A Software-defined Wide Area Network (SD–WAN) is a virtual WAN architecture that allows enterprises to leverage any combination of transport services – including MPLS, LTE and broadband internet services – to securely connect users to applications

Here are four reasons why SD-WAN makes sense.

• Improved Transport Options What SD-WAN gives businesses is true transport independence. Since the WAN is virtualized, it can take advantage of any transport protocol that is needed. This includes 3G, 4G LTE (News – Alert), MPLS, Internet, Ethernet, Serial or Wi-Fi. Businesses that use SD-WAN have total transport flexibility.
• Better Security Unlike traditional WAN solutions, which handle security through multiple appliances at each branch office, SD-WAN can include all of these functions in-box and at lower cost. SD-WAN can integrate with a cloud web content filtering service, too, and offer malware defenses and botnet command-and-control intervention for every branch and remote devices.
• Intelligent Pathway Control One of the most important advantages of SD-WAN is that it can provide intelligent path control that steers traffic based on application. This traffic-forwarding capability can be set in place at the centralized controller level and then pushed out to all SD-WAN devices. Policies can be based on IP addresses, application profiles, port number, quality-of-service markings, time of day, or any other number of variables.
• Automatic Provisioning Deploying WAN systems is so last year. SD-WAN enables businesses to send SD-WAN devices to branches un-configured. The device then can download its policy, crypto certificate and keys and automatically start to learn traffic patterns. Provisioning is dramatically easier with SD-WAN.

These are just some of the benefits of SD-WAN, but there are many more. Virtualization is a revolutionary technology, and WAN networking is no exception.