What is a Software Defined Wide Area Network (SD-WAN)?

It was Complicated...

Well… previously, building WAN networks was complicated. A multi-site network was built by manually building device configurations to stitch a multi-hop path across a Telco’s backbone network to connect each corporate office. Private network bandwidth was more expensive, so additional complexity was added to prioritize different classes of applications for transport across the WAN. This allowed organizations to purchase less bandwidth, while still preserving the performance for their priority applications. However, in practice, setting up such prioritizations was complicated, and often not used.

Software Defined Networking (SDN)

With SDN, such configuration are handled automatically by the network and adjusted in real-time via a web portal interface. Deployment timelines are quicker. Errors / outages due to fat-finger configuration mistakes are eliminated. IT challenges such as complex routing protocols and arcane application prioritization schemes are no longer relevant.

Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN)

With the advent of SDN, WAN networks became smart. The network configures itself based on the options chosen by the client in their web based subscription portal. The network is also aware. Now, this may sound scary, but all it means is that the network is constantly measuring each application flow to make sure it is taking the optimum path between sites. Hand in hand with this, your corporate IT admin also becomes aware. They have access to dashboards showing the end-to-end performance of their network, congestion points, and bandwidth consumption by application type. Resolving any application performance problems or end-user complaints becomes much easier as your corporate IT now has fingertip access to the relevant portal information to diagnose problems and fine-tune network settings.

So, SD-WAN does have everything to do with it. It can help you increase productivity and agility in the marketplace Watch this video and see how SD-WAN and TELUS Network as a Service can change your business today.

For more information, visit telus.com/naas