Even more impressively, experienced SD-WAN providers deploy solutions that can save 50% of both CAPEX and OPEX compared to existing WAN routers. Yet, only 13% of businesses believe that SD-WAN would be the best network suit for them, while 23% consider MPLS to be a better bet. Irrespective of the strengthened product portfolio, why do businesses still hold back from upgrading to the upgraded WAN solution, software-defined WAN?
Enterprises holding on to legacy networking technologies
Large enterprises have years of experience working on legacy systems for business and networking operations. They are reluctant to adopt new technologies or are very slowly pacing towards it, currently lying just in the planning phase. With their legacy systems already in place, and inability to quickly shift and evolve to use newer, advanced platforms, be it SaaS or IoT - they fail to take the impulsive step of making the sudden shift to SD-WAN.
MPLS is a private line connection
MPLS, the networking technology for traditional WAN solutions, delivers a clean and secure connection - which is useful where high levels of integrity and privacy are required. This is why many businesses like yours are still riding on the guaranteed delivery and ensured traffic prioritization features offered by MPLS. Since it is a private connection, they are extremely sure that their data is safe and securely transmitted and hence hold back from engaging with SD-WAN providers to onboard the solution.
Fear of security breach with solution expansion
Businesses fear that extending their SD-WAN solution across multiple business sites would increase their network attack surface and weaken the security posture. However, this is where they fail to realize the inherent security-specific benefits of SD-WAN. Its data encryption mechanism and virtual firewalls limit access to registered users and catch any security threat before it’s too late to be mitigated.
Limited technical skills and in-house knowledge
There is a gradual learning curve for new technology-driven solutions and not enough existing skills to plan and manage it. SD-WAN, being a modern, software-enabled solution, might come off as a complex way of WAN deployment. However, as your SD-WAN providers can assure you, it is rather automated in many ways and decreases the traditional costs of management and scalability.
Helping you decide better between MPLS-VPN & SD-WAN
To fuel your business transformation, you must be onboarding a spectrum of modern IT solutions. Plus, a growing business can’t be limited to a single location. Expanding to multiple locations for exploring and launching your products and services in new markets requires a highly scalable model which can be managed from a central point. 49% of companies highlight the need to ensure they can scale their network.
So, how does SD-WAN rule over MPLS to help you achieve big aims?
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SD-WAN is a cloud-first solution
The conventional router-centric approach in MPLS works on traffic backhauling across the legacy network architecture - which was never built for the modern cloud-based solutions. 81% of all enterprises have reported that they have a multi-cloud strategy already laid out or in the works. SD-WAN is a cloud-first solution, highly compatible with cloud and designed for smooth adoption of multi-cloud strategy. It automates your branch-multi-cloud connectivity enabling you to scale applications across multiple clouds flexibly, assures consistent performance of SaaS applications, and prioritizes traffic across applications.
Here we have listed out some benefits of SD-WAN which ensure smooth multi-cloud performance for your enterprise:
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Centralized network management is the smartest way to go
If you have distributed offices, multiple vendors, and multiple cloud solutions, it becomes a hassle to manage your network across your branches. That was one of the major challenges with MPLS, which SD-WAN rules out with its centralized management approach. With SD-WAN, you get end-to-end visibility into your network usage and performance, zero-touch provisioning for quick remote connectivity, and automated deployment from a single point.
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End-to-end encryption and integrated security come inherently
MPLS with traditional WAN optimization lacks in-built security and exposes your network to the risk of data breaches; it requires additional cybersecurity efforts for safeguarding your network. On the other hand, SD-WAN has inherent security features, such as traffic encryption, IPSec VPN capabilities, and threat intelligence. You can strengthen your security posture by asking your SD-WAN providers to install next-generation firewalls and perform SSL inspection and regular system updates and patches.
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Traffic prioritization and dynamic routing ensures enhanced QoS
MPLS follows pre-determined paths to transfer traffic between your business locations; and to get more data transferred, you need to invest more in the solution. Benefits of SD-WAN in this respect make things a lot easier for enterprises like yours. It offers traffic prioritization across your WAN network is transport agnostic, meaning it can route any type of traffic along the most optimized pathway.
MPLS to SD-WAN: Why make the leap?
User Experience is the first point to ponder upon
More often than not, SD-WAN provides benefits for better network performance than MPLS. The performance of MPLS is limited due to its inability to understand the nature of the traffic. It cannot handle the traffic dynamically and doesn’t prioritize latency-sensitive traffic for voice and video transmission. On the other hand, SD-WAN is an intelligent solution with dynamic traffic routing and prioritization and granular load balancing; it can adapt the bandwidth according to the traffic to direct it across the network in the most efficient and optimized manner.
Striking the right balance between revenue & costs
It is evident that you would want to connect your remote business locations with on-site networks, in which scenario MPLS is extremely cost-ineffective and slow due to traffic backhauling. SD-WAN comes in as a better solution here; it lowers costs by delivering optimized, multi-point connectivity through distributed, private data traffic exchange and control points. Thereby, giving your users secure, local access to the services they need whether on the network or in the cloud.
New line installments for scalability
Software-defined networks are rapidly ruling out Hardware-based systems, and so is the narrative of SD-WAN and MPLS. If your business takes off remarkably, it is evident that you would like to expand to new locations; hardware deployment and network management costs are going to be no catalyst for your venture.
This is where you should know that SD-WAN is a virtualized network while MPLS drives on hardware-based lines. SD-WAN easily connects remote locations and provides centralized controls to manage multi-location networks and VPN connections - facilitating and simplifying business scalability for you.
Be WAN-aware to make the right choice
Stepping-up to adopt modern solutions is definitely a big step, but you need to analyze what benefits your business the most - in the near future and also in the long run. Tech-driven industries are striving to automate operations and manage everything via software, and the shift from SD-WAN to MPLS accounts for just the same. The days of frequent hardware deployment are now gone, and features like zero-touch provisioning are making a dent in enhancing scalability and flexibility.
Our SD-WAN solution revamps your network connectivity and performance with its software-defined features, some of them being:
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Intelligent traffic prioritization
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Zero-touch provisioning
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Built-in next generation firewall
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No packet loss, latency, or jitter
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Real-time visibility into network usage and insights
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Compatibility with multi-branch cloud connectivity
On top of it, we are holistic SD-WAN solution providers; our networking specialists monitor and manage your network 24*7 for consistent network availability, high-speed connectivity, and instant detection of any potential security threats.
In the era where intelligence is molding the way businesses operate, you need a smart network for your business transformation to paddle on. To effectively oil your operations and achieve new goals, explore our intelligent SD-WAN solution today!
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