Software-defined networking technologies like SD-WAN are continuing to see an uptick in adoption, thanks to their ability to improve network agility and boost application performance—and do it securely and cost-effectively. While software-defined wide area networks are often thought of as a solution for connecting branch offices, they have much broader applications.
We talk to Mark Bolar, SD-WAN product lead for Consolidated Communications, about the next-generation of intelligent network services.
What are some pain points that SD-WANs can address?
While we saw a move towards work-from-home at the start of the pandemic, we’ve since seen a broader move toward work-from-anywhere, which is a pain point that SD-WAN can address. SD-WAN allows for different types of profiles, so you can give the same employee different types of permissions depending on where they’re working from. If I’m working in a controlled location at home or in the office, maybe I can access certain types of files, but if I’m working from a coffee shop or airport lounge, maybe I can’t access everything in those situations.
When would an SD-WAN make sense over another type of technology, like a VPN?
It depends on who you ask, but I’m very bullish on SD-WAN. I think it makes sense even for a single user because it really is the next generation of networking. The software is more intuitive, and support is much more fluid and logical. Your network just works better, because the software is always evolving and getting better, and that improves the experience over time for all users. It’s not just about thinking outside of the box. It’s thinking differently about networking.
What are some of the key trends we’re seeing in this space?
One of the key trends right now—everybody is talking about it—is artificial intelligence, and there are a variety of ways that AI is coming into play. AI can help with priority queuing and route traffic over the best possible connection. It’s somewhat like quality of service, but we refer to it as quality of experience because AI really takes it to the next level with what a specific application needs. Some applications are real time and need to have a higher level of priority for every packet that’s sent.
How is SD-WAN a cost-effective solution?
In a pre-SD-WAN world, when people had a problem, they tended to throw bandwidth at it—and having that bigger pipe resolves itself, right? But the reality is, they never really were efficiently using that bandwidth. A lot of times it was sitting idle.
So our quality of experience service mentality with SD-WAN allows our customers to use their bandwidth much more efficiently. They often get better performance while using less bandwidth, so they’re getting more for less. And that’s just on the bandwidth side.
The software is getting very mature and runs as efficiently, if not more, than Ethernet or MPLS. So when you really start looking at the total cost of ownership equation, some of those costs—hardware, certifications, cloud functionality—will be eliminated entirely or accomplished in different ways. At the end of the day, I think companies will find that they’re getting more for the same, if not less.
If you’re considering SD-WAN, how difficult is the transition?
SD-WAN overlays on top of an existing network. So, for example, one of our customers is a bank that’s buying up a bunch of other banks. They have to connect a number of new branches, but there’s already a network built out to those locations. We’re familiar with their set-up, so we can send them the right equipment, they plug it into their network, and it’s quickly up and running.
If we’re working with a brand-new customer, we’ll first need to understand a few things, like what policies they have in terms of how applications are treated on their network. Every vertical market and industry has certain applications where they need the ability to define policies at an application level for thousands of different types of applications.
What’s the difference between managed SD-WAN and self-managed offerings?
If the organization is big enough and has a fairly sophisticated IT staff with the right certifications and expertise, then self-managed SD-WAN can be an option. The majority of our implementations are managed SD-WAN. Our solution is based on VMware SD-WAN by VeloCloud, and we’re continually enhancing it to integrate tightly with our security and VoIP offerings. Customers can also layer in other security and unified communications solutions.
What sets you apart from the competition?
There are a lot of vendors in the marketplace, and each one serves a different niche in terms of their approach. What I’ve found is, if you ride too many horses, you don’t ride any of them very well. We picked the best horse we could ride with VeloCloud. Gartner has long recognized VeloCloud as an industry leader in terms of their vision and execution on their roadmap. So it’s really about investing in the relationship and making that as synergistic as possible.
Want to find out how SD-WAN can help your business think outside the box? Contact us today to learn more about how we can help.