If your organization has poor network security and connectivity, it can lead to decreased employee productivity and network vulnerabilities.
Network vulnerabilities can result in cyberattacks that can cost your organization hundreds of thousands of dollars to repair your network. Because of this, reliable network security and connectivity should be priorities for all organizations.
SD-LAN is a network solution that can help your organization prevent cyberattacks from damaging your network.
Coeo understands how important reliable network connectivity and security are to an organization and has delivered thousands of solutions to organizations to improve their network security and connectivity and avoid cyberattacks.
We want you to understand what SD-LAN is so you can determine whether it is the best choice for your organization.
By the end of this article, you will understand what SD-LAN is, the features and functionalities of the solution, and whether it is right for your organization.
What is SD-LAN?
Software-Defined Local Area Network brings Software-Defined Networking (SDN) principles to Local Area Network (LAN) architectures.
SD-LAN does not rely on ethernet connections and instead, is able to deliver programmability, automation, and flexibility benefits to your LAN.
SD-LAN enables your LAN to perform virtually so that policy control is transferred from the network switches providing better control and visibility into your network.
If you would like to speak with our team to learn more about SD-LAN or ask any questions you may have you can schedule an appointment.
The features and functionalities of SD-LAN
Many characteristics of SD-LAN can improve your network. Some of the features and functionalities of an SD-LAN solution that improve your network include:
Software-defined control
One of the main features of SD-LAN is software-defined control. SD-LAN solutions separate the control and data planes which enables centralized software-based controllers to better manage and maintain network resources.
As a result, SD-LAN enhances network visibility and control to ensure your team can easily optimize your network to improve network connectivity and security when necessary.
Network automation
SD-LAN enables the programmability of network devices as well as the automation of network management tasks.
This feature delivers automated network updates, configuration, security policies, and optimization without the need for manual management.
Centralized network management
SD-LAN enables your organization to centralize network management.
This ensures that network monitoring administrators will have a single point of management to configure, monitor, and optimize your LAN and network infrastructure.
As a result, centralized network management simplifies operations and improves efficiency enabling your team to better monitor and manage your network performance.
Dynamic policy enforcement
SD-LAN enables your organization to set up network security policies based on business needs, user requirements, and application demands. These policies allow your organization to personalize your SD-LAN network security.
In addition, these policies can be adjusted and updated in real-time to accommodate new security initiatives, changing network conditions, network updates, and new application demands.
Network virtualization
SD-LAN provides network virtualization technology that enables your organization to create logical network segments to store data.
These segments allow you to place your data in different groups and set policy-based provisions that secure these sections based on the data that is segmented.
This makes it easier to secure data if your network infrastructure requires varying security and performance.
Improved scalability
SD-LAN provides your network with better scalability. SD-LAN’s centralized control and automation capabilities also make it easier to manage and scale your network infrastructure.
Additionally, SD-LAN requires little to no hardware to be installed into your network infrastructure so it is easier to add users and devices in a growing organization.
Better security
SD-LAN’s ability to provide greater visibility into network traffic allows you to better secure your network by enabling the implementation of access controls. This enables you to better facilitate the enforcement of security policies.
Additionally, SD-LAN enables you to segment your network into different security policies when your network requires varying security and performance levels.
This enables you to secure data based on segmentation and policies for various kinds of data.
Is SD-LAN a good fit for your organization?
Now you understand what SD-LAN is and the main features and functionality of the solution. However, it is also important you understand whether it is a solution that can meet your needs.
If your organization has a poor-performing network and is looking for better network connectivity and security, an SD-LAN solution may be a good choice to accomplish your objectives.
Additionally, if your organization is looking for software-defined, centralized management, and network automation to easily optimize network performance and security, an SD-LAN solution may be the right fit for your organization.
If your organization is looking to implement dynamic policies into your network infrastructure as well as network virtualization to segment your network for varying security and performance requirements, SD-LAN may be the right fit for your organization.
Lastly, if your organization is steadily growing and your current network has difficulty adding users and devices, an SD-LAN solution may be the best technology to improve network scalability.
However, if your organization already has a network solution that provides reliable network security and performance, you may not need to invest in an SD-LAN solution.
Determining whether SD-LAN is a good solution for your organization
Now you understand what SD-LAN is, its features and functionalities, and whether it is able to meet your needs. This information will help you determine whether SD-LAN is a solution your organization should invest in.
Organizations can’t afford to have a poor-performing network that results in outages and security vulnerabilities.
Network outages often reduce employee productivity and efficiency and network vulnerabilities often lead to cyberattacks that can cost your organization hundreds of thousands of dollars to repair your network.
For this reason, it is important for your organization to prioritize reliable network solutions to improve network performance and enhance security to avoid these consequences.
Coeo understands how important a reliable network solution is to an organization and has delivered thousands of different solutions to organizations to improve their network performance and security and avoid cyberattacks.
We want you to understand what SD-LAN is and its features so you can determine if it is a good fit for your organization.
If you would like to speak with our team to learn more about SD-LAN or ask any questions you may have you can schedule an appointment.
