According to a report by Gartner, nearly one third of all enterprises will adopt SD-WAN technology by the end of 2019. Considering the relentless pace at which companies have cropped up in this space in recent years, Gartner’s (News - Alert) prediction seems likely to pan out.
But what exactly is SD-WAN? A software-defined (SD)-Wide Area Network (WAN) is a mechanism that allows admins to manage the corporate WAN by decoupling the networking hardware from its control mechanism. It’s the latest innovation in enterprise software and a number of service providers have emerged in recent years to help companies adopt it. This includes British technology solutions provider Aequos among others.
Service providers like Aequos expect the market to thrive in the next few years because companies will soon realize the potential of this technology. One of the most critical benefits of SD-WAN is the ability to manage multiple types of connections – from MPLS to broadband to LTE (News - Alert) - from a centralized location, For example, users located at a company’s headquarters can manage the many phone systems, points of sale and PCs in branches across the country. This makes SD-WAN particularly well-suited to geographically distributed enterprises.
Centralization also makes operating and maintaining a WAN much more efficient. Users and administrators can monitor that entire network through a single simplified interface. These companies will no longer require an on-site technician to instal and upgrade a system in branches when the configuration and installation can be handled by the team at headquarters. Companies can also use the technology to cut costs and increase productivity across the enterprise.
SD-WAN vendors offer a simple software solution to a critical problem. They’ve managed to bundle existing technologies such as encryption, path control, overlay networks and subscription-based pricing to create an integrated solution for business. According to the Gartner study, the number of vendors selling these services will expand just as rapidly as the number of companies adopting the technology over the next decade. By 2020 the market could be worth in excess of $1.3 billion.
That makes it likely that your team will use SD-WAN relatively soon, if it hasn’t adopted it already.
