As business and technology evolve, IT teams face increasingly complex and challenging infrastructure needs. For organizations that need to scale across regional or branch offices and remote workers, the old way of configuring networks to maintain optimal data center connectivity is falling short.
Enterprise-grade wide area networks (WANs) can improve application performance and simplify management, but they are not enough to overcome IT architecture challenges such as:
- Operational and management complexity from IT infrastructure and office-specific systems.
- Equipment sprawl and legacy systems.
- Inefficient cloud access.
- Difficulty applying consistent security standards.
- Lack of traffic shaping or routing tools.
A software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN) solves these problems with centralized management, and gives IT teams the control and command they need to work efficiently. An SD-WAN network also reduces complexity by consolidating management tasks into a single interface.
Optimizing Regional Office and Data Center Connectivity
SD-WAN service providers deliver a cloud-based solution that overlays your existing network, enabling you to continue working with your current WAN services but adding the additional connectivity and security benefits of an SD-WAN solution. SD-WAN also improves business productivity while reducing IT management burden.
Multiple Options for Connectivity
SD-WAN can support connectivity to multiple clouds, including public cloud, private cloud, hybrid cloud and multicloud solutions. Whether you are using private network, dedicated internet, broadband or wireless, SD-WAN can control all your connectivity seamlessly and deploy enterprise-wide policies to manage traffic.
Dynamic routing enables the segmentation of traffic so that mission-critical applications receive high priority using the most efficient pathways. Non-mission-critical traffic gets segmented through alternative paths while using the most cost-efficient routing. If one pathway experiences packet loss, jitter or latency, SD-WAN can automatically switch to a different connectivity option to maintain optimal throughput.
SD-WAN automatically shifts traffic and chooses the optimal routing even during peak usage to ensure enough capacity to support each request.
Consistent Security Policies
SD-WAN also provides an easy way to apply consistent security policies across every connection. SD-WAN protects every endpoint and access point, providing uniform security from the data center and cloud to your regional offices, while eliminating the need to configure devices and endpoints manually on-site.
LOGIX SD-WAN Secure can greatly simplify the architecture and process of applying security policies to applications. LOGIX SD-WAN Secure includes an integrated next-generation firewall, URL filtering, intrusion protection, antivirus and unified threat management across your entire SD-WAN network.
SD-WAN makes the implementation of zero trust network access (ZTNA) policies easier as well. ZTNA assumes that external and internal threats are active at all times and authenticates and authorizes every device and user. Even when users are working inside the network, data center and application traffic must be authorized before granting access.
ZTNA provides granular application- and role-based control, segmentation to prevent lateral movement by unauthorized users within the network, and visibility into network and application use.
A More Productive Workplace
SD-WAN service providers rightly point to connectivity, failover, and security as significant benefits to SD-WAN, but they often forget to talk about another important benefit: productivity.
When your network is operating at peak efficiency, employees have a better experience. Data center connections are fast and consistent. VoIP and videoconferencing work seamlessly and efficiently. Network slowdowns are all but nonexistent.
LOGIX SD-WAN Secure Solutions
LOGIX Fiber Networks has partnered with Versa Networks to provide secure and reliable SD-WAN solutions. The combination of LOGIX’s networking experience with Versa’s SD-WAN provides a comprehensive approach to managing, securing, and optimizing your wide area network for regional offices, remote workers, and data centers.
LOGIX SD-WAN Secure works as a secure overlay on top of the LOGIX network or any third-party carrier service, including LTE.
Do you want to learn how implementing an SD-WAN network can help you optimize regional office and distributed workforce communication and improve data center connectivity? Contact LOGIX Fiber Networks to request a quote, or call 281-688-6231 for more information.