Software-Defined Wide Area Network (SD-WAN) is critical in this increasingly cloud-reliant world, especially with the proliferation of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) and the continuing dispersal of workforces worldwide.
A virtualised WAN architecture, the SD-WAN is the next-gen WAN edge solution for enterprises that are able to route network traffic through disparate wide-area links, including multiple internet connections, Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS), and even mobile data networks such as 3G, 4G or 5G LTE. Among the biggest benefits of SD-WAN include:
- It improves performance. An SD-WAN uses a software overlay that allows for the more efficient use of WAN bandwidth. This done by creating allocating specific pathways for high-demand apps. It also comes with Quality-of-Service (QoS) technology that leverages cheaper broadband connections and prioritises performance-sensitive traffic by delivering traffic to applications based on priority. This intelligent routing feature can also be ectended to include the application of security policies. When combined together, this translates to noticeable improvements in performance (e.g., no lag Zoom meetings, smooth-running apps for work).
- It serves as a branch of one. With SD-WAN, organisations can add or remove connections easily—or even combine them as needed. This can be done simply and easily through Zero-Touch Provisioning (ZTP), where template configurations allow vastly simplified, plug-and-play-like remote configuration of NGFW at multiple branch sites—effectively making the SD-WAN a “branch of one” that can deploy WAN services to different locations without having to send IT personnel over to do the job. This greatly minimises deployment hassles and reduces configuration wait times.
- It increases agility. Improved connectivity performance enables businesses to be agile—adaptable to market changes and responsive to clients’ digital needs. Perhaps just as importantly, SD-WAN allows newer devices, links and services to coexist with legacy infrastructure to eliminate the need to upgrade immediately, thereby eliminating downtimes and ensuring continuous operations.
- It reduces costs. SD‐WAN gives organisations a reliable and well-protected WAN service that can be used in conjunction with MPLS—giving organisations the option of using broadband in addition to MPLS. Costs are further reduced by zero-touch provisioning, which lowers configuration expenses and, again, eliminates all the hassles of onboarding new branches.
A Secure SD-WAN Is Even Better
While it is true that SD-WAN is a game-changing substitute for costly MPLS lines, traditional SD-WAN solutions are not necessarily the most secure. That is due to SD-WAN opening up gateways to all sorts of connections, including those for mobile devices and work-from-home access. This, in turn, means that the attack surface is greatly expanded, giving malicious actors more vectors to exploit.
Given how more and more members of an organisation are increasingly using these gateways, a legacy SD-WAN simply won’t cut it nowadays. Instead, what organisations need now is a secure SD-WAN. It is an SD-WAN that keeps security top priority, with features specifically designed to keep all connections, as well as the entire network, safe and protected from cyber threats. It thus bridges the business-side priority of connectivity to the organisation’s security-side priority of security, effectively allowing everyone to connect with peace of mind.
That is what Hillstone SD-WAN offers: A secure SD-WAN perfect for today’s modern, rapidly digitalising and highly distributed workforce. It gives an organisation all the benefits of modern SD-WAN—better application performance, enhanced user experiences, improved agility, increased business productivity and lowered IT costs—but with best-in-class security at the foundation.
Hillstone’s secure SD-WAN solution, which is engineered from the ground up by veterans in the security sphere, offers these critical capabilities:
- Centralised management. With Hillstone Security Management and ZTP, Hillstone SD-WAN is able to provide a unified global view across the network no matter the number of devices connected. It also enables automated provisioning, which bundles in a software update and licencing for the fastest, most hassle-free onboarding. This keeps operating costs low and simplifies troubleshooting
- Zero-Touch Provisioning. Hillstone’s SD-WAN takes provisioning to the next level, with its ZTP supporting the creation of templates for system setting auto-provisioning, as well as licence installation and firmware auto-upgrades. By generating a USB template configuration, Hillstone enables mass remote configuration of NGFW at branch sites using only USB flash drives and triggered by just a simple reboot. This then allows rapid provisioning of devices even without the need for skilled IT personnel.
- Security foundation. Complete visibility. A key tenet in cybersecurity is that you cannot secure what you cannot see. But Hillstone SD-WAN has complete visibility into the entire network, thus enabling it to protect the network’s every layer and secure all connections to the network.
- Next-generation firewall. Hillstone SD-WAN incorporates an integrated next-generation firewall that provides industry-leading breach and malware detection capabilities, along with real-time threat detection and protection. Hillstone’s Visionary-qualified NGFWs function as CPE devices deployed at branch offices, effectively centralising security at the SD-WAN controller level and the CPE devices at the branches.
- Single-platform protection. All security elements and capabilities of Hillstone SD-WAN converge into a single platform. This convergence enables ease of use, simplifies security and protection, and ensures that security is at the heart of Hillstone’s SD-WAN solution.
- Intelligent routing. Hillstone SD-WAN ensures optimum user experience by steering traffic based on the app or service, the policy enforced and the dynamic status of transport. So, for example, it can leverage inexpensive broadband internet services to route trusted traffic directly from remote branches to a public cloud data centre, close-proximity colocation or high-quality private line for mission-critical apps.
Connectivity is critical to any organisation’s success. And now with remote work comes a whole new set of connectivity needs because connectivity can be requested from anywhere and everywhere. This brings elevated convenience but expands the attack surface greatly, opening up more vulnerabilities and putting an organisation at greater risk. This is why a traditional connectivity solution won’t suffice in this digital era anymore. Neither will a conventional SD-WAN. But, Hillstone secure SD-WAN can and will, as it is engineered specifically to meet today’s needs for more bandwidth and improved network availability for the hybrid workforce of modern times.
Click HERE to find out more about Hillstone’s SD-WAN.
