What is SD-WAN?
Traditionally, a proxy server at the head office has been the most common way for businesses to use the Internet safely. However, as the business use of IT equipment such as PCs and smartphones expands, network traffic is increasing. In addition, the recent development of telework environments and the use of cloud services have had a major impact on the operation and management costs of secure network connections. Therefore, "SD-WAN" (software-defined wide area network) is attracting attention. In this column, I will explain what SD-WAN is in the first place, and "Internet breakout" which is one of the major functions realized by SD-WAN.
SD-WAN is an abbreviation for "Software-defined Wide Area Network" and is a function for centrally managing WAN. SD-WAN does not manage physical network devices or WAN units as in the past.
For example, in the VPN connection between bases, instead of setting a VPN router for each base, the software manages it as a virtual network. This eliminates the need to manage the physical routers at each site individually, and centrally manages the WAN.
You can also optimize your Internet connectivity by deciding which WAN to use and how to drive traffic according to pre-configured software policies. In addition, it has the feature of being able to control the increasing traffic.