SD-WAN vs Traditional WAN: Fixing Network Performance

Make your network agile and efficient with virtualization and cloud from SD-WAN

Software-Defined Wide Area Networking (SD-WAN) is a transformational approach to simplify networking and assure optimal UCaaS application performance. Unlike traditional WANs, SD-WAN delivers increased network agility and cost reduction. Software-Defined WAN has its roots in Software-Defined Networking (SDN), the underlying principle of which is to abstract the network hardware and transport characteristics from the applications that use the network. Simply put, access to the cloud is too important to rely on a single path. You shouldn’t have to worry about Internet connections, performance and outages. SD-WAN provides a stress-free way to utilize the multiple providers of your UCaaS systems and enhance your Internet experience.

Traditional WAN is a Broken System

Traditional WAN design is based on multiple devices stacked in the branch office with siloed management and disparate WAN links connecting them. The bandwidth needs of a traditional WAN system are expensive. Limited bandwidth of expensive private/MPLS circuits inhibits rollout and impacts performance of applications. At the same time, private/MPLS WAN redundancy is complex to deploy and manage.

With no direct access to cloud resources from the branch with the archaic hub and spoke network design, the traffic is backhauled through the enterprise datacenter with heavy performance penalties. Application traffic over Internet links lacks SLAs for predictable performance. Every change in the application quality of service requires manual changes across the branches and the datacenter. Traditional WAN includes multitude of single-function devices and appliances connecting via different WAN links. This infrastructure sprawl causes complexity of IT management.

SD-WAN Makes Networks Better

A Software Defined approach to this same system brings results by connecting data centers directly to the domestic network backbone and POPs of carriers. Traffic hops on this advanced network at the closest POP, delivering a fully redundant architecture. This connection makes the SD-WAN among the most easily implemented and provides top-tier internet performance and uptime.

Deliver a network overlay with multiple links from different service providers to form a unified pool of bandwidth. Provide superior performance and high availability for applications independent of the underlying transport links. Enterprise-grade performance is assured even when traffic is going to cloud applications. Incremental overlay design abstracts software layer from the underlying hardware layer and the physical transport to make an elastic network.

SD-WAN provides insertion of network services whether on-premise, in the cloud, or in regional and enterprise data centers. Software-defined flexibility with automation and business-policy abstraction simplifies complex configurations of traffic routing and policy definitions.

To find out more about CallTower's SD-WAN solution, CT Cloud Boost, click below to schedule your free consultation today: