Locked Down by MPLS
Businesses need to ensure they have a wide area network (WAN) infrastructure that is ready for the world of work today and not yesterday. It doesn’t matter if you have the latest devices, applications, or technology, none of it will make a difference if you don’t have the right infrastructure in place to maximise cloud technology and applications.
Now we use more devices, more applications and work differently to how we used to work, with more people working full time from home or hybrid working. As a result, this has led to an increase in traffic and increasing security concerns across the network.
Many companies are still operating on a MPLS WAN which is the traditional way of connecting sites, but these are expensive and require a high bandwidth. They are also cumbersome when additional sites or users need to be added to the network, which can slow down the bandwidth, therefore making it difficult for businesses to respond quickly to changes.
MPLS networks are also usually more susceptible to security threats and latency threats therefore putting businesses at risk. Finally, they don’t support SDN or cloud networks meaning that businesses can’t take advantage of the latest technologies that provide cost-savings, improve performance and security.
Follow our ‘top tips’ to have a WAN infrastructure that will enable you to not only secure your network but to grow your business.
Set Your Network Free with SD WAN
Follow our ‘top tips’ to have a WAN infrastructure that will enable you to not only secure your network but to grow your organisation.
- Distributing and Prioritising Traffic
SD WAN (software defined wide area network) uses software to distribute and prioritise network traffic across a WAN, enabling IT Directors to manage and control network traffic across multiple locations. It also enables organisations to save costs, increase productivity, accelerate growth, and increase security.
The SD WAN network provides centralised network management and visibility into any performance issues within the network. This simplifies the management for the IT/Telecoms Director where they can monitor the traffic, performance and identify any security threats from a single dashboard giving them greater control and flexibility in managing their network.
- Delivering Cost Savings
SD WAN provides cost savings by reducing their reliance on expensive MPLS networks, providing them with the opportunity to choose more cost-effective options such as broadband or wireless 4 and 5G connections.
With today’s rising costs businesses are constantly being pushed to ‘do more with less’ and need to save where they can, with the savings achieved through SD WAN, they can be re-directed into other areas of the organisation such as new products or services, marketing, or training for employees.
- Flexibility to Grow
You can easily set up new sites as and when required providing agility to respond quickly to changing network demands. It also facilitates hybrid networks with multiple connections. Whereas previously this was a costly and cumbersome process with MPLS.
4) Increasing Productivity
Over 30% (Embryo) of employees in the UK are working a hybrid schedule and IT managers need to ensure that employees have the necessary bandwidth, by prioritising their network traffic and optimising remote connection speeds to their remote place of work. SD-WAN improves their bandwidth so they can utilise video conferencing and collaboration tools more effectively, therefore increasing employee productivity and efficiency. It ensures employees and employers benefit from reliable and consistent broadband even in rural areas so they can easily communicate and collaborate with each other and customers and suppliers. This then results in more efficient work processes, faster decision-making, and improved teamwork. Employees can instantly access the latest information and updates in real-time, enabling them to make informed decisions quickly, reducing stress and freeing them to focus on their work.
- IOT Ready
An SD WAN network supports IOT devices and secures traffic to and from these devices, ensuring they have consistently reliable and secure connectivity between them and the cloud applications they use. This can include wearable video cameras, sensors in building, security cameras, evaluators, GPS trackers, healthcare devices etc. SD WAN is widely used in the construction industry, where it delivers huge benefits due to ease of set up.
The Way Forward
To be agile and take full advantage of cloud technologies and applications businesses need to think strongly about implementing a SD WAN network. This will enable them to seamlessly manage their network and broadband capacity ensuring that employees have reliable and consistent connectivity to improve communications, collaboration, and processes, and deliver an outstanding service to customers.
