SD Wan or software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN) is a network that is extracted from its hardware, creating a virtualized network overlay.
SD Wan can manage and scale virtualized network overlay easily and additionally it can span over a large area.
SD-WAN can connect multiple locations to a central hub office. Just because it is abstracted from hardware, it is more flexible and easily accessible than a standard WAN.
If you’re a business owner, you must be well aware of the increasing number of SD WDMs and SD WDM’s that are becoming available every day. This is because the market for commercial grade business equipment has increased immensely in the last decade as large corporations have become increasingly tech savvy and demand more from their workers than ever before.
But how does it differ from an SD WDM? And, do these different components really need to be considered when buying your next business system?
It’s the WDM portion of the network, and it’s an essential part of any enterprise computing environment. Most businesses that use “WAN” which stands for Wide Area Network, buy SD WAN which is an acronym for Small scale Digital Network which is the term used for any WAN that’s only used by a small number of people.
Why is SD WAN better? Well, there are so many reasons why SD WAN is better for your business and for your employees, but I’ll start with the following:
Performance -Network performance is vital, and no one likes having problems accessing websites or streaming media, not to mention having a slow network that’s very difficult to troubleshoot. With a SD WAN, you have the option of using either a virtual private server (VPS) or a dedicated physical server, depending on how much money you want to spend on the hardware. VPS’ are usually cheaper, as they allow you to run the network as if it were a private company machine, and you can just cut back on bandwidth.
Savings – With SD WAN, you get the benefits of using both storage and bandwidth, with little to no additional costs. With traditional WAN, you’ve got all three, all of which will cost money – and it’sall on the side of the network provider. By using SD WAN, you only pay for the cost of the hardware and the bandwidth on top of that.
Business Network Flexibility – SD WAN allows you to easily expand it if necessary, and it’s very easy to expand your network by moving it to a new location. With traditional WAN, you’re stuck at your current location, which is fine if you only want to access certain applications. But, with SD WAN, if you need more resources, you simply change the location and you’re set.
Security – SD WAN also makes it extremely simple to secure your network, as it’s a completely encrypted network. All that’s required is for your network administrator to install security software, and you’re all set.
Wi-Fi Control – SD WAN allows you to manage the Wi-Fi networks you have in your office and turn them off and on, automatically. With traditional WAN, you have to manually configure each network, and it’s incredibly difficult to do that manually if you have too many, as well as if you have a lot of employees or clients. With SD WAN, you can save yourself a lot of time and hassle by using the device itself, or you can use software that can manage the Wi-Fi networks for you.
SD WAN also offers you great security features such as password protection, MAC filtering, and a host of other advanced security features. And, you get all of this for the same price that traditional WAN would cost you.
So, the bottom line is that SD WAN is indeed the superior option, especially if you’re a business with a low or zero budget. The bottom line is that it’s a money saver, and you don’t have to pay all that extra money to keep your network secure.