In fact, some estimates say this will mean as a global market it could hit nearly $14bn as soon as 2026, which would be a growth of over 30% a year from 2021’s relatively modest $3.4bn.
Commentators put this growth down to not just the wider demand for secure and efficient network connectivity solutions, but for SD-WAN’s specific ability to do things like combine multiple types of connections like broadband and MPLS to create a flexible, cost-effective network platform.
Could SD-WAN from SNS be useful to us?
Essentially, SD-WAN does this by offering a less expensive the ability to build connectivity across a range of paths such as the internet. As such, businesses can leverage existing fibre or broadband connections, or even mobile in the last mile, rather than investing in MPLS connectivity to the site.
The growth in interest in cloud services and remote working are also contributing to rising interest in SD-WAN. And with a focus on cost savings and efficiency through allowing lower-cost network links to perform the work of more expensive leased lines, the approach also differs from alternatives like WAN Optimization.
To achieve SD-WAN connectivity, you need an SD-WAN architecture, which includes an SD-WAN edge network function, an SD-WAN gateway, an SD-WAN controller, and an SD-WAN orchestrator. You also require business-grade IP VPN, broadband Internet, and wireless services.
Gartner says SD-WAN solutions provide a replacement for traditional WAN routers and are agnostic to WAN transport technologies—and that managing a WAN by software can provide dynamic, policy-based, application path selection across multiple WAN connections.
The analyst group also states SD-WAN supports service chaining for additional services such as WAN optimisation and firewalls. To help you optimize control of your traffic and connections, building out your network with Tier 1-level reliability, SNS offers optimised MPLS and SD-WAN.
Let’s see how and why SD-WAN can become part of your future.
What would make SD-WAN a good option?
Experience suggests an SD-WAN approach can be cheaper to operate than other connection types like MPLS, plus deliver better application performance in some cases and make cloud-based delivery and management easier to achieve for your network.
As the market transitions to a much more cloud-first model, that’s attractive for many customers, and a better user experience can also result—especially for organizations making heavy use of software-as-a-service productivity apps like Salesforce or public cloud platforms like AWS or Microsoft Azure.
What’s interesting is that in many ways SD-WAN is a straightforward evolution from MPLS (which we are also highly experienced in), but in some deployments may offer a simpler way to manage your WAN, as you are in effect decoupling your networking hardware from its set control mechanism and instead doing things at the software level to create a private network.
SD-WAN implementation questions you’ll need to answer
It seems that SD-WAN has multiple attractions, then. But like with all real-world, mission-critical technology solutions, care and informed decision-making needs to be applied to seeing if it is the best fit for your planned network application.
For one thing, security can be a challenge. By definition, SD-WAN relies on the internet for connectivity, so without adequate protection, it can be vulnerable to cyber threats. It’s also a complex technology that requires specialised skills and resources for optimal implementation and on-going operational management. Integrating it with your legacy technology can also be a non-trivial task.
There are also some basic architectural questions to decide, too. Most SD-WAN solutions are built on a conventional tunnel-based approach, but as our key equipment partner Juniper Networks points out, tunnels such as IPSec add additional, expensive overhead through the use of headers.
This approach consumes precious bandwidth and reduces application performance. Also, application and session visibility are reduced as all application traffic is assigned to a tunnel across, say an MPLS link. Hence, telemetry like latency, jitter, and packet loss is available at the tunnel level only.
However, a session-centric approach, as the Juniper employs in its latest used in its latest AI-driven SD-WAN, provides granular session-level performance—think, being able to look at latency, jitter, and packet loss for an individual Microsoft Teams video call, among other benefits.
Could SD-WAN from SNS be your SD-WAN answer?
Given that SNS specialises in custom connectivity and hosting solutions to support your business, it’s no surprise that, from dedicated private circuits to fully managed SD-WAN, we can build out a bespoke solution to meet demanding requirements that, if appropriate, would involve such capabilities.
That means that, if you’ve identified SD-WAN as the best way to help you build out your network reach, strike new commercial partnerships and enter new markets, we are very happy to offer an SD-WAN-based solution.
And as all our connectivity options deliver both turnkey and custom experiences, if SD-WAN from SNS will get you the links and coverage you need instead of MPLS or other solutions, we’re here, and have the experience and solutions, to help.
The SNS network is also famously above-industry-averages reliable and robust—as it’s based on six Internet exchanges to keep you connected, 10 Tier 1 IP Transit operators to give you global reach, and, to help you grow your footprint, 45 long-haul international circuits.
So, if you think SD-WAN needs to be part of your future, let’s start working together today to get you there—a pathway that starts with as simple a first step as one email.
