanced speed.
Security virtualization
SD-WAN provides network architecture that combines security, end-to-end encryption throughthe entire network and authenticates all devices and endpoints.
Freedom from ISP
SD-WAN lets the companies add or remove ISP at any time at any site without any hassle.
In short, SD-WAN is a reliable and flexible substitute to traditional private network and traditional wan connections due to its low cost, easy SD-WAN management requirements and low capital installation.
SD-WAN Solutions advantages
SD-WAN solutions offer the abstraction of software to form a network overlap as well as decouple software services of the network from the fundamental hardware.
Simplifying of Branch Network
Provides branch offices with quicker mechanized zero-touch placement, streamlined configuration, arrangement as well as continuous supervision with centralized tools of troubleshooting. Simplifying of branch set-up with the capability of transitioning network services into cloud services, on the WAN edge of the branch, or in the regional as well as firm data centers.
Enhance Application Performance
It enhances application performance over links of Internet with direct, safe access to cloud as well as enterprise applications. SD-WAN offers amalgamated supervision as well as discernibility across numerous links of WAN and service providers as well.
Provide Branch Agility
Allow numerous links, services, and devices to function together and interoperate with existing solutions and make branches nimble. APIs allow incorporation into different reporting and management systems set up by businesses today.
Lessen Costs
Provide Hybrid WAN easily and allow branch offices with normal broadband as WAN enterprise-grade. Reduce hardware-delivery prices through selecting from deployment choices like computer-generated machine on a commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) device, computer-generated machine on a purpose-built device, or an existing x86-based router.
Branch Network Challenges of Today
In order to remain competitive, companies are continuously developing to conquer challenges of branch:
Costly Bandwidth
Increasing bandwidth to current as well as fresh branch offices is costly and consumes a lot of time.
Branch Intricacy
Several devices with single-function in the branch resulting in sprawl of the device with silo management requiring numerous truck rolls to set up, supervise as well as troubleshoot.
Architecture that is rigid
Traffic hair-pinning of branch WAN via data center reduces performance of cloud application. Providing fresh applications for branch usage necessitates re-configuration.
SD-WAN, Simplified
SD-WAN in simplified terms, the reason it is being fast embraced, and the advantages realized by companies. SD-WAN provides convincing benefits for distributed companies with crucial branch operations, together with the advantages of business nimbleness, enhanced application performance, as well as lesser bandwidth cost.
SD-WAN is the application of network technologies that are software-based to connections of WAN in order to route all network traffic more efficiently between data centers, remote, the cloud as well as branch offices.
In other words, it is the technique of leveraging the cloud advantages, the broadband bandwidth as well as current enterprise-wide network structure to more effectively and cost-efficient transport media (voice, video, data) and access cloud applications fast from each network location.
SD-WAN dynamically uses numerous obtainable connections (broadband, MPLS, LTE) to look for the best traffic delivery path across the whole network, molding the bandwidth as required to remove jitter as well as data packets that are, thus providing an ideal user experience irrespective of location.
The advanced solutions will first try to direct traffic to the ideal obtainable link and if the obtainable links reveal any problems of transmission, they will introduce on-demand remediation to the link immediately to guarantee the high priority applications performance.
What is SD-WAN? Why is SD-WAN transforming the network game?
Enterprises, traditionally used private and dedicated, but bandwidth forced, and costly MPLS networks to communicate between branch offices and to have access to applications as well as data stored in data centers. Therefore, broadband was only deemed satisfactory as a backup because of undependable performance as well as safety fears. Then cloud applications (like Office365, SalesForce, WebEx) came into the picture and as businesses started using these daily, MPLS alone was insufficient from a bandwidth viewpoint, particularly for real-time as well as cloud applications.
Enterprises required a technique of permitting each FIRM location to fast, with Performance of business grade, and constant uptime, access 1) each other network location; 2) information center-located applications and information; 3) all applications of cloud.
IS SD-WAN NOT SDN?
SDN is an architecture, while SD-WAN is a technology that one can buy. SD-WAN is made on the SDN foundational concepts.
BUZZWORD OR THE NEW NORMAL?
SD-WAN is not a buzzword anymore, but a technology that is proven to provide the affordability, scalability, as well as flexibility that companies need to support the current developing technological field. Market research giants IDC and Gartner admit that the technology is past an early adopter stage and will have wide-scale adoption in future.
Gartner indicates that the market of SD-WAN for services as well as infrastructure will hit $1.3B by the year 2020. It as well indicates that whereas only 5 percent of the WAN is managed by using SD-WAN, by the year 2019 that market share will rise to 25 percent.IDC predicts that the market of SD-WAN will hit $8B by the year 2021, increasing at a 90 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) in the many year to come.
CloudZen Partners helps you streamline networking of branch WAN through mechanizing deployment and enhancing performance over broadband Internet as well as LTE links for the increasing distributed enterprises of today.
NETWORK AGILITY
Since SD-WAN is software based as well as cloud-delivered, it permits for fast adaptation to fluctuating requirements comprising giving access to services that are cloud-based, creating fresh branches or as well as dynamic steering of all traffic for information delivery as well as enhanced application.
SIMPLICITY OF DEPLOYMENT
SD-WAN permits for different deployment alternatives comprising hardware based, software-based, or a hybrid (hardware and software). In all instances, all the elements are capable of connecting to each other once presented online and configurations are taken from the principal management orchestrator. It does not require a specialized technician for installation facilitation.
CENTRAL MANAGEMENT AND CONTROL
An orchestrator that is centrally situated supervises all network activity, notifying of issues, and facilitating the remote remediation of problems. The orchestrator allows the configuration’s automatic push to every node of the network and add availability of common software structures to each location fast and effectively. Additionally, it provides real-time analytics.
REDUCTION OF COST
Gartner indicates that a deployment of SD-WAN is 2.5 times less costly compared to traditional WAN designs. The source of this decrease is credited to:
Leveraging the current structure to pass on all traffic as well as gain access to cloud applications (broadband, MPLS, LTE). Decreasing identification of problems and related costs of remediation: Centralized management of network activity eradicates the requirement to get trained technicians to evaluate problems and fix them. Plans of payment that are models of subscription, permitting plans of pay-as-you-go that meet high upfront costs of investment as well as continuous maintenance and upgrading costs. Zero-touch provisioning permits fast deployments of branches as well as time to access since all functions of deployment are operated from the central home office of IT. The absence of necessity to set up application-particular software or hardware at every branch site as all sites
If a business wants to stay relevant, it must keep up with the rapidly advancing digital world.
Outsourcing their WAN is just the beginning.
Explore the critical decisions many IT leaders face when designing their own SD-WAN solutions.
Schedule a Discovery Call with Cloudzen to get key recommendations for selecting a leading service provider.
Software-defined wide-area networking (SD-WAN) is becoming the standard for organizations globally. Especially businesses who aim to become cloud-ready and offer a better experience to their users. SD-WAN was created to revolutionize network routing capabilities. Read on to learn
how the top five providers make this happen.
The Benefits of SD-WAN Solutions
With the increase of interest in remote access, BYOD (bring your own device), and outside
collaboration options, it makes sense for businesses to look for software-driven functionality
while using the internet as the platform for their networking. SD-WAN provides greater flexibility
when regulating user access, branch user security, remote user security, user performance, and
more.
SD-WAN solutions also offer the following benefits:
- Easy to manage and maintain
- Improves the network performance of cloud-based resources
- Streamlines overall WAN operations
- Optimizes traffic
Many organizations previously used multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) circuits. But, this
networking solution was geographically restrained and expensive. SD-WANs use different
means of transport to send application flows to their intended destinations. These transports
include MPLS circuits, LTE/4G/5G, and broadband internet. Organizations can increase
previous performance speeds and reliability while extending their geographical options.
What Businesses Look For in an SD-WAN Provider
The main purpose of SD-WAN is to improve application performance and availability. To reach
this across the corporate WAN, SD-WAN solutions must be able to run on any of the enterprise
WAN’s edges. Combining this ability with dynamic path selection ensures optimal traffic routing
between any two edges on the corporate WAN, whether they’re stored in the cloud or an on-
premises data center.
In an attempt to better serve their clients, many SD-WAN service providers have introduced
security infrastructure into their SD-WAN solutions. This has made them Secure SD-WAN providers. But the introduction of extra security solutions can come at the expense of network
performance. This heavily impacts the total cost of ownership (TCO). Sometimes, “integrated”
security makes use of a chain of standalone networking and security products. These products
need many management consoles, which bumps up the overhead cost of the solution.
Choosing SD-WAN Vendors
Staying relevant in the fast-paced digital world can be frustrating and seem out of reach. Using SD-WAN can help grow your business and bring an easy internet option to you, including a public cloud. Using SD-WAN vendors is becoming the new standard for businesses, especially with more people working from home.
Having SD-WAN is easy to manage and an alternative to other network options,with significant cost savings. SD-WAN’s virtual architecture allows combinations of transport services, including multiprotocol label switching (mpls), and broadband internet, and securely connects users with safe application traffic. Keep reading to learn what SD-WAN is and the benefits it can bring to your business.
SD-WAN Explained
Software-defined wide-area networking (SD-WAN) is an online WAN structure. This structure allows companies to connect users to applications. SD-WAN uses software to control the connectivity and management between data centers and remote branches.
SD-WAN looks for the best delivery path across the whole network. Doing this provides an ideal user experience no matter the location. This technology brings quick connectivity and cost- effectiveness to networking for companies. In addition, the benefits from SD- WAN revolutionized network routing abilities.
Why SD-WAN?
SD-WAN has many benefits that companies should consider if they want to keep up with the digital world. Using SD-WAN will bring security to make companies feel safer using the network.
Improved Performance
SD-WAN can give the best performance to meet the unique needs and budget of a business. Using SD-WAN will enhance application performance on the internet. This is done with direct, safe access to cloud and enterprise applications.
SD-WAN can help reduce latency issues by applying applications through high-performance connections. This reduction brings a heightened performance with the business benefits in mind. A hybrid WAN connects two geographically separated WAN’s and routes traffic over two different types of connections Hybrid WANs can solve problems that older WAN architectures have.
Cost-Effective
Using SD-WAN solutions is 2.5 times less costly compared to traditional WAN designs. SD-WAN allows businesses to have centralized management with easily managed services. This eliminates businesses needing to hire trained technicians to fix any IT problems.
The previous cost of only using hardware is lower using SD-WAN. Subscription plans are possible when choosing SD-WAN, which permits pay-as-you-go plans. If the subscription adds continuous updating and maintenance to the plan, then it would be a smart investment for your business.
Less Difficult
Digital transformations can add complexity to the network. Fortunately, SD-WAN can ease the complexities by using a simple WAN structure that optimizes wan traffic. When using SD-WAN, hardware-based, software-based, and hybrid arrangements can connect altogether. Doing this does not need a skilled technician for the installation process.
Extra Security
SD-WAN vendors use an orchestrator that supervises all network service activity.The orchestrator also informs businesses of any issues found for more SD-WAN security. The orchestrator does this while aiding remote remediation of the problem. While providing real-time analytics, the orchestrator adds common software structures to every location.
Knowing the Perfect SD-WAN Vendors
Using SD-WAN can help grow your business in this fast-paced technological world. Knowing which SD-WAN vendors are for you can be challenging. We can help you determine which provider best matches your company and its needs. Learn more about SD-WAN and the benefits it can give your business, contact us today.
The Top Five SD-WAN Providers
All leading vendors in the SD-WAN market aim to provide simple management and traffic
optimization. Each vendor has different products to do this.
When deciding which SD-WAN provider to work with, a company needs to consider more than
the TCO. Their SD-WAN provider must offer solutions that meet a business’s unique
performance and security specifications.
The top five SD-WAN vendors offer solutions with different focuses. Each vendor trades off
network performance, security, and TCO. The most suitable SD-WAN provider for any specific
business is based on the company’s needs and the vendors’ varying abilities to meet them.
Cato Networks
Cato Network is a global private network and was one of the first SD-WAN providers to make use of SASE security. They have designed a cloud-native service that combines next-
generation Firewall security with networking through a single software stack.
- Access to the private global backbone
- End-to-end view of the network via a single management console
- Integrated WAN optimization
This is a solution well-suited to an SME or a large company with many remote users. Cato helps businesses move away from only MPLS and on-premise networking.
VeloCloud
VeloCloud, a Gartner leader, has a strong history of visualization. This makes them ideal leaders of the change from traditional WAN edge to a network functions virtualization (NFV) infrastructure. They make use of SASE security to combine cloud communication, networking,
and cloud security. This means they lack built-in security and more traditional WAN optimization features.
- Performance and reliability to meet requirements for both video and voice
- Cloud network which easily integrates with private and public cloud
- Virtual services with NFV
- Automation for zero-touch deployment
VeloCloud has experience with VMware, which creates a virtual environment that acts like a real computer. This gives them incredible resource management and excellent user experience.
Meraki
Meraki is an edge-based Gartner leader that enables customers to reduce operating costs and save time. Their low-cost SD-WAN infrastructure is based on an MPLS point of presence (PoP) deployment. Device management is central, secure, and offered via one web-based dashboard.
The Meraki dashboard manages the following:
- VPN routes
- Authentication
- Encryption protocols
- Key exchange
Meraki is best suited to branch office sites with a large number of CCTV needs, and internet- only companies that require monitoring. They have built-in next-generation Firewall and WiFi switching capabilities.
Aryaka
Aryaka Networks takes a cloud-first approach to SD-WAN. It makes use of a private MPLS core as its underlying network. This results in the prioritization of end-to-end traffic and better SLAs than typical internet connectivity. Aryaka offers access to their private backbone, MPLS privacy, and fully managed SD-WAN services. Their software is flexible and allows for personalized management. Aryaka is best suited to organizations who want to outsource the more complicated aspects of their WAN. Organizations can also view real-time insights into the state of their WAN, users, and applications.
Fortigate
Fortinet is an SD-WAN provider which uses its Fortigate solution to provide security against cyber threats. Purpose-built security processing units power their security-driven networking approach.
Fortigate offers:
- Next-generation Firewall
- Scalable services
- Deep application visibility
- Enable better business continuity
Fortigate can scale from a home office to mid-sized and large companies. It has the flexibility to work on-premise or for an entire branch of remote users. They are ideal for hybrid and hyper-scale data centers.
Your Partners in IT Strategy
Businesses looking for an SD-WAN provider find it challenging to understand the differences between various vendors. They need a provider whose priorities match those of the business.
CloudZen Partners look at each business individually to learn their existing infrastructure. They then determine which SD-WAN provider will best match the company.
Every SD-WAN provider presents unique benefits to their customers, and CloudZen can help decide which vendor is the best fit for you. Contact one of the experts at CloudZen today for a free Discovery Call