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For several years now, the network evolution spotlight has been on SD-WAN, and rightfully so. SD-WAN provides big advancements in connecting branch locations into central data centers in a cost-effective manner. It is the networking equivalent of a killer application that allows companies to use a variety of transport mechanisms besides MPLS and to steer traffic according to business priorities.

Last week, Cato Networks announced the results of the 5th annual IT survey, The Future of Enterprise Networking and Security: Are You Ready for the Next Leap. It was a massive undertaking that saw 2,376 participants from across the globe provide detailed insights into how their organizations responded to the COVID-19 crisis, their plans for 2021, and what they think about secure access service edge (SASE).

As enterprises set out to modernize their networks, SD-WAN has become a key networking technology for connecting offices. But with COVID-19, users transitioned to work at home, not in the office.

How to integrate hybrid clouds and multi-clouds with SD-WAN in 5 minutes or less.

Since its premier over a decade ago, SD-WAN was adopted by enterprises as the go-to-technology for preparing their network for the digital transformation.

The global pandemic has forced many organizations around the world to send their workers home to support social distancing mandates. The process happened suddenly – almost overnight – giving companies little time to prepare for so many people to work remotely. To keep business functioning as best as possible, enterprises need to provide secure remote connectivity to the corporate network and cloud-based resources for their remote workers.

The global pandemic has forced knowledge workers to move out of their offices en masse to the isolated environment of their homes. Most will return to the office at some point, even if only part-time, as companies adjust to social distancing measures meant to keep employees safe.

Calculating the cost of SD-WAN can be complicated, especially when it comes to CAPEX vs OPEX and ambiguous ROIs. With so many vendors promising massive savings over MPLS internet connections, SD-WAN is currently been touted as one of the hottest categories in networking today. Take a closer look at the costs, considerations, potential savings and leverage the SD-WAN calculator to estimate your organisations SD-WAN cost.

Organisations looking for a branch office firewall upgrade, refresh or deploying firewalls to new sites, need to consider multiple different elements. Let's walk through all of the major factors to consider for a branch firewall and why organisations should consider SD-WAN, and more recently Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) as part of their next-generation of branch network security.

Storage as a service (STaaS) is a managed service model for purchasing data storage based on consumption, where a company only pays for what they use, typically on a per-GB per-month basis.

Software-Defined WAN (SD-WAN) is a networking technology that seamlessly connects branch offices, HQs cloud and data centers over broadband internet rather than MPLS leased lines.

Internet-based VPN vs MPLS was the debate for some time, WAN technology has evolved in recent years. During that time, SD-WAN has emerged as an enterprise WAN connectivity solution that provides a combination of cost efficiency, agility, and cloud-friendliness that neither MPLS nor Internet-based VPN can match.

To meet the needs of a global enterprise, our network architectures need to evolve as well. Which architectural approach will best serve your needs — MPLS, public internet or cloud networks?

You've probably heard about SD-WAN and its promise to transform enterprise networking as we know it. And, by enterprise networking we mean the use of MPLS at the core of enterprise networks. So, to SD-WAN or to MPLS? Here is what you need to consider.

SD-WAN is looking to address the challenges of MPLS like cost, capacity, rigidity, and manageability.

A good starting point in explaining why cloud-native SD-WAN is so compelling from a security perspective is the shortcomings of two older WAN solutions: MPLS and appliance-based SD-WAN.

WAN optimization has been with us for a long time. Born alongside expensive and capacity constrained WAN connectivity, such as MPLS, WAN optimization appliances allowed organizations to squeeze more bandwidth out of thin pipes through compression, and prioritize traffic of loss-sensitive applications such as remote desktops.

Let's take a look at the history of WAN and as we journey from Point-to-Point, T1/T3, Frame Relay, to MPLS, and finally arrive at SD-WAN.

Internet load balancing or fail-over for multiple internet connections can seem like a tight rope walk, but it doesn't have to be. There are multiple ways to accomplish it, from point products to routers and firewalls. Let's take a look at the options and alternatives.

SD-WAN has quickly become the go-to technology for enterprises seeking to leverage the cloud and embrace digital transformation. Yet, much confusion still exists about what exactly is an SD-WAN, and how the technology works.

With the rising popularity of SD-WAN, there is a growing debate that WAN optimization is becoming obsolete. SD-WAN is gaining acceptance and for good reason. It creates an intelligent overlay of multiple transports on your WAN to efficiently and automatically route traffic over the most optimal path.

How do you connect multiple offices rapidly and affordably without sacrificing performance?

From pairing MPLS with a backup internet connection, to link-bonding for aggregate last-mile, SD-WAN introduces new ways to handle old problems, with policy-based routing, active/active links, packet loss mitigation, and quality of service (QoS).

After decades of use, enterprises are looking for MPLS alternatives. To be considered a viable alternative, a network must match MPLS’ service levels for predictability and consistency, while avoiding its pitfalls of cost, rigidity and capacity constraints.

How can SD-WAN deliver the same reliability and redundancy as MPLS when it uses the public Internet?

Digital transformation is all about agility. SD-WAN enables organisations to be more agile in multiple different ways. Such as the ability to rapidly stand-up a new site with secure internet and inter-office connectivity, without the need for additional security appliances, make policy changes across multiple sites on-the-fly, gain real-time visibility of users and connections, on-board new VPN users for remote work without worries license or connection limits.

The “Trombone Effect” occurs in a network architecture that forces a distributed organization to use a single secure exit point to the Internet. Simply put, network traffic from remote locations and mobile users is being backhauled to the corporate datacenter where it exits to the Internet through the corporate’s security appliances stack. Network responses then flow back through the same stack and travel from the data center to the remote user.

SD-WAN has become more than just a network for connecting locations. The rise of cloud, mobile, and business agility demands has required SD-WAN to become smarter by providing security, optimization, intelligence, and better reach. These changes in SD-WAN can be broken down into three phases, reflecting the ways that SD-WAN technologies have adapted over time to the demands of business requirements.