Upgrading from MPLS to SD-WAN is a strategic move that many businesses are making to enhance network performance, reduce costs, and increase flexibility. Here are the top 11 things to consider when transitioning:
1. Network Performance and Reliability
MPLS offers a dedicated and reliable connection but is often costly and lacks flexibility. With SD-WAN, you gain the ability to use multiple internet connections (e.g., broadband, LTE, and 5G), which increases reliability through automatic failover and dynamic path selection.
2. Cost Savings
MPLS typically involves higher operational and infrastructure costs due to leased lines. SD-WANallows you to leverage less expensive internet connections (like broadband or 4G/5G), leading to substantial savings in the long term.
3. Bandwidth Management
MPLS has fixed bandwidth, whereas SD-WAN provides the flexibility to dynamically allocate bandwidth across multiple connections. Consider how SD-WAN can better optimize bandwidth for different types of traffic, ensuring critical applications get the necessary resources.
4. Security Considerations
While MPLS offers some inherent security benefits, SD-WAN provides advanced security features like end-to-end encryption, integrated firewall protection, secure direct-to-cloud connections, and traffic segmentation, which are critical for modern cloud-based environments.
5. Application Performance and Prioritization
SD-WAN allows you to prioritize traffic based on application needs (e.g., VoIP, video conferencing, SaaS). Consider how SD-WAN can improve application performance by optimizing traffic routing to avoid bottlenecks and reduce latency.
6. Cloud Readiness
SD-WAN is designed for cloud-based architectures. If your organization relies on SaaS, IaaS, or cloud-hosted applications, SD-WAN allows for secure, direct access to cloud applications without the need to route traffic through a centralized data center.
7. Scalability
SD-WAN offers significant scalability advantages over MPLS. As your business grows, SD-WANenables easy addition of new sites, remote users, or cloud services without the need to overhaul your entire network infrastructure.
8. Centralized Management
One of the major benefits of SD-WAN is centralized, cloud-based management, which simplifies monitoring, configuration, and troubleshooting across all network locations. This can improve IT efficiency and reduce the complexity of network operations.
9. Vendor Lock-in and Flexibility
SD-WAN provides greater flexibility in terms of vendor choice and network architecture. Unlike MPLS, which often requires long-term contracts with specific carriers, SD-WAN allows you to select from a range of providers and technologies.
10. Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity
SD-WAN enables improved disaster recovery capabilities by using multiple internet connections for automatic failover. This ensures business continuity even when one or more links fail, reducing downtime.
11. Deployment and Integration Complexity
Consider the ease of deployment and how well SD-WAN integrates with your existing infrastructure. While SD-WAN can be more flexible, the transition might require an upfront investment in time and resources for configuration, testing, and training.
By considering these factors, businesses can make a well-informed decision when upgrading from MPLS to SD-WAN and maximize the benefits of improved performance, cost savings, security, and cloud integration.
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