What are the benefits of introducing SD-WAN?
User needs for corporate WAN environments are diversifying, such as expanding cloud usage and utilizing IoT. Under these circumstances, many companies feel the limits of the conventional WAN environment, and some companies are considering the introduction of SD-WAN as a solution. In this blog, we will introduce the cases of two companies that have problems with the conventional corporate WAN environment, and also introduce how they tried to solve it by SD-WAN migration. This content is especially useful for those who have problems with the existing WAN environment or who are considering expansion in a large-scale environment such as multi-site or global expansion.
1. [Issues of Company A] With the existing WAN, it takes time to add a base! There is also a security problem ...
Company A, a manufacturer of daily necessities that operates globally and in multiple stores. Company A had to make individual settings for network devices each time it opened a new store around the world. It took a lot of time to set up and check these devices, and the existing network was inflexible, making it difficult to open stores quickly in line with business needs.
In addition, each store had to build not only a network for using the in-house system and a network for handling credit card information, but also a network with different security requirements such as kiosk terminals and IP phones on the same WAN. However, contracting a carrier's VPN service individually for each network can be quite costly. We also considered realizing it by setting VLAN and VRF (Virtual Routing and Forwarding) without contracting multiple VPN services, but we had to give up because the setting is complicated and lacks expandability. did.
2. [Issues of Company B] Complicated existing WAN, ever-increasing line costs ...
Manufacturing company B, which often consolidates and abolishes bases due to the establishment of new bases and acquisitions of companies.
Company B was building a WAN using MPLS lines. However, the MPLS line used by Company B was not cost-effective due to its low bandwidth and low speed, despite its high price. I had a contract for a backup line to make the line redundant, but the existing network configuration could not be used effectively, and the backup line was virtually dormant. However, even for such lines that are not used all the time, we had to pay a high maintenance fee.
In addition, the use of cloud services has become more and more active within the company in order to exchange data with the applications used and customers. However, existing network configurations did not allow traffic to be rerouted depending on the application. All traffic to the Internet also flows over MPLS lines, putting more and more pressure on the already low bandwidth. As the traffic increased, it became necessary to increase the line bandwidth and expand the IT equipment in the data center that became the hub, and the cost of maintaining the existing network continued to increase.