When MPLS was first developed, it offered many advantages over traditional networks. However, in the digital age, MPLS fails to provide the flexibility and security needed by modern cloud architectures and hybrid workers. Due to the increasing demand for bandwidth and high cost of bandwidth, many organizations have difficulty to maintain a high level of service in branch offices with MPLS networks. Additionally, moving business-critical applications to the cloud creates bottlenecks as internet traffic must be routed back to the data center for security inspection.
By virtualizing network connections, an SD‑WAN can bond multiple links including MPLS, broadband internet and 5G, and increase network bandwidth. SD‑WAN uses encrypted IPsec tunnels across the entire fabric, securing data in transit. The solution also monitors network conditions in real time and quickly adapt. If a brownout or blackout occurs, it automatically switches to the remaining links increasing reliability.
An advanced SD‑WAN can even replace legacy MPLS lines with broadband internet, and reduce costs, by mitigating the effects of jitter and packet loss found in broadband links. This is done by automatically rebuilding lost packets with FEC (Forward Error Correction). The solution can also overcome latency effects due to geographical distance with WAN optimization through TCP protocol acceleration and data reduction techniques.
SD‑WAN supports cloud architectures by automatically breaking out the internet traffic through application first packet identification, eliminating the need to backhaul the internet traffic to the corporate data center. Trusted SaaS traffic is sent directly to the cloud while untrusted traffic is directed to cloud security services (Security Service Edge or SSE) in a SASE architecture. Virtual instances of SD‑WAN can also be deployed directly to cloud providers such as AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud, creating a bookended solution from edge to cloud, providing predictable application performance. Finally, an advanced SD‑WAN offers various features in addition to SD‑WAN, such as an integrated router, next-generation firewall and WAN optimization allowing organizations to retire their legacy equipment in branch offices. An advanced SD‑WAN is centrally orchestrated so that networking and security policies are automatically configured and updated in minutes through zero touch provisioning, greatly simplifying operations.