The IT sector has gone through a revolution in the last few years. Virtualization has become an integral part of many organizations’ infrastructure. Most of the services and data are hosted on the cloud, which has brought about more flexibility in the way organizations handle their services and data. However, with this change, there came a big challenge: the challenge of network compatibility. The traditional network was not compatible with the cloud and this was because it was dispersed, decentralized, and relied on a lot of equipment that had to be manually administered. Simply put, traditional networking strategy doesn’t cut it anymore. This is when the organizations turned to a faster, more stable, and more reliable networking solution — software-defined wide-area networks, or SD-WAN.
SD-WAN has been a hot topic in recent years and rightfully so. Instead of relying on regional offices, expensive equipment, and manual administration, this networking strategy empowers organizations to work with the new age of computing. SD-WAN provides a centralized view of an organization’s network. It connects the services directly to the internet which helps remove bottlenecks. SD-WAN also allows you to choose the ISP of your own choice based on your budget and location and it also allows for a combination of ISPs to be used together to help boost the performance. With SD-WAN, organizations can set up multiple links between different locations that may have separate ISPs, making for a more resilient network that doesn’t slow down or stop when a link is down for some reason. And the most important part of this is that an organization doesn’t have to invest in expensive equipment anymore.
Here are some of the SD-WAN technologies organizations can count on:
Talari Networks SD-WAN
Talari Networks is an SD-WAN innovator that was acquired by Oracle back in 2018. Talari Networks’ SD-WAN solution provides a way to combine private network with the broadband network allowing for a cost-effective open enterprise WAN. Talari provides a failsafe, multilink, and multipath networking solution to its users. Talari also offers the feature of smart routing to its users that prioritizes packets based on application requirements. It favors vital applications which it routes through more efficient channels over less important applications which leads to a more efficient networking setup. Talari also provides real-time analytics that provides visibility into the network and ways to troubleshoot in case an error occurs. Talari also offers features such as packet replication and continuous measurement of WAN paths for quick and seamless networking. Talari Networks SD-WAN centrally manages and distributes policies and services across the network which eliminates manual administration considerably.
AireSpring SD-WAN
This offering helps expand the bandwidth of the entire network considerably by optimizing connectivity. AireSpring SD-WAN helps enterprises optimize voice quality over their networks and simplifies WAN management. This solution is easy to deploy and undertakes full management of your organization’s network. AireSpring SD-WAN provides efficient project management and provides extensive support from its technical specialists. The SD-WAN bundle can be customized based on your enterprise needs. An organization opting for AireSpring doesn’t need to worry about the unpredictable costs of this solution as its pricing strategy is pay-for-use. AireSpring also lets enterprises implement custom policies which it ensures are implemented efficiently to avoid any gaps. This solution comes to your door preconfigures based on your specific requirements thereby eliminating the tedious task of installing, configuring, and managing custom policies.
Cradlepoint SD-WAN
Cradlepoint is a leader in 4G-LTE networking. And, with its SD-WAN offering, it enables organizations to move away from expensive MPLS by enabling broadband and LTE connectivity. Cradlepoint’s NetCloud Manager combined with NetCloud OS available in the organization routers makes for efficient networking infrastructure. It routes the application through channels that are best suited for their particular requirements and specifications. Cradlepoint also analyzes historical data to help with efficient upscaling of the network architecture. NetCloud Manager provides an integrated view of WAN usage that helps network admins to keep a track the usage and manage it efficiently. This also helps in quick detection of issues so that necessary actions can be taken without any delay. NetCloud Manager also helps with threat management and content filtering to ensure security through multipoint VPN.
FatPipe Networks
FatPipe’s SD-WAN handles connectivity from remote locations without any loss of performance with ease while also speeding up the deployment process considerably. FatPipe makes it easy to deploy appliances through “zero-touch deployment.” FatPipe provides cloud-enabled configuration and cloud-hosted management. FatPipe provides highly scalable and secure cloud connectivity for branches and IoT.
FatPipe’s SD-WAN offering is also ideal for enterprises looking to eliminate downtime. FatPipe sets up redundant connections to mitigate lat-minute vulnerabilities. On account of diverse access hardware, there is less chance of hardware unavailability. Multiple paths make it easy to reroute traffic in case of congestion in the network. FatPipe also gives organizations the liberty to choose the routing architecture that is best suited to their needs.
Aryaka SD-WAN
Aryaka offers direct and seamless connectivity to web/Saas providers and boosts global acceleration and high productivity even for remote locations. Aryaka is one of the primary disruptors in the SD-WAN space. Its SD-WAN solution is fully managed, which eliminates the hassle of constant manual intervention by network admins. It offers its services at a fraction of other vendors’ price. With Aryaka, you can boost the performance of your application whether they are hosted on the cloud or on-premises. With the help of this solution, your organization doesn’t have to worry about downtime. Aryaka also promises quick deployment of new sites and connection within eight to 48 hours. Other features Aryaka provides include data compression and deduplication, smart edge, and smart link. My Arkaya is Arkaya’s customer portal that helps organizations deal with issues related to connectivity and performance.
CloudGenix
CloudGenix AppFabric lets you choose what kind of WAN transport you want to apply to your branch office. It could be LTE, broadband, or MPLS, based on the demand. CloudGenix ION devices have the capability to automatically set up a reliable and secure connection between different locations while also tracking the usage constantly. CloudGenix AppFabric is self-healing, which means that in case of an error, the traffic will be routed through the next best path without manual intervention. AppFabric comes preconfigured with secure and reliable business policies which helps mitigate the task of creating lengthy configuration files and setting them up. CloudGenix helps integrate apps seamlessly irrespective of where they are hosted, which makes for a more efficient network and helps spot and address issues as soon as they appear.
The SD-WAN market is bustling and newer, more efficient tools and technologies are springing up everywhere. At this point, organizations looking to incorporate SD-WAN into their network architecture need to research carefully to find the solution that serves their interests best. This process isn’t easy, as an organization that wants to reap the benefits of SD-WAN should process a great deal of information about features, pricing, and scalability. This is especially overwhelming when you factor in the pace at which the market grows and innovation takes place. However, it is worth the time and effort when you find a solution that fits your needs and helps you eliminate the cost and provides you with better performance.
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