When SD-WANs first began to be discussed, the focus of the discussion was on the potential cost savings that would result from incorporating more cost-effective broadband connectivity into the WAN. Reducing cost is clearly an important goal, but achieving that goal is only meaningful if the WAN is also providing all the requisite functionality. This blog will discuss the importance of WAN functionality such as security and the ability to effectively support cloud computing. This blog will also identify the key characteristics of a secure SD-WAN.

Required WAN Functionality

The functionality that WANs must provide was identified in the 2018 Guide to WAN Architecture and Design. That guide presented the results of a survey in which the respondents were presented with fifteen factors and asked to choose the top three factors that would likely have the most impact on their WAN over the next twelve months. The factors that were the most important are shown in Figure 1.

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Over the last two years, SD-WANs have been the hottest topic in networking. In that timeframe, SD-WAN solutions have evolved dramatically with many vendors recently implementing new, highly robust architectures and adding functionality such as routing and more sophisticated security.

But it is not just the technology that has changed. The way that SD-WANs are planned, owned and operated has also matured significantly. The goals of this blog include discussing the large interest that organizations have relative to consuming SD-WAN as a managed service; the evolution of what is meant by a managed SD-WAN service; and the evolution of how managed SD-WAN services are built and operated.

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Most of the discussion to date on the benefit of SD-WANs has focused on how an SD-WAN enables a network organization to reduce or eliminate its spend on expensive MPLS circuits.That is clearly an important benefit. However, as many early adopters of SD-WANs can attest to, SD-WANs have other important benefits.

I am going to use this blog to summarize an interview I recently had with an IT professional who is in the midst of rolling out an SD-WAN solution. As described below, the benefits of the new solution include better performance, better visibility and the reduced cost and complexity that comes from removing Cisco routers.

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