How to Choose the Right SD-WAN Solution
In today's post-lockdown world of work, critical applications live in multiple clouds, employees connect and collaborate from myriad locations, and remote access to applications like Microsoft Office 365 must be fast, secure, reliable, optimised, and automated for maximum business productivity. Behind this transformation is a key technology: Software-defined WAN (or SD-WAN). SD-WAN enables fast and secure connections between your numerous data centres and cloud services; essentially, it allows your organisation to reshape its entire enterprise.
With SD-WAN, organisations can replace multiple physical devices with a single or virtual appliance. Your team can load SD-WAN software onto a server in a branch office, retail store, restaurant or manufacturing facility, or, like many organisations, you can choose a fully managed cloud-based service.
However, it pays to do a bit of research first. Before choosing and deploying a SD-WAN solution, it's important to consider some key questions from the perspective of your organisation, and your potential vendor.
What is my business driver for implementing SD-WAN?
To come to the right decision for your business, start with a big question: Why do you want to implement SD-WAN? What is your business driver here? For example, do you want to grow your business by bringing new branch offices online? Do you want to migrate legacy applications to the cloud? Do you seek to refresh your branch equipment? Or do you need greater security for your many work-from-anywhere initiatives?
The answer to this question can point you to the right approach and the ideal vendor. Let’s say your goal is to bring new branches online, but security is paramount and your team is concerned about its ability to provide adequate security to these branch offices. In this scenario, you might seek out a vendor with a strong cybersecurity pedigree, like Fortinet. Fortinet Secure SD-WAN is natively integrated with the FortiGate platform, which provides best-of-breed SD-WAN and NGFW capabilities to secure across all edges, from the WAN edge to the cloud edge.
What pricing options work best for my business?
Cost is an important consideration when selecting a SD-WAN solution. Total cost of ownership—which considers the initial price and cost of managing, securing, and maintaining a solution—is one of the top factors that IT buyers consider when researching any solution.
A do-it-yourself SD-WAN implementation with an industry-leading solution like Fortinet can help you lower your bandwidth costs because it supports multi-broadband and eliminates expensive MPLS solutions. However, this approach does require capital expenditures and ongoing maintenance.
More and more, organisations are preferring to pay for technology infrastructure as a small, recurring operational expense (OPEX), rather than a larger, less frequent capital expense (CAPEX). Alternatively, you can opt for a managed SD-WAN solution, which enables you to shift from CAPEX to OPEX. This subscription-based model provides predictable costs and flexibility to quickly respond to changing business needs.
Does the SD-WAN solution integrate with my existing infrastructure? If so, how well?
No matter which approach you take, or which vendor you select, one thing is key: your SD-WAN solution must mesh with the rest of your networking infrastructure. Many enterprises already rely on Fortinet solutions to secure their networks, endpoints, cloud, data centre, applications, and content. In this scenario, selecting Fortinet Secure SD-WAN is a logical choice. Fortinet’s solution consolidates SD-WAN, NGFW, and advanced routing into a single, secure WAN edge, powered by one operating system and singular management. As a result, the solution will fit seamlessly into the existing (and forthcoming) security infrastructure.
A single-pane-of-glass view improves control and visibility so that you can provision sites on your SD-WAN more rapidly than with traditional WAN solutions. If you select managed Secure Managed SD-WAN from Optec, you’ll have the option to leave it to the dedicated experts to fully manage your SD-WAN configuration and provide 24x7 monitoring. As a result, your team has more time and freedom to focus on other critical projects that support key business goals and growth.
What resources do I have available to manage SD-WAN?
Last but not least, consider your hardworking technology team. Attracting and retaining the top talent is a challenge for everyone right now: The cybersecurity skills gap is expected to continue in 2022, with not enough skilled technology professionals to meet the growing demand. A good rule of thumb here: Choose the right solution and approach not just for your infrastructure, but for your team. .
Does your team have the expertise, resources, and capacity to take on the SD-WAN implementation? If so, your staff will undoubtedly benefit from SD-WAN’s single pane of glass, as it reduces overall complexity and increases visibility across all branches or data centres. However, if you have a limited team or strapped resources, managed SD-WAN might be a better choice as it removes the challenge and reduces the time needed to implement, manage, and monitor the solution across your entire organisation.
There’s a reason why SD-WAN is ushering in a new way to work. The right solution—and vendor—can enhance your security and regulatory compliance, improve performance for your applications and your people, simplify management, boost speed and security, and reduce your overall costs.
The water is lovely in the SD-WAN pond, but before you dive in, it’s important to select the right solution and the right approach for your unique organisation. Learn more about the full range of Optec’s SD-WAN solutions here, and please get in touch with us today at 01280 878597 or sales@optec.co.uk.
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