Baroan Technologies’ SD-WAN Buyer’s Guide For New Jersey Businesses

SD-WAN is a software-defined approach to network connectivity that can significantly lower operational costs and improve optimized business application experience. 
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Baroan Technologies’ SD-WAN Buyer’s Guide For New Jersey Businesses

Organizations across the world are rapidly digitizing their operations and adopting a multi-cloud environment. Unfortunately, traditional WAN architecture models are not capable of providing the scale, agility, and flexibility that are needed to support this type of transition. Enter SD-WAN. There is no exclusive platform that will be able to deliver every piece in the complex puzzle for every type of organization and every set of unique application requirements. What organizations must do is choose vendor partners that provide platforms that are open, flexible, and comprehensive in their capabilities and components. SD-WAN vendor partners that possess these features will more likely be able to adapt to organizations’ increasingly varied, flexible, and demanding networking requirements. When partnering with the right vendor, organizations will secure their ability to stay ahead in a multi-cloud future. SD-WAN adoption continues to accelerate at a rapid pace. With fewer employees in branch sites due to the adoption of remote and hybrid workforces, some organizations are accelerating deployments. Why? More organizations are recognizing that WAN transformation is critical to realizing maximum value from their existing and future cloud investments. However, with the inundation of marketing and messaging around SD-WAN, it’s becoming even more difficult to make it through the noise and select the right vendor and the best SD-WAN platform for your organization.

Back to the Basics: What Is SD-WAN?

First thing, you’re probably wondering: What is SD-WAN? SD-WAN is a software-defined approach to network connectivity that can significantly lower operational costs and improve optimized business application experience. SD-WAN (Software-Defined Wide Area Networking) is a transformational technology that maximizes bandwidth resources at branch offices, cloud locations, or headquarters. How? SD-WAN enables quality of service controls over the top of any WAN connection. SD-WAN gateways support hybrid WAN, which enables each gateway to have multiple connections using transports like MPLS, broadband Internet, LTE, etc. SD-WAN adds a layer of software-defined intelligence that provides real-time control and visibility over application and network performance. This allows organizations to make better use of their available network resources and ensure the best possible application experience. As a result, this enables organizations to boost their bandwidth with low-cost broadband by withstanding the security, reliability, and performance challenges of using the internet for business-critical applications.

The Benefits of Using SD-WAN

The potential benefits of SD-WAN, when adopted and applied to a range of existing architectures, are the reason behind its ascending popularity. However, the SD-WAN movement is about more than the various benefits it offers. The SD-WAN movement is about how SD-WAN can reformulate what’s possible on a networking level. With a software-defined wide-area networking (SD-WAN) solution, organizations can achieve:
  • Reduced complexity and better user experience
  • Lower total cost of ownership
  • Increased bandwidth and more reliable connectivity
  • Improved efficiency and productivity
Performance and Reliability Deliver hybrid WAN with high-performance reliability and flexibility to deliver optimal performance for all applications. Cutting the TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) SD-WAN solves network-related complexities while cutting the total cost of ownership. SD-WAN reduces the complexities of operations through zero-touch provisioning and cloud management. Cloud-Ready Network SD-WAN delivers hybrid, multi-cloud, and SaaS functionality to support the ever-growing and changing needs of organizations. Eliminate data center connection penalties with a cloud network that provides a direct path to public and private clouds. Automation and Visibility  With SD-WAN, organizations will experience centralized monitoring, cloud control, and visibility. This will enable easier deployments while automating business policy and firmware updates and capacity measurements.

What Networking Challenges Can SD-WAN Solve?

Any decision organizations make about specific aspects of SD-WAN or the comprehensive management of SD-WAN aspects must take into context current and networking challenges, as well as how these networking challenges are likely to evolve as there continue to be advancements in technology. Some of the networking challenges that SD-WAN can solve include:
  • Preventing cyberattacks and staying ahead of the ever-evolving threat landscape
  • Managing the costs of WAN links
  • Refining control of hybrid WAN and multi-cloud environments
  • Managing multiple network domains and services
  • Prioritizing business-critical traffic
  • Future-proofing unique business requirements while reducing complexity

Choosing an SD-WAN Solution That Works

Organizations that are conducting operations across multiple sites have likely faced some of the networking challenges that we highlighted. Organizations with multiple sites have greater complexity in how they manage networks. These organizations have to ensure that all sites receive the performance necessary to use VoIP, video, and other business applications. Given the recent string of IT resource shortages, organizations may find it even more difficult to find a way to prevent technology from becoming outdated, especially when there is a lack of technical staff at each location. Given the ever-changing workforce landscape, organizations are seeking innovative ways to prevent overspending, as bills from ISPs and MPLS (Multiprotocol Label Switching) services skyrocket. It is no surprise that SD-WAN solutions have risen to the top of options for organizations. SD-WAN solutions offer centralized management for full visibility across an organization’s distributed network. The benefits of SD-WAN have made the solution a hot topic among leaders of multi-site organizations. Should you have plans to move forward with an SD-WAN solution, we hope to provide information that will help your organization facilitate a smooth installation and deliver positive results. To help cut through the noise and evaluate your SD-WAN options, here are some key questions you can ask your prospective SD-WAN partner:
  • What is the connection between the SD-WAN and carrier WAN services?
  • What connectivity features does the SD-WAN solution offer? How are the features controlled?
  • What is the information connection between the SD-WAN devices themselves?
  • Does the SD-WAN solution offer other features beyond basic connectivity?
  • How does your SD-WAN solution detect network congestion and failure? What is the course of action for addressing those issues?
  • How will the SD-WAN solution work with our Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity plans?

Evaluating an SD-WAN Vendor

SD-WAN is becoming a familiar feature on product lists across the industry, ranging from MSPs, service providers, MSPs, and Value-Added Resellers (VARs). In some cases, the SD-WAN platform is not proprietary to the provider. Instead, the SD-WAN platform is delivered by a third-party vendor. SD-WAN can either be white-labeled by the provider or maintain the SD-WAN vendor’s branding. It’s a must that businesses and organizations understand the SD-WAN vendor’s technology, its capabilities, and its functionalities. Organizations must take the time and effort to evaluate the history of the SD-WAN solution because many SD-WAN vendors will make claims that they have been providing SD-WAN solutions for a while, but may only state this just to take advantage of the popularity of SD-WAN by adding current features to an older product. In cases such as this, the SD-WAN solution offered by the vendor has likely not been deployed in enough environments to determine if it can withstand the complexities of your environment. SD-WAN solutions that have been in the market for years and have been deployed in complex environments have likely withstood enough situations to prove that they will work in your unique environment. The most reliable and genuine SD-WAN solutions have been built based upon the principles of SDN (software-defined network) and SD-WAN ( Software-defined Wide Area Network) rather than solutions that have been developed from technologies only to power a marketing strategy. The ability to provide answers to your concerns questioning the legitimacy of an SD-WAN solution is critical. Your industry is continuously evolving, and there are critical points that need to be addressed. Here are some questions that will warrant an answer from your SD-WAN technology provider:
  • How many clients have been successfully deployed on SD-WAN?
  • How many sites have been successfully deployed?
  • What is the average deployment period?
  • Is there an established network that can be leveraged right away?

Avoiding SD-WAN Deployment Mistakes

Choosing the product that addresses your organization’s unique needs is only part of what it takes to implement SD-WAN successfully. For maximum ROI, you must avoid these common mistakes:
  • Expecting to eliminate MPLS
  • Buying SD-WAN from Internet Service Providers (ISPs)
  • Pay too much for your SD-WAN solution
  • Underestimating costs
By selecting the right SD-WAN vendor and the right SD-WAN platform, you can avoid common SD-WAN mistakes and achieve the transformational promise of the cloud and SD-WAN.
  • Enhanced application performance and availability that will improve existing and future business productivity
  • Improved business agility and responsiveness
  • Streamlined WAN edge architecture
  • Improved WAN security to reduce risk
  • Lower WAN costs

Managing SD-WAN with Baroan Technologies

Is your organization considering making the move to SD-WAN? Baroan Technologies partners with industry leaders that offer a range of comprehensive solutions for organizations just like yours. Our comprehensive solutions guarantee performance so that you can continue competing, growing, and focusing on managing your organization. When you partner with Baroan Technologies, you will always be in good hands! Our managed services experts work with businesses and organizations across throughout New Jersey, New York and Connecticut to build tailored solutions. When searching for SD-WAN solutions, it is critical to make understand the key differences among solutions. At Baroan Technologies, we want to find the best information technology solutions possible for your organization. We will ensure your organization’s objectives are aligned with the capabilities of SD-WAN to improve the performance and cost-efficiency of your network. Contact us and a consultant will call you ASAP: (201) 796-0404 Thanks to Holden Watne from Los Angeles IT services company GenIX for his help with this research.

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Written by Guy Baroan 
By: Guy Baroan 
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