Securely connecting employees with the branch offices, data centers, and web applications that drive our businesses is a necessary step for doing business in today’s environment. We are increasingly distributing our networks across the globe, and the data our users transmit over public and private networks are susceptible to eavesdropping and tampering without proper protection. SD-WAN is the means by which thousands of companies are making this protection a reality.

What is SD-WAN?

A software-defined wide area network, or SD-WAN, is a security product designed for managing and optimizing wide area networks through a virtual WAN architecture that securely connects users to their applications. This is a crucial role in modern networking. SD-WAN allows organizations to optimize wide area networks (WANs) with more agility, cost efficiency and security than traditional WAN technologies.

Securely connecting geographically dispersed locations like branch offices, data centers, and remote workers to corporate networks is a crucial component of safely transmitting data over those networks.

The Evolution of WAN to SD-WAN

The idea of wide area networks has been around since the 1950s when the US Air Force created the first WAN. It was an instrumental stepping stone in securely transmitting data via remote channels but had limitations that required reworking for business operations in the twenty-first century.

Traditional WANs relied on a single, centralized data center or network hub, which could create points of failure or lead to network congestion. They were also cumbersome to update and maintain, making them expensive to operate. Furthermore, they offer poor performance for cloud and SaaS, requiring a new solution better designed to function efficiently in today’s business environment. Software defined wide area network systems represent a significant upgrade and effectively mitigate these shortcomings and provide advanced WAN optimization.

SD-WAN solutions offer better security, agility and flexibility, as well as improved performance and optimization, all at a lower price point. They allow users to send traffic safely and efficiently, with that traffic governed by a centralized control plane.

SD-WAN solutions are designed to work with enterprise networking solutions and the SaaS and cloud network technology upon which modern businesses rely. Here are some key functions that illustrate how SD-WAN works.

Core Components of SD-WAN

The reason SD-WAN is such a significant upgrade to traditional WANs is because they operate on a set of core components designed to work with modern computing technology. These components allow it to deliver secure, high-performance branch network connectivity much more cost-effectively than its predecessor. Core components include:

Edge Devices (Branch Routers or Gateways)

These are the physical or virtual devices deployed at each network location. These serve as the entry and exit points for all network traffic, and forward and rouge that traffic. They also perform application-level traffic analysis and apply policies related to optimization, prioritization, and security.

Centralized SD-WAN Controller (Controle Plane)

This is the software-based management system that oversees and coordinates the operation of all edge devices. Administrators use the centralized SD-WAN controller to define policies that are sent to edge devices for implementation.

SD-WAN Gateways

These also serve a network traffic management role, as well as exit points for network traffic, but gateways route and relay traffic from the network to external networks like public internet or external cloud environments.

Overlay Network

The overlay network is the virtual WAN architecture that manages the flow of data between different sites, while abstracting the underlying physical network infrastructure. This is what allows SD-WAN to operate more efficiently on optimized traditional, physical infrastructures.

Application-Aware Routing Engine

This component uses deep packet inspection to identify and categorize different types of application traffic. This ensures prioritization for critical applications and dynamically routes traffic for more efficient network usage.

Key Security Features of SD-WAN

Software-defined networking in a wide area network protects organizations by utilizing a number of different features.

• Encryption – Encrypting data traffic between sites using strong protocols like IPsec ensures the data you send and receive over public or shared networks is protected from interception by third parties.
• Secure Tunnels – Creating secure tunnels between locations like branch offices and data centers using VPN technology protects data from potential eavesdropping or tampering.
• Firewall Capabilities – SD-WAN solutions with built-in next generation firewalls (NGFWs) inspect ingoing and outgoing traffic to protect your network against unauthorized access, malware, and other security threats.
• Cloud Security – Securely routing traffic to cloud services like SaaS applications ensures secure and optimized communication between users and providers.
• Traffic Segmentation – Segmenting different types of network traffic like voice, video, data, and guest traffic reduces the risk of cross-contamination and ensures critically important data is isolated from less important traffic.
• Policy-Based Security – Application of security policies based on certain sets of criteria or on a per-application basis ensures that sensitive and high-priority traffic are treated with different sets of restrictions than less sensitive materials.
• Zero Trust Network Access – Authenticating and authorizing every user and device requesting network access, regardless of location, ensures that only authorized users and devices have the ability to access network resources.

Read More: The 7 Most Common Types of Malware

Getting Started with SD-WAN

There are a lot of network simplification solutions on the market, and each one can help us do business more safely and efficiently in a connected business environment. For those who rely on an expanding network of remote users, none may be more beneficial than SD-WAN.

VirtualArmour offers SD-WAN solutions as part of our suite of advanced security services designed to optimize networks and provide high level security. If you would like to learn more about how a standard SD-WAN or hybrid WAN deployment can improve the way you operate, reach out for a consultation.