Software Defined Wide Area Network (SD-WAN)

Software-Defined Wide Area Network (SD-WAN) is a technology leveraging Software Defined Networking (SDN) principles for improved management and operation of the WAN. It is designed to increase the agility, improve the performance and be cost efficient in deployment and management of WANs.

SD-WAN achieves this through a centralized controller allowing administrators to define policies across the entire network. SD-WAN will intelligently route traffic based on real-time conditions such as quality, latency, and bandwidth availability. This helps with application performance and reduces single network path reliance.

SD-WAN typically includes built-in security features including encryption, firewall capabilities, and threat detection to improve the overall security posture of a network. It is beneficial to organizations with remote branch offices and allows them to overcome limitations of a typical WAN architecture.