Traditional wide area networks are increasingly being replaced with software defined ones: SD-WANs. This article will show you how switching to a software defined network can help eliminate some of the steep costs associated with traditional WANs.
SD-WAN Versus Traditional WAN
WAN stands for a wide area network and refers to a traditional computer network that connects remote users across a wide geographical area. Many companies and organizations use WANs to connect staff and clients at different locations and branches. They are primarily used to share data between an organization’s relevant users.
Traditional WANs rely on extensive physical computer networks, meaning they require physical hard drives to function. These come with considerable maintenance needs, which means more effort and expense for your organization.
SD-WAN has recently revolutionized the nature of telecom networking. Businesses around the world are shifting their networks to software defined wide area networks (SD-WAN). Software defined networks don’t rely on any particular hard drive or underlying technology to work.
With SD-WAN, your data is instead transferred over a secure Internet connection. Software defined networks are software-driven and cloud-delivered, which allows for an optimized and intelligently programmed telecom experience.
SD-WAN allows for services like online ordering, multi-location calling centers, and virtual meetings. They are invaluable to organizations with users at multiple sites who need to communicate or transfer information. SD-WAN can transform your organization’s telecommunications networks to make them both more efficient and more cost-effective.
SD-WAN Can Reduce Your Overhead Costs
Your organization is always looking to save money and to get the most out of what you buy. Luckily, SD-WAN is a great solution for businesses seeking to cut back on high WAN infrastructure expenses while enjoying a higher quality telecom connection.
Here are some of the key ways SD-WAN can help your organization keep costs low:
Lower Maintenance Costs
One of the most obvious benefits of switching to SD-WAN is the elimination of constant maintenance costs. Hard drives are expensive and require consistent attention to keep them performing successfully. Many businesses report devoting a considerable percentage of their IT budget to maintaining the infrastructure underlying their WAN.
SD-WAN allows you to transition away from costly maintenance toward a cloud-based alternative. You’ll no longer need to deal with the burden of obtaining user licenses and routine server maintenance. With SD-WAN, your organization can also more effectively route network traffic, meaning you’ll have a more efficient connection and heightened productivity among your remote users.
Reduced IT Expenses
With traditional WANs, costly IT teams were critical to resolve network failures and restore lost connections. SD-WAN, however, is designed to provide optimized telecom services without nearly as much outside intervention.
SD-WAN offers centralized control, meaning the technology is constantly monitored by digital operators that can flag and respond to network issues in real time. You no longer have to rely on an IT team as your only solution to network failures. The software is programmed to analyze and dynamically respond to network conditions to give your organization the best-performing telecom experience.
No More Costly WAN Circuits
Traditional WAN infrastructure not only includes costly hard drives, but also involves expensive physical connectivity. With SD-WAN, your organization can transition away from higher-cost circuitry.
WAN infrastructure requires purchasing expensive connective circuitry, which then leads to installation and routine maintenance costs. SD-WAN simplifies your organization’s networking. Switching to a commercially available internet connection means trading expensive MPLS lines or other classic WAN-dependent circuit lines for a more secure, efficient connection.
SD-WAN connects all your remote users to an internet-based network in the cloud. Unlike a traditional WAN, SD-WAN is compatible with a variety of underlying connective technologies. SD-WAN simply eliminates the network’s dependence on a specific hardware structure and transforms the network into a centralized system in the cloud.
Meanwhile, SD-WAN offers a higher-quality connection. Traditional WANs rely exclusively on physical hard drives, making them easily congestible and slow. Software defined networking with its centralized control allows for more intelligent network routing and data processing. Information is less likely to get delayed due to the software’s constant internal monitoring.
Since SD-WAN is cloud-delivered, your organization will also benefit from a higher capacity connection. Remote users can more easily connect and transfer critical information without such strict network limits—all with a lower price tag.
Flexibility to Purchase Only What You Need
With SD-WAN, you only have to buy the Internet resources you need, without having to pay for more than that. Since SD-WAN is cloud-based, you purchase the amount that fits your needs while the cloud providers own and manage the hardware.
Traditional WANs require your organization to shoulder the costs of server maintenance and user licenses. Those are big investments that lead to clunkier performance. SD-WAN frees you from these commitments, giving you the flexibility to budget only what makes sense for your organization.
Because Improved Telecom Solutions partners with a variety of service providers, they offer volume discounts that can reduce Internet costs for your organization even further. That means you can purchase only the resources you need while enjoying them at a discounted rate.
Cutting WAN Costs with Improved Telecom Solutions
Now that you understand how switching to SD-WAN can help your business significantly reduce its overhead expenses, it’s time to figure out how to make it happen.
It might seem overwhelming at first to make the transition, but that’s where Improved Telecom Solutions can help. Improved Telecom Solutions provides a variety of internet and data solutions for businesses looking to move away from their traditional WAN. They partner with a wide range of carriers and service providers and can find one that’s the best match for your organization’s needs.
It can be hard to know where to start as you begin moving toward a software defined network to connect your organization’s remote users. Improved Telecom Solutions will help you decide what makes the most sense for your organization based on their extensive experience and relationships with mainstream service providers.
You want to get back to doing the work you care about the most for your organization. Leave the networking to the professionals and start enjoying lower costs and optimized network performance. Improved Telecom Solutions can start making SD-WAN a reality for your organization today.