SD-WAN FEATURED ARTICLE

How SD-WAN Delivers Cost Savings, Other Benefits

April 04, 2018

By Paula Bernier, Executive Editor, TMC

SD-WAN can help your organization save money, reduce its security risk, avoid vendor lock-in, more effectively use its connectivity, and more, according to companies offering solutions in this arena.

Cato Networks says a company’s cost savings from SD-WAN directly correlates with the extent to which it uses this overlay network technology to replace expensive MPLS connections. Automotive company Fisher & Co. is an example of a company that lowered its connectivity costs significantly (by 70 percent) by using SD-WAN instead of MPLS.




Meanwhile, Versa Networks and Dimensional Research say increasing security and lowering risk are key reasons more than 85 percent of companies consider SD-WAN. A study released by the companies earlier this year also reports that 68 percent of those surveyed said deploying and managing network security devices at branches was the most challenging part of WAN management. Increasing costs came in second, at 53 percent. And information security risks at branches registered 49 percent.

“More than a third of respondents cited growing complexity attributed to expansion of multi-cloud infrastructure, a rapidly growing number of SaaS (News - Alert) applications and an increasingly distributed mobile world as the most challenging aspect of managing network security at the branch,” Dimensional Research and Versa Networks reported in the study.

These numbers illustrate some of the factors that are driving enterprises and service providers alike to embrace SD-WAN.

Service provider Etisalat and enterprise Siemens (News - Alert) AG are two of the more recent companies to announce SD-WAN efforts. In late February, Nuage Networks revealed that Etisalat would be using its Virtualized Network Services SD-WAN solution to enable automated and dynamic enterprise customer services. Last month, Siemens extended its contract with Orange Business Services (News - Alert) to migrate its global infrastructure to an SD-WAN network. The new network will enable it to connect to cloud applications and also IoT devices.

“As a globally operating company with subsidiaries and divisions all over the world, we need a reliable and flexible communication network that is a critical business enabler and can evolve with our growing business,” said Frederik Janssen, Head of Siemens IT Infrastructure Portfolio and Strategy. “We chose Orange Business Services because we see it as a prime partner with the ability to deliver seamless worldwide SD-WAN coverage with the highest degree of security standards – especially to protect against threats from the Internet, quality of service, local support and an attractive price-performance ratio.”




Edited by Mandi Nowitz

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