SD-WAN Supports More Purposeful Shift to Cloud

Last year’s shift to remote work was sudden, and with it came a rapid surge in moving applications to the cloud. IDC predicts that by the end of 2021, 80% of enterprises will implement systems to shift to “cloud-centric infrastructure and applications” twice as fast as before the pandemic. The ability of cloud to scale up and down quickly in response to changing business requirements made it a strong choice. So did the need to ubiquitously access applications, with the cloud having that ease of access and direct path from everywhere. This cloud revolution has transformed business operations and workflows in ways that few expected.

Cloud migrations and adoption are far from complete, and more needs to be done with the underlying network infrastructure. When the pandemic hit, customers had to adjust quickly. Now, companies are looking into making smart and lasting network and security decisions. To support a more hybrid model, there are still many residual policies and network considerations that need to be put into place for better performance, availability and user experience when supporting multi-cloud architectures and a widely distributed workforce.

IT departments will continue to be tasked with moving existing and new applications to secure and directly and easily accessible locations. They will also need to prioritize meeting security, access and bandwidth challenges–all while maintaining cost efficiencies. Fast and reliable business applications in the cloud–running on agile, secure network connections–are no longer optional; they are required. To support all of these operational and networking shifts brought on by rapid cloud adoption, technologies like SD-WAN will be increasingly utilized to help deliver the necessary application prioritization, optimization and security.

Application-centric Routing and Prioritization for Better Performance

As more applications are designed for the cloud, SD-WAN needs to be focused on application detection, prioritization, dynamic app-based routing and analytics. SD-WAN’s ability to switch to second circuits to take pressure off of overwhelmed networks is key to maintaining the network agility necessary to enable a permanently expanded remote workforce to be highly productive. The optimal routing and prioritization must include the appropriate applications treatment, reporting, analytics, alarming and resiliency. It is essential that each is on the healthiest path at any point in time, and SD-WAN can automate this process. Your infrastructure should provide the optimal application experience, and SD-WAN is the “brains” to make sense of many complex setups.

As soon as it’s implemented, the application-aware traffic routing and network segmentation of SD-WAN allows IT teams to automate policies and have real-time visibility and control when adjusting to new business needs, managing bandwidth and prioritizing mission-critical operations.

Network Considerations for Adopting new Cloud-based Services

Organizations are increasingly designing and (re-designing) their networks for application performance and SaaS optimization. They want to know how well critical applications are going to perform in real time. SD-WAN is meant to provide