SD-WAN should be in your future
If you are re-negotiating a MPLS or internet contract and not looking at SD-WAN (Software Defined Wide Area Network) technologies you might miss out on the most exciting technology since MPLS replaced Frame Relay, or Metro Ethernet replaced OPT-E-MAN.
Recently Com-Strat was asked by a long-term client to assist with a network support issue. The client had a network via an outsourced provider. The provider had been hosting financial services servers, applications and backup servers for the telephone system and contact center, and providing Wide Area Network capabilities. The provider had been experiencing financial challenges and notified the client they would not be renewing their contract. Com-Strat stepped in and assessed technical requirements, writing an RFX to replace the network with SD-WAN technology to increase bandwidth between branches, headquarters and a new backup Data Center. The new approach also improved redundancy, added reliability and reduced overall network costs.
Migrating to SD-WAN technologies can provide:
- Increased resiliency and improved failover solutions by aggregating multiple circuits.
- Multiple active circuits (instead of primary/failover) for better bandwidth aggregation and throughput.
- Automatically routed traffic down the best-performing circuit at any given time and re-routed around circuit outages or degradation.
- End to end compression, optimization and prioritization (in some solutions) – even over public internet circuits.
- Ability to buy more total bandwidth for lower cost than you are spending today.
- Standardization and simplification of edge technology at branch locations.
- Increased visibility and control of WAN bandwidth management and troubleshooting.
Deploying SD-WAN technology simplifies the management and operation of a WAN by decoupling the networking hardware from its control mechanism. This allows organizations to build higher performance WANs using multiple large low-cost internet circuits, enabling firms to partially or wholly replace more expensive private WAN connection technologies such as MPLS.
When considering replacement of your current WAN, MPLS, MAN or internet solution contact Com-Strat for independent, vendor neutral best practice recommendations. We can also assist in helping you source the most efficient and cost-effective strategy for these network services and identify the optimized solution for your firm.
Need assistance on future SD-WAN projects? Contact Communication Strategies to determine how we can help.
