United States of America. 1876. Valentine’s Day.
While the world was celebrating love, one man dared to disrupt the status quo. Alexander Graham Bell, fueled by innovation, filed a patent for the telephone. Little did he know he was setting off a chain reaction that would redefine communication forever. Suddenly, the world became smaller and conversations more intimate. No longer did emotions get lost in translation or transit. Messages reached loved ones in mere moments, and decisions were made at the speed of thought.
Bell’s invention opened the floodgates to unimaginable developments in telecommunications and, by extension, the way we communicate. That device you’re using to read this blog, a piece of glass and metal, owes its existence to that iconic “Hello” between Bell and his assistant, Thomas A. Watson.
From Ring… to Ping… in <100 years
Did you know the first “online” message was “LO”? Sent on the world’s first network connection, ARPANET, between UCLA and Stanford Research Institute hundreds of miles away, it was supposed to read “LOGIN”, but was cut short when the system crashed just after the first two letters were transmitted.
Ironically the first online message was also strife with network issues! That is something that continues to plague modern connectivity. Be it buffering when streaming your favourite movie, or pixellated video calls – network issues can be a bane of modern living. Especially so when it hampers sensitive business operations.
While these network issues seem like minor hurdles in commercial networks, they can potentially break a business. Corporate networks require a different level of sophistication than personal networks. They need networks that are agile, swift, safe, reliable and fast at all times. Regular network providers can hardly satisfy these touch points.
THE SOLUTION
SD-WAN, the rebel of enterprise connectivity—a revolution as groundbreaking as Bell’s telephone, poised to redefine how businesses connect and thrive in the digital age.
So, what is SD-WAN?
SD-WAN stands for “Software-Defined Wide Area Network.” It’s a technology that makes business networks more innovative and efficient. Think of it like a Traffic controller for your internet traffic.
Here’s how it works: Normally, sending data from one office to another takes a fixed path over the internet. But the internet is like a highway with traffic jams. Sometimes, your data can get stuck in these jams, slowing things down.
SD-WAN changes that. It’s like having a traffic controller which understands that an ambulance needs faster routing perhaps on an alternate path. SDWAN looks at your data to determine which users/ application data needs prioritization. It looks at all the possible routes on the internet and picks the fastest one for your specific data to travel in an encrypted and secure manner. So, even if one route is crowded, your data takes a different, faster road. This makes your internet connection faster and more reliable. In addition SDWAN comes integrated with firewalls, managed failover between links and zero touch provisioning.
In simple terms, SD-WAN helps businesses connect their offices and use the internet securely, more innovatively and faster. It’s like having a supercharged internet connection that always finds the quickest path for your data.
What is WAN
Picture a WAN, or Wide Area Network, as a colossal highway spanning vast distances, connecting cities and even entire countries. It’s the internet’s superhighway, facilitating data travel at lightning speed.
Traditionally, the WAN’s role was to link users at branches or campuses to applications in data centre servers. This involved using dedicated MPLS circuits, prioritizing security and robust connectivity. However, times have changed, and we now navigate a cloud-centric world. The old ways of the WAN don’t cut it anymore. It’s time to ditch the past and embrace the future of connectivity!
MPLS stands for Multi-Protocol Label Switching. It’s a networking technology businesses use to efficiently and securely transmit data between different locations over a wide-area network (WAN) securely and reliably.
Benefits of SD-WAN
As we dive deeper into SD-WAN, it’s crucial to understand that this revolutionary approach to network management brings forth many benefits. It’s more than just a technological upgrade; it’s a transformative journey that significantly impacts your business’s efficiency, performance, and bottom line. Here is how SD-WAN can elevate your network capabilities and redefine the way you do business.
Navigating Contemporary IT Challenges
The landscape of IT has dramatically transformed. With businesses extensively adopting Software as a Service (SaaS) and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) applications across various cloud platforms, a glaring issue emerges – the user experience with these applications is far from optimal. The reason? The wide area networks (WANs) we built years ago were unprepared for the overwhelming surge in WAN traffic triggered by the widespread use of cloud services. This influx of data brings a host of complications: managing it becomes challenging, the performance of applications becomes erratic, and data security is compromised.
Moreover, as companies open their networks to the vast expanse of the internet and cloud, many security and compliance concerns rear their heads. Protecting a company’s critical assets becomes an uphill battle when these applications are accessed by a diverse workforce – employees, partners, contractors, vendors, and even guests. Introducing high-speed internet connections into the WAN equation escalates the urgency of security requirements, creating a complex conundrum for IT leaders who need to harmonize user experience, security, and operational simplicity.
CelerityX SD-WAN Solutions are tailor-made for the contemporary business environment. Whether you’re a small startup or a large enterprise, our flexible and scalable approach ensures that your network grows with you.
Network performance is the cornerstone of business success in the ever-connected digital world. Our solutions not only meet but exceed the demands of the modern era. Our cost-effective, performance-boosting, and easily managed solutions make us the partner for enterprises looking to thrive in the digital age. With CelerityX, your network is no longer a hurdle but a strategic advantage. Welcome to the future of enterprise networking!
