While SD-WAN may seem like a set of software boxes that connect to each other, there are actually many differences between the providers of these solutions. Here is a brief overview of the different types of SD-WAN deployments and how our solution compares to those on the market.
Traditional enterprise WANs were simply not built to meet the needs of today’s modern enterprises. Fundamentally, these platforms were architected to provide connectivity between enterprise remote and branch offices back to a centralized datacenter where most of the enterprise’s applications were hosted. Today’s world is much different. The rise and adoption of cloud computing services mean that mission-critical enterprise applications do not just reside in the corporate datacenter. Despite this trend, too often enterprises still backhaul WAN traffic to a datacenter before connecting employees to cloud based platforms, adding unnecessary cost and creating unneeded latency.
Today, enterprises increasingly want to integrate broadband, LTE, and MPLS connections into a branch office. Traditional WAN management platforms don’t allow organizations to centrally manage these multiple connection types, don’t allow organizations to apply dynamic routing and consistent policy enforcement, and don’t have strong security measures in place across all connection types. Moreover, deploying new remote or branch office sites has been an arduous and costly process that typically requires technical personnel onsite to manage the rollout.
Business Value Highlights
2.25 times
more bandwidth
65% lower
cost of connectivity for equivalent bandwidth
38% lower
five-year cost of operations
33% more
efficient WAN management
59% faster
to onboard new services
58% faster
to implement policy and configuration changes
94% less
unplanned downtime
Almost two times (45%)
reduced application latency
$14.98 million
higher revenue per organization per year
Source IDC 2019
While SD WAN came to solve all these problems, there are many ways to do it and manage it.
Do it Yourself
With Do It Yourself, enterprises purchase software-defined WAN products directly from vendors, and then IT teams deploy the service themselves. IT is responsible for monitoring and support. The solution is for internal use only.
Managed Service Provider
Enterprises still purchase software-defined WAN products directly from vendors, and then ask a service provider to manage it for them, especially because enterprises are not well equipped to do it and those service providers are often already providing them with other WAN services.
Managed SD-WAN as a Service
Flō Networks provides a bundled offering that packages network management and connectivity options together for business customers. It bundles premise-based equipment, software licensing, and configuration and monitoring, all accessible from an included analytics portal.
Benefits of a Managed SD-WAN Solution. Increasing Bandwidth in a Cost-Effective Manner
- Agility and Elasticity (flexible) : Quickly adapts to your changing business needs with flexible hybrid WAN designs to fit your needs, site-by-site.
- Optimized Application Performance: Optimizes your application’s performance over hybrid or Internet links with direct, highly secure access to enterprise and cloud applications.
- Transport Agnostic: Virtual Seamless integration with your existing network configuration, providing connectivity over any transport type (e.g., MPLS, Internet broadband, LTE).
- Control Network Costs : Gain better control over costs and capital expenditures, while integrating cost-effective, scalable connectivity options such as broadband and Internet into your network. Reduce per-Mbps cost up to +50% compared with legacy MPLS networks.
- Simplified Centralized Management : Visibility into your network and applications performance, giving you more control. Service Monitoring 24×7, troubleshooting, and restoring it in case of a problem.
- Zero-touch Provisioning: Devices are provisioned and configured automatically, simplifying deployment by reducing the time and complexity of installation.
- Scaler Quickly with Dynamic Routing : Application-aware intelligent routing recognizes traffic that can be sent directly over Internet links for optimal delivery of your business applications.
- Improve Network Security : Provides a level of security by encrypting and tunneling traffic to your data, with the ability to layer additional firewalls, and cloud security options to create an integrated solution.
Business networks and their connectivity have changed and simplified, now the network can provide flexibility according to business growth and the necessary agility where services can be implemented in the cloud immediately.
Business Agility and Performance Metrics:
Source IDC 2019
Flō Networks SD-WAN Solution solves all your connectivity problems and more.
In our Fully Managed SD-WAN, Flō Networks acts as a single point of contact for the complete SD-WAN solution, including the SD-WAN appliance, software license, WAN services, and managed services.
- Consult & Design : Full Managed SD-WAN network discovery and design, including underlay
- Procurement & Logistics : Source and deliver SD-WAN CPE to the customer sites
- Install & Stage : Remote Install & Initial configuration of SD-WAN CPE via ZTP (Zero Touch Provisioning)
- Configure & Integrate : Migration/Basic Integration of site into SD-WAN network
- Underlay Integrate & Installing : managing the WAN links—their own, from a partner, or provided by the customer—that support the SD-WAN solution
- Change Management : Managing additions and changes across the SD-WAN solution [limits of changes 2 x month]
- Network Monitoring : Service Monitoring 24×7, troubleshooting, restoring it in case of a problem [scope of monitoring, internal portal view]
- Incident Management: restoring services in case of a problem for overlay & Flō Networks underlay and open ticket in 3er party undelay [Addon] and follow up.
- SLA Management underlay : Offering a service level agreement (SLA) of our underlay and ensuring that performance guarantees offered in the SLA are met [limits of SLA in 3r party underlay]
- Client & Service Portal : Supporting IT managers with a self-service portal interface that provides a granular level of visibility and control [define portal access features]
- Billing : for the service in a subscription-based model, where the customer pays a monthly recurring charge (MRC) for the managed SD-WAN. While some providers bill managed SD-WAN services as a single MRC for the edge device, bandwidth charges, and management fees, others charge bandwidth fees separately.
Challenges and Opportunities
Enterprise adoption of SD-WAN technology has moved beyond initial implementations and into mainstream adoption, and as it’s done, it provides both challenges and opportunities for enterprises. A key priority is efficiently and securely managing SD-WAN deployments as they grow from initial proofs of concept to widespread rollouts. Managed SD-WAN as a service solution of Flō Networks aids in this process, including the centrally managed software-based platforms for managing WAN traffic policies. From a deployment standpoint, zero-touch provisioning of infrastructure allows companies to simply connect to a cloud-based management platform.
