SDWAN : Software Defined Wide Area Network | IT NETWORKS

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What is SD-WAN?


SD-WAN or Software Defined Wide Area Network (SD-WAN) is a virtual WAN architecture that allows organizations to take advantage of any combination of transport services like MPLS, LTE and broadband Internet - to connect users to applications.

 An SD-WAN uses a centralized control function to drive traffic securely and intelligently over the WAN.

This increases application performance, improving the user experience, increasing business productivity, and reducing IT costs.


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What Problems Does SD-WAN Solve?

1) MPLS cost and constraints



Multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) has been the main used routing technique of WAN connectivity between enterprise sites, it delivers guaranteed bandwidth, predictable latency, and privacy.

Unfortunately it has it’s restrictions

 1.1 Cost

  • MPLS is very expensive and may charge enterprises additional expanses.


 1.2 Constraints

  • MPLS cannot be installed in all geographic locations.
  • MPLS is not a practical means of cloud connectivity in most scenarios.

In contrast, broadband Internet costs much less than MPLS and is available worldwide.

Although Internet connectivity is not as reliable and latency can vary depending on too many factors, the cost savings are convincing.

 >>Many companies are now using a hybrid WAN combination of these transports, in which critical application traffic is sent over MPLS and everything else is routed over Internet.<<


The software-defined WAN makes it easier to deploy a hybrid WAN and to find the balance between cost, performance, and reliability for different applications traffic.

This is largely due to the rule-based management and dynamic path selection capabilities built in SD-WAN.

2) The Management of complex networks


The management that SD-WAN brings is easier compared to classic complex networks operations and is even greater than the cost savings achieved with MPLS.
The configuration of routers, switches and firewalls on an individual basis using scripts and CLIs is inefficient and the percentage of committing errors is big.

Also productivity is reduced further when an engineer have to travel from a place to another to configure a new equipment at a branch site.
The use of obsolete methods and technologies has made it difficult for many network teams to respond to business demands.


  • SD-WAN helps IT administrators in taking control of complex networks operations and respond quickly to changing business needs.

 SD-WAN ease the design phase, deployment, and management of new production equipment from a central location. The work of an engineer is almost complete after the design phase.
In this phase, anyone with NO IT skills acquired can ship the new SD-WAN gateway to remote branch and plug it to production.
The new gateway will be automagically discovered and start showing online with zero-touch provisioning.

 After that, the new SD-WAN equipment will be fully loaded and start functioning using business-aligned policies pre-written by a network engineer.

All the operational rules automatically generate to all SD-WAN devices under management when a policy is added or modified.

SD-WAN Benefits

1) Cost savings

2)Agility

3)Application performance

4)Speed of deployment


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