2022-02-22T07:24:00Z

What is your criteria to decide that your organization needs to purchase an SD-WAN solution?

Hello,

How do you decide that your organization has to purchase an SD-WAN solution? 

Would you consider alternative options, if you're an enterprise? If so, which ones?

Thanks for the help!

EB
Director of Community at PeerSpot (formerly IT Central Station)
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PeerSpot user
3 Answers
SN
Senior Manager at a financial services firm with 5,001-10,000 employees
Real User
Top 10
2022-02-22T10:42:33Z
Feb 22, 2022

Migrating to SD-WAN does not happen like the way the alarm goes off in the morning to signify it's time to wake up. 


It's gradual and largely determined by deliberate research on ways to improve WAN performance while bringing down the WAN leasing costs. 


The 2 twin requirements will almost certainly land: one to SD-WAN solutions; then it boils down to a matter of choosing the vendor. 

EB
Director of Community at PeerSpot (formerly IT Central Station)
Community Manager
Feb 22, 2022

@reviewer1193265 thanks for your answer! 
Is SD-WAN the only technology option that is taken into consideration when you like to improve your WAN performance?  

PeerSpot user
Search for a product comparison in Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions
Ofelia Madriz V. - PeerSpot reviewer
General Manager at Continex S.A.
Real User
2022-03-24T13:31:09Z
Mar 24, 2022

The answer is simple, SD-WAN needs to be considered if:


1. We have at least 2 available connectivity links.


2. We have a SaaS, PaaS or IaaS solution/applications as part of our core business.


SD-WAN allows dynamic routing to use the best link based on applications, meaning:


1. It optimized the utilization of all available links, providing redundancy and minimizing the impact on application performance with temporary connectivity degradation. 


2. Cloud services and applications can be prioritized and treated as core applications over internet links.

HK
MD at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
User
2022-02-24T09:59:06Z
Feb 24, 2022

A suitable SD-WAN solution will ensure network performance and reliability for applications hosted in public, private, and SaaS clouds. It will provide resilient connectivity to branch and remote users, and prioritize business-critical applications, ensuring the best possible experience for voice, video,  CRM, ERP applications, etc, everything that a business needs to function and mitigate possible disruptions. 


The decision on which SD-WAN solution to opt for would depend on a couple of key points:



  • Simplified architecture – The SD-WAN solution needs to be capable of replacing all branch equipment ie. routers, firewalls and WAN optimization appliances, and consolidate all of these functions into a single branch device.

  • Simplified management & Automation – The SD-WAN solution must be able to manage the network from a single pane of glass, automate repetitive tasks and provide branch deployment automation through a centralised orchestrator.

  • Network analytics – The SD-WAN solution must provide rich data on WAN performance and security and provide monitoring of application performance across the SD-WAN ecosystem.

  • Supported WAN transport mediums – The SD-WAN solution must lower costs - traditional MPLS is expensive.  It must be provider/connection medium agnostic. It needs to maintain application performance and availability and the solution needs to provide failover capabilities with little to no service interruption, especially when you consider the sensitivity of voice and video applications during WAN link service degradation, interruption and failure.

Simply throwing "cheap" bandwidth at this will not ensure network performance and reliability, will not provide resilience for enterprises, nor mitigate possible disruptions.

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Hello community,  I am an Information Technology Domain Network and Solutions Architect at a large utility company. I am currently researching SD-WAN solutions. Is the network connection for an SD-WAN router the same as a network connection to a traditional router? They both employ an ethernet private line for access, is that correct? Thank you for your help.
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More information please!! Of course it's not the same type of solution, but if you're talking about infrastructure, yes it's the same, you just need a patch cable (copper or fiber) from your ISP router connected to your router's WAN IN port.Otherwise, if you're talking about capabilities, it's normal behavior of the whole network to become slower if your UTM server is not good enough and that depends on how big your current and future network need is, take note of that, it is the main concern that you should focus on.Personal advice for you; go with a hardware kind router, most of the time it is a better solution and cheaper one, maybe you just don't know yet about the correct one for you, please let me know if I was helpful.
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Yes. Physical connections will remain the same.
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Hello peers,  I am a project and program manager at a medium-sized utility company. I am interested in SD-WAN. Does anyone know what IBM focuses on within SD-WAN space? Thank you.
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ER
Executive Vice President Operations and IT at Sterling National Bank
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IBM does not appear in Gartner's Magic Quadrant for SD-WAN as of the 12th September 2022.   One of my clients implemented Viptela which was later acquired by Cisco. They replaced about 30 MPLS circuits with multiple business broadband circuits, saved a lot of money, and increased speed and reliability.  According to Gartner's 2022 MQ report, the leaders are Fortinet, VMware, Cisco, HPE (Aruba), Versa, and Palo Alto.  
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