WAN Basics for Non-Technical Users

One application of the software defined technology that can be applied to the WAN connections such as 4G, LTE and VoIP is the software defined WAN. With the help of such an advanced WAN technology, business enterprises are able to connect enterprise networks over large distances. A WAN connection is generally used for connecting branch offices to a central corporate network or it might also be used to connect the data centers that are located wide apart.

While earlier, the WAN connections primarily used technology requiring special proprietary hardware, SDWAN, on the other hand, utilizes the cloud-native network. SDWAN helps to decouple the network from the management plane and then detach the traffic management and monitoring functions from the hardware. There are four central components on which SDWAN is dependent. These are:

• Edge connectivity abstraction
• WAN virtualization
• Centralized management that is policy-driven
• Elastic traffic management

Business enterprises have been demanding WAN technologies that are more flexible, open and cloud-based. This is because most of the business organizations have been moving away from WAN technology that involves expensive, fixed circuits or proprietary hardware. Given the new introductions in the WAN technology we can improve and secure the internet connectivity, making it more competitive with the expensive WAN technologies that are available.

In many cases, the SDWAN technology uses broadband internet connections to replace some of the expensive options available. The virtualization technology helps to ensure security by introducing the virtual private networking (VPN) technology to the broadband internet connections. One clear trend in the networking field is the rising adoption of the multi-cloud in the networking world. Given that SDWAN improves connectivity and boosts security in the cloud, it is often integrated within the multi-cloud strategy.

Some other advantages that aid the growth of the SDWAN network infrastructure are the scalability of SDWAN across numerous locations and the centralized management for both public and private cloud. There are numerous SDWAN products that encrypt the data across connectivity points and provide firewalls and also application-based security. The main benefit offered by SDWAN is that it can deliver a simple and secure cloud-enabled WAN connection with both open and software-enabled technology. This can be utilized to deliver basic WAN connectivity or it can also be utilized for the premium business services such as VPN, WAN optimization and applications delivery control (ADC).

Business organizations that see the potential in the SDWAN infrastructure believe that the market for SDWAN will grow rapidly in a few years and it is only fair to pursue the market currently. Being able to proactively respond to the network conditions and the employees’ needs, SDWAN offers the best solution for dealing with the performance issues. SDWAN is the best alternative that is possible for the traditional WAN technology, given that it ensures that all critical traffic passes through the most ideal path across the network to provide the best possible performance.

One bottleneck that is faced by the traditional WAN networks is when the end-to-end available bandwidth reaches the lowest limit, the network traffic gets trapped and the entire traffic through the network is slowed down. This means that the programs and processes that this traffic is connected with will reflect the slow speed in their performance. This bottleneck could be the result of the incorrectly coded applications, the lack of available system memory or the high CPU load.

Using an advanced SDWAN network architecture could help to solve these bottlenecks and enhance the performance of the network. This helps business enterprise owners to keep their organizations moving at the right speed and achieving their stated targets on time. Being able to proactively respond to the network conditions and the changing needs of the employees is an important criterion that must be met by enterprise owners and an SDWAN infrastructure helps to achieve this in the best possible way.