The Road to Modern SD-WAN Management:
An Answer for an Internet-Connected World
The evolution of IT technologies has altered traffic flows within distributed organizations. To keep up, enterprises are greatly expanding their use of public cloud and the Internet to fast-track business growth and transformation.
WAN Transformation — From Plumbing to Platform
Today, IT leaders are asking themselves:
How do I expand bandwidth to support increasing cloud traffic?
How do I handle the rapidly increasing complexity of our network?
How do I prepare my network
for edge computing and IoT?
How do I overcome the skills gaps in networking and cloud?
How do I ensure data security across the enterprise?
Previously, few organizations recognized the link between an enterprise’s IT infrastructure and its ability to achieve its business goals. But because of digital transformation, IT leaders must now support enterprise innovation and mission-critical cloud applications to run continuously and perform well. This has elevated the WAN to a strategic delivery platform
for business outcomes.
Network infrastructure has long been considered the backbone of an organization’s daily operations. But traditional MPLS networks that transmit branch traffic to a centralized data center
These changing traffic flows require additional security, operational management, and bandwidth — thus for many organizations.
Traditional MPLS Networks Are Outdated
can't offer high-performance access to cloud applications.
increasing operational costs
of all traffic at branch offices and remote sites can be traced to cloud applications.
of enterprises will
grow their overall WAN bandwidth over the next two years, mainly due to cloud adoption.
of enterprises are increasing their use of the internet as the primary WAN connection point.
4
48%
92%
74%
Rapidly changing business requirements underscore the need for Application experiences in branch offices —
The Quest for a More Agile, Secure WAN
where most customer experiences take place —
need to offer the same performance and robustness as the company headquarters or data center.
Other IT initiatives within organizations, like hybrid cloud and connected devices — or the Internet of Things (IoT) — make it clear that cloud technology is a major influence on WAN modernization.
According to IT leaders,
the top technical initiatives influencing their WAN strategy are as follows:
Security
5
Hybrid cloud
Internet of Things
Multi-cloud architecture
37%
25%
23%
18%
greater network agility.
But cloud connectivity also increases security complexity, network complexity in
the WAN, and network complexity in the public cloud. More than anything else, enterprises are
This complexity is exacerbated by a lack of technical onsite staff who can support tasks that require physical proximity, such as installation and certain aspects of network troubleshooting.
Complexity Remains a Challenge
struggling with network complexity associated with managing distributed infrastructures.
Today’s converging business and technical challenges
have spurred transformation of the modern WAN through
a that previously was seen only in the data center.
Software-defined WAN, or for short, is at the leading edge of software-based networking deployments. It uses software and cloud-based technologies to simplify delivery of WAN services to branch offices.
software-defined networking (SDN) architecture
SD-WAN:
WAN Transformation in Action
SD-WAN
But because a direct Internet connection can amplify risks,
In fact, 37% of IT leaders report that SD-WAN security is the top technical initiative influencing their WAN strategy.
Security First
When searching for a secure
SD-WAN solution, experts advise to look for:
SD-WAN solutions must put security first.
7
6 months
The average time it takes to detect a security breach.
8
A transport-independent design
Policy-driven direct access to cloud applications and cloud data centers
A highly available architecture enhanced by distributed cloud-hosted options
A secure and encrypted overlay
Advanced next-generation firewall capabilities
To avoid burdensome DIY security, many IT leaders are opting for fully integrated security and SD-WAN services in a unified platform.
Secure, Unified SD-WAN
When searching for the right solution, make sure to look for these capabilities:
A provider with a proven ability to execute
Service-level agreements for availability, incident resolution, and application quality
A true single point of contact — not contractors — who responds quickly
to your needs
A predictable
cost model
SD-WAN is the modern WAN management answer to an Internet-connected world. It provides the agility, simplicity, scalability, and security to enable digital growth anytime, anywhere.
The Modern WAN Is Secure and Software-Defined
Open Systems designs, builds, and operates a secure SD-WAN that enables:
Confident growth and transformation while minimizing security risk
Increased business-level visibility, flexibility, and control over your network
Secure, high-performance connections from the branch to the cloud
Improved customer experience at the edge, and more
Request an assessment
To learn more,
Open Systems is a leading global provider of a secure SD-WAN that enables enterprises to grow without compromise. With
assured security, AI-assisted automation and expert management that free valuable IT resources, Open Systems delivers the visibility, flexibility and control you really want with the performance, simplicity and security you absolutely need in your network.
To learn more, visit Follow us Open Systems Proprietary 2019
Digital Transformation Is Changing the WAN
In 2019, analysts predict:
75%
27B
2X
By 2020, 75% of organizations expect to experience business disruption due to infrastructure and operations skills gaps.
1
Connected devices will grow to nearly 27 billion.
2
Bandwidth demand is doubling every two years due to IoT and video consumption.
3
Network complexity from distributed infrastructure management
28%
Leaders say these are their top technical challenges to WAN success:
6
Bandwidth constraints
26%
Cloud migration complexity
27%
Network complexity from multiple-transport management
26%
SD-WAN provides deep visibility into network devices, users, and performance for easier management and control.
SD-WAN increases agility, allowing for quick deployment of Internet-based connectivity (high bandwidth, low costs) that improves performance, quality, reliability, and security.
Network abstraction results in simplified network operations.
Software-based virtualization enables much functionality:
Network abstraction
Quick deployment
Visibility and control
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