4 SD-WAN Deployment Considerations

It’s natural for IT shops to replicate their existing hardware and architecture when it’s time to refresh networking equipment. But refresh cycles provide a valuable opportunity to rethink — and improve — long-standing practices. 

Software-defined Wide area network implements software-defined networking principles over the broad area network, redefining the management paradigm by working the broad area network as a system as opposed to individual locations. Although this approach represents a departure from traditional networking, SD-Wide area network may lead to reduced costs improved end-user experience along with other benefits. Events like router refreshes or service supplier contract renewals offer an ideal chance for IT leaders to consider whether SD-Wide area network is right for their organizations. 

Here are four area network factors that IT leaders should consider as they plan out the future of their WANs. 

1. Upfront Costs, Long-Term Savings 
Among the huge advantages of SD-Wide area network is the fact that it may intelligently shift traffic that sensitive away from a multiprotocol label-switching circuit and onto an circuit. Because MPLS is a whole lot less affordable than the internet on a per-megabit basis, this frequently leads to a considerable cost avoidance with time, as organizations rely on MPLS and don’t have to increase those circuit sizes to account for increased user traffic. In several cases, organizations can make the savings by decreasing MPLS circuit sizes or renegotiating contracts to a reduce rate. 

Organizations shouldn’t even expect to conserve money throughout the first 12 to 18 months of an SD-Wide area network setup, as there’s considerable time and expense associated with rolling out the technology. Nevertheless, organizations typically recover their upfront investments within 2 decades, and after that see ongoing savings . 

2. Simplified Management 
Most area network solutions offer you compact management via a central on-line portal. In traditional networking, administrators will need to remotely access routers and manually configure the devices, leading to significant personnel overhead. The centralized management of an SD-Wide field network architecture allows organizations to make changes to thousands of devices with relative ease. 

3. The Value of Planning and Design 
To fully reap the advantages of SD-Wide area network, organizations will need to devote some time planning out their implementations. If they rapidly deploy an SD-Wide area network solution to offload traffic to the web, not spending any time to standardize organizations will not see the reduced management overhead guaranteed by SD-Wide area network solutions. 

4. A Maturing Marketplace 
In discussions with IT leaders, I’ve found that many are intrigued in SD-Wide area network, however they’re intimidated with a relatively young market, where as far as 60 distinct vendors have offered various solutions. Fortunately, the SD-Wide area network market is starting to shake itself out, with only around two dozen offerings carrying the lead and some being the strongest contenders.