SD-WAN: A Vehicle for the Future of Networking

In this era of Digitization, cloud and IoT, the needs of the enterprise continue to evolve and Cisco’s recent launch of intent-based networking technologies showed the world that we continue to drive innovation in enterprise networking. In this new era of networking one of the technologies that serves as an enabler for intent-based networking, bridging between WAN and the cloud, is SD-WAN technology. We’re excited to have the frontrunners in this technology join our team through the acquisition of Viptela. We will be combining our best routing platforms with the Viptela SD-WAN portfolio and this is going to be instrumental in our implementation of next-generation SD-WAN technology. Read on for more.

What is SD-WAN? In a nutshell, it is a solution and an architecture that allows end users to connect to applications by virtualizing and simplifying WAN deployments through the use of a highly intuitive, policy-driven solution that helps IT abstract network complexity and design for business intent. SD-WAN is the first step in transforming enterprise infrastructure and, just like intent-based networking, it is the next generation of networking. They are both pieces of the same innovation puzzle that are showing us the way of the future.

An exciting development for Cisco in the area of SD-WAN is our acquisition of Viptela. Viptela has much to offer in this particular area of their expertise and the melding of our two approaches is going to boost Cisco’s SD-WAN offerings to a substantial degree. Viptela’s SD-WAN App Fabric is a cloud-delivered, open, secure and scalable solution, connecting users to applications across any transport either in the public, private or hybrid cloud. This solution allows customers to build a secure virtual IP fabric by elegantly combining routing, segmentation, security, policy, and orchestration. The resultant network is simple to manage and inherently secure, and provides any-to-any connectivity over IP or MPLS transport networks.

So, why is it so important? Primarily, SD-WAN allows for a layer of virtualization or abstraction on top of a physical network. This allows for enhanced controllability as well as the ability to run numerous, customized virtual networks. In addition, SD-WAN has clear advantages from a security perspective as well, providing a system with security woven into its very fabric. SD-WAN also allows for changes to be made to an entire system or network at one time with great ease. All this functionality makes the network more intuitive and easy to operate.

As we move forward into a new era of virtualization and digitization, SD-WAN is going to be a key player in ensuring that intent-based networking is available and functional for enterprises in a myriad of different applications. We are absolutely delighted to be moving forward in this journey with Viptela on the team to help us as we accelerate into this new era of networking.

If you want to learn more about SD-WAN click here.