The big bet of businesses today is undoubtedly their digital transformation. This is because, especially after the last two years, there is an increasingly urgent need to find new integrated solutions, become more competitive, increase their productivity and profitability, and reduce operating costs. 5G SD-WAN (Software-Defined Wide Area Network) solution provides an innovative network architecture with a reliable, fast, secured, and uninterrupted connectivity with centralized management. This new intelligent infrastructure will help Operators to save time and money ultimately.
Digital age revolution
The new digital age is revolutionizing corporate networking, as it happened with music several years ago. In the recent past, to listen to music, we first had the LP, then the much more portable cassette, and then the CD, with superior quality and overall capacity. The transition from physical devices to digital media also marked a revolution in the flow of music, opening new doors in its recording, distribution, and consumption and releasing new possibilities for both artists and their collaborators, as well as for their audience.
Today, network architecture is undergoing a similar transformation. With the cloud transforming the way businesses operate and the urgent need of the business world to have integrated solutions that will allow them to be constantly active and enhance their productivity and competitiveness, networks can no longer be static and limited. The time has come for the corporate network to embrace the digital age in the same way that music did.
Centralized Infrastructure
Everything is subject to central network management, which adapts dynamically, as it communicates with all the applications and functions of the business through the cloud. In addition, this new generation of software-based 5G SD-WAN network now has a user-friendly and smart portal with various capabilities. These capabilities include prioritizing applications and protocols, regulating employee access to a company’s systems, planning the payment system, etc. Thus, the network develops in parallel with the company and manages to meet its expansion needs fully. It also saves resources thanks to the centralized infrastructure while at the same time anticipates and addresses each demand thanks to its built-in intelligence.
At the same time, it enables employees to connect whenever and wherever they need it, thus reducing delays and increasing productivity. In fact, because of this central management, all the offices or branches of a company, which now belong to a common network, are better coordinated to offer customers optimized services. Moreover, even for companies with many branches, this technology allows great flexibility in the exchange and storage of data securely, which contributes to smooth operation and business continuity.
Existing WAN challenges
There are many challenges to the existing network infrastructures. Every WAN network interruption may cause millions of EUR losses for each enterprise. Industry 4.0 is not possible to implement without reliable and non-stop connectivity. That is why connectivity is essential, especially with the movement of all business operations to the cloud. Many Software as a Service (SaaS) applications like O365, Salesforce, etc, do not benefit businesses without the appropriate connectivity.
SD-WAN benefits
An SD-WAN network offers better utilization of connectivity via dynamic path selection and the aggregation of multiple lines and transmission paths. Improved cloud performance (such as MS Azure/O365, Amazon WS, SalesForce, etc.) becomes achievable via a Direct internet breakout. SD-WAN gives the ability of a centralized configuration and management of the network, together with a deployment strategy with automation of policies. Furthermore, the network is able to provide improved transparency and a detailed view of network traffic thanks to the DPI engine.
An SD-WAN network architecture supports a simplified and agile deployment. Security is delivered by the design of end-to-end encrypted traffic. Embedded security features are therefore present without the need to build a separate security platform. This, among other services, also includes firewall, application recognition, antivirus, intrusion prevention/protection, DOS protection, and web filtering.
Existing network Infrastructure
Traditional networks consist of links that use routing and switching protocols to forward traffic between the physical devices. In this case, traffic flows on a hop-by-hop path through the entire transport network.
A typical Service Provider network consists of circuits where the end customer hides the topology, and edge networks appear to be directly connected. However, inside the Service Provider network, tunnels are formed between the edge devices (such as Provider Edge or PE devices). These tunnels can follow any physical path through the provider network but can also be re-mapped, rerouted, and redirected without impacting the tunnel status. Non-edge devices forward traffic between these edge routers, using the tunnel endpoint address, and are unaware of the traffic’s final destination.
In an MPLS VPN multi-tenant network, each tenant has their own routing table on the PE devices to separate the tenant traffic and routing. The overlay network of internet access from the WAN is a closed environment, with private tunnels with no public access. Internet access points can be located centrally (Central Breakout) or at branches (Local Breakout). This way, there is a separate circuit provisioning for public versus private traffic. The customer can achieve Public access via the same or a different provider.
5G SD-WAN solution
Connecting to the remote sites over the public internet connections is required to have internet backup for WAN links. This way, there are no SLA capabilities on the internet links, and this solution costs less than having private backup circuits. 5G SD-WAN, on the other hand, offers a customer-based overlay network across the service provider platform. Furthermore, it is possible to create a new set of tunnels over the top of all customer available transport networks. SD-WAN allows multiple transport networks to interconnect tunnels, such as MPLS, Ethernet, and internet services, designed and managed by the customer. On top of all the above functionalities, a centralized controller uses the appropriate software tools to reduce complexity, ensure consistency across the domain, monitor the WAN network, and make changes based on user-defined parameters.
