It has been six months since the global health crisis invoked government-mandated “shelter-in-place.” Yet many organizations that scrambled to standup hundreds of work-from-home offices are…
Managed SD-WAN can bring benefits and increased uptime to your network, especially if you are utilizing cloud applications, IoT or taxing bandwidth solutions. SD-WAN represents a simplified, cost-effective and flexible alternative to traditional WAN solutions. It can bring unparalleled visibility across your WAN, optimal connectivity for end users and increased security to protect your network.
Even though SD-WAN has been the talk of the town, do you really understand what it is and how it can benefit your organization? In this blog post, we got with our experts to answer the most common questions we get about managed SD-WAN solutions.
Our most common questions we get is, what is SD-WAN? While SD-WAN is becoming more mainstream, there is still a lack of understanding of the main principals of SD-WAN. So, we will start from the beginning:
Managing and optimizing the Wide Area Network (WAN) has traditionally been hard for IT professionals. Connecting wide-spread branch locations and data centers with the same speeds and functionality was always a challenge, especially if you are purchasing from multiple vendors. Conventional routers were not cloud friendly and typically required backhauling traffic from branch offices to a hub or headquarters. This negatively impacted application performance, user experience and productivity.
SD-WAN is the application of software-defined networking (SDN) to WAN connections such as broadband internet, 4G, LTE or MPLS to connect enterprise networks over large geographical distances. SD-WAN has the ability to support multiple connection types at one time to dynamically share bandwidth across connection points. When traffic comes in, SD-WAN will determine optimal paths and steer traffic over them, regardless of connection type. This results in better connection utilization, optimized application performance, less blackouts / brownouts, and happy end users.
Managed SD-WAN is also sometimes referred to as SD-WAN as a Service because a customer will turn to a managed service provider (MSP), like Magna5, to design, deploy, manage and monitor their SD-WAN solution.
The main benefit of managed SD-WAN is that customers can rely on a trusted advisor to ensure their SD-WAN is working as efficiently as possible. The customer gets 24/7/365 access to a dedicated team of certified professionals who are rooting for their success. They are with the customer every step of the way, keeping a watchful eye on network performance, day and night. The MSP acts as an extension of the customers internal team to fill skillset gaps. If an issue is to arise, they quickly respond and remediate to eliminate costly downtime situations.
MPLS is widely deployed globally due to its proven reliability, efficiently and security. It offers configuration-controlled methods to haul traffic over a pre-determined path between a branch office and an aggregation site, typically either a hub or a data center. However, MPLS architecture struggles with the agility required by traffic flowing to frequently changing destinations such as cloud-based applications or branch locations. MPLS is also an expensive service to use if you need to add bandwidth as you grow, limiting the ability to expand quickly and cost-effectively. And, in most cases, you need to work with one carrier on your MPLS network, so your network has a single point of failure, and no redundancy.
Managed SD-WAN transforms low-cost broadband connections to be suitable for business-class traffic with technologies such as: per-packet forwarding, dynamic multi-path optimization, continuous monitoring, application steering, on-demand remediation, packet replication and dynamic jitter buffering. Managed SD-WAN does not demand an instant switchover from existing MPLS networks either. They can run parallel together or as an overlay on the legacy network to introduce application steering flexibility over an older infrastructure.
Traditionally, interconnecting branch offices required costly links, multiple boxes and complicated network architectures. Managed SD-WAN removes the complexity by providing seamless branch office connectivity in minutes. With low-touch deployments, the managed service provider can have new offices up and running from a single remote point. SD-WAN will automatically detect the available links and start to steer traffic directly between source and destination to prioritize traffic and provide appropriate user experience. No onsite IT staff intervention needed.
Yes. SD-WAN can provide policy-driven network segmentation and security by user, data type or location from remote locations to the data center. Managed SD-WAN can secure traffic by isolating and segmenting across the WAN. A few of the use cases are: line of business separation by departments for audit purposes, user data separation (guest, PCI data, and employee traffic), overlapping IP addresses for different groups and VPN segmentation for off-network sites.
Having your managed SD-WAN delivered by cloud can enhance your WAN architecture to deliver increased branch agility, simplicity and application performance for every location. When the cloud is your network, you can manage a secure WAN over any physical connectivity, without the headache of complex hardware configurations. A cloud-delivered SD-WAN additionally optimizes the delivery of traffic directly and efficiently to other cloud-based destinations by building software-defined encrypted tunnels when and where needed. It will then dynamically steer traffic and leverage cloud-based gateways to efficiently deliver traffic to its destination without jitter, latency and brownouts / blackouts.
If you need help optimizing network connections, contact Magna5 today.
Mike Penn joined Magna5 as Senior Content Developer. His role is to bring to life stories that inspire or inject clarity in how managed services and emerging trends can be applied to help organizations operate better and more efficiently.
Proactively safeguard your network and endpoints using a three-step defense strategy to counter attacks before they penetrate your perimeter.
Ryan Automotive moved network operations onto a managed cloud platform to gain central visibility into all cloud-based network systems, applications and devices to ensure reliable uptime and performance.
Take a look at Magna5 Texas employee stories of resolve, strength and determination during the recent weather crisis and state-wide power outage.
Managed SD-WAN can bring benefits and increased uptime to your network, especially if you are utilizing cloud applications, IoT or taxing bandwidth solutions. SD-WAN represents a simplified, cost-effective and flexible alternative to traditional WAN solutions. It can bring unparalleled visibility across your WAN, optimal connectivity for end users and increased security to protect your network.
Even though SD-WAN has been the talk of the town, do you really understand what it is and how it can benefit your organization? In this blog post, we got with our experts to answer the most common questions we get about managed SD-WAN solutions.
Our most common questions we get is, what is SD-WAN? While SD-WAN is becoming more mainstream, there is still a lack of understanding of the main principals of SD-WAN. So, we will start from the beginning:
Managing and optimizing the Wide Area Network (WAN) has traditionally been hard for IT professionals. Connecting wide-spread branch locations and data centers with the same speeds and functionality was always a challenge, especially if you are purchasing from multiple vendors. Conventional routers were not cloud friendly and typically required backhauling traffic from branch offices to a hub or headquarters. This negatively impacted application performance, user experience and productivity.
SD-WAN is the application of software-defined networking (SDN) to WAN connections such as broadband internet, 4G, LTE or MPLS to connect enterprise networks over large geographical distances. SD-WAN has the ability to support multiple connection types at one time to dynamically share bandwidth across connection points. When traffic comes in, SD-WAN will determine optimal paths and steer traffic over them, regardless of connection type. This results in better connection utilization, optimized application performance, less blackouts / brownouts, and happy end users.
Managed SD-WAN is also sometimes referred to as SD-WAN as a Service because a customer will turn to a managed service provider (MSP), like Magna5, to design, deploy, manage and monitor their SD-WAN solution.
The main benefit of managed SD-WAN is that customers can rely on a trusted advisor to ensure their SD-WAN is working as efficiently as possible. The customer gets 24/7/365 access to a dedicated team of certified professionals who are rooting for their success. They are with the customer every step of the way, keeping a watchful eye on network performance, day and night. The MSP acts as an extension of the customers internal team to fill skillset gaps. If an issue is to arise, they quickly respond and remediate to eliminate costly downtime situations.
MPLS is widely deployed globally due to its proven reliability, efficiently and security. It offers configuration-controlled methods to haul traffic over a pre-determined path between a branch office and an aggregation site, typically either a hub or a data center. However, MPLS architecture struggles with the agility required by traffic flowing to frequently changing destinations such as cloud-based applications or branch locations. MPLS is also an expensive service to use if you need to add bandwidth as you grow, limiting the ability to expand quickly and cost-effectively. And, in most cases, you need to work with one carrier on your MPLS network, so your network has a single point of failure, and no redundancy.
Managed SD-WAN transforms low-cost broadband connections to be suitable for business-class traffic with technologies such as: per-packet forwarding, dynamic multi-path optimization, continuous monitoring, application steering, on-demand remediation, packet replication and dynamic jitter buffering. Managed SD-WAN does not demand an instant switchover from existing MPLS networks either. They can run parallel together or as an overlay on the legacy network to introduce application steering flexibility over an older infrastructure.
Traditionally, interconnecting branch offices required costly links, multiple boxes and complicated network architectures. Managed SD-WAN removes the complexity by providing seamless branch office connectivity in minutes. With low-touch deployments, the managed service provider can have new offices up and running from a single remote point. SD-WAN will automatically detect the available links and start to steer traffic directly between source and destination to prioritize traffic and provide appropriate user experience. No onsite IT staff intervention needed.
Yes. SD-WAN can provide policy-driven network segmentation and security by user, data type or location from remote locations to the data center. Managed SD-WAN can secure traffic by isolating and segmenting across the WAN. A few of the use cases are: line of business separation by departments for audit purposes, user data separation (guest, PCI data, and employee traffic), overlapping IP addresses for different groups and VPN segmentation for off-network sites.
Having your managed SD-WAN delivered by cloud can enhance your WAN architecture to deliver increased branch agility, simplicity and application performance for every location. When the cloud is your network, you can manage a secure WAN over any physical connectivity, without the headache of complex hardware configurations. A cloud-delivered SD-WAN additionally optimizes the delivery of traffic directly and efficiently to other cloud-based destinations by building software-defined encrypted tunnels when and where needed. It will then dynamically steer traffic and leverage cloud-based gateways to efficiently deliver traffic to its destination without jitter, latency and brownouts / blackouts.
If you need help optimizing network connections, contact Magna5 today.
Mike Penn joined Magna5 as Senior Content Developer. His role is to bring to life stories that inspire or inject clarity in how managed services and emerging trends can be applied to help organizations operate better and more efficiently.
Proactively safeguard your network and endpoints using a three-step defense strategy to counter attacks before they penetrate your perimeter.
Ryan Automotive moved network operations onto a managed cloud platform to gain central visibility into all cloud-based network systems, applications and devices to ensure reliable uptime and performance.
Take a look at Magna5 Texas employee stories of resolve, strength and determination during the recent weather crisis and state-wide power outage.
It has been six months since the global health crisis invoked government-mandated “shelter-in-place.” Yet many organizations that scrambled to standup hundreds of work-from-home offices are…
“I’m about to go ballistic! Our SLAs are falling short. We’re experiencing more frequent network downtime. Our vendor is monitoring and sending us alerts but…
Do you have a trust deficit with your existing managed IT services provider? Are you confident they are taking care of your network? Is juggling…
Driving Responsiveness – Agility Series (Part Five) Whether or not your organization made the government’s cut as ‘essential workers’ during the coronavirus pandemic, we…
Driving Responsiveness – Agility Series (Part Four) Recognize this? “Jason is the kind of guy who’s always in a state of readiness. He likes…
Recently, the Enterprise Networking Magazine’s editorial board selected Magna5 as one of its Top 10 SD-WAN Solution Providers for 2020. The magazine evaluates and selects…
Driving Responsiveness – Agility Series (Part Three) By default, playing it safe during a downturn can hurt your chances to thrive in a stronger…
Driving Responsiveness – Agility Series (Part Two) During a business downturn, it is important to go beyond just surviving and position your organization as a…
Driving Responsiveness – Agility Series (Part One) Rather than tapping the brakes during the COVID-19 business lockdowns, many organizations are accelerating growth by reaching out…
It has been open season for cyber threat actors targeting organizations’ endpoints during the COVID-19 epidemic. With a large percentage of employees now working from…
Recently, MyTechMag editorial board selected Magna5 as one of its Top 10 Promising Disaster Recovery Solutions Providers for 2020. The magazine evaluates and selects solution…
By 2025, contact centers will morph into experience hubs and how they perform will be placed more clearly within the context of the overall performance…
Every day, cyber criminals bombard networks with phishing emails or social engineering enticing users to give up confidential information. Examples include trying to trick you…
With the rise of the remote worker operating model, it doesn’t take long to discover that a distributed workforce depends upon high network performance and…
It is bad enough that cyber criminals relentlessly breach organizations’ networks with malware and ransomware to hold their data hostage. Now they are going a…
Unified Communications has been around for a while. But during the recent nationwide pandemic lockdown, the dynamics of communicating from any place, on any device,…
Hackers are leveraging ransomware and other malware through phishing lures, malware distribution and domain registration tied to COVID-19. Common themes include scamming, brand impersonation, blackmail…
The ripple effect of a major global health crisis can have a profound impact on organizational operations. As we’ve seen with the recent coronavirus outbreak,…
IT monitoring and management services offer organizations a way to improve security and network uptime without burdening internal IT teams. In this post, we’ll review…
SD-WAN in healthcare is changing how hospitals, medical offices and clinics care for patients. Here are four ways healthcare organizations are reaping the rewards. SD-WAN…
Federally Qualified Health Centers are community-based health care providers who provide a vital link to primary and preventive healthcare services in underserved communities. Dependable communications…
We’ve heard the saying: “Expect the unexpected.” But do businesses really take it seriously? Last October, weathermen cautioned residents in the Dallas area of pending…
In our last two blog posts, we discussed how to “OWN IT” and “SECURE IT.” Today, continuing our National Cybersecurity Awareness Month series, Be Cyber…
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is working on final rules to enable true national number portability on a nationwide basis. When implemented, it will enable complete national number porting…
Imagine getting to work and seeing an invoice from your voice provider that your company ran up a $122,000 phone bill in a single weekend!…
By 2021, a new business will be victimized by ransomware every 11 seconds. Even with strong security controls in place, your organization still has a…
Toll-free least cost routing helps organizations find the best path between caller and destination at the lowest available cost. Here’s why it matters. Toll-Free…
SD-WAN with Magna5 offers three popular deployment models to fit the needs of your organization – on-premises, hybrid and cloud application. Software-Defined WAN (SD-WAN) is…
Roughly 40-60% of midsize businesses never reopen after a disaster. But, with the right disaster recovery and business continuity plan in place, the damage can…
Over the past five years, security breaches have increased by 67%, according to Accenture’s global survey. Traditional security is in trouble. As threat actors deploy…
An effective IT monitoring and management strategy helps organizations protect precious uptime to eliminate downtime situations. Every company’s network and server structure are different. Some…
SD-WAN is revolutionizing networking by improving how businesses connect. But before hopping on the SD-WAN train, you need to decide whether you want to manage…
Healthcare providers are finally hopping on the managed SD-WAN train – and telehealth is driving it. In this post, we’ll look at five ways s…
If you’ve ever seen your area code on the caller ID, only to be greeted by a pre-recorded voice message promising to erase your credit…
As you see in the video, sometimes network complexity can make you want to go back to the antiquated days of pen and paper. However,…
Deliver high quality voice and application performance over SD-WAN for your employees, nationwide. Organizations utilize Unified Communications to bridge the gap between multiple locations and…
Every organization is liable for the information it keeps. In a data-driven world, company records and information are everywhere … in servers, in storage, on…
Traditional WAN is out of date. SD-WAN can make your network agile and efficient with the cloud. Almost every IT and business leader today is…
Simplify your branch office network with optimized application performance using SD-WAN Today’s enterprise IT has become more sophisticated and bandwidth intensive, creating a complex and…
Companies are increasingly moving IT workloads to the cloud, but are they doing it at the risk of exposing themselves to a data breach? Multiple…
Lots of companies are moving IT workloads to the public cloud, but is this the right strategy for your business? I’m sure you’re aware by…
Disasters hit every organization sooner or later. The cloud, combined with reliable partners, makes recovering from disasters easier than ever before. Disasters have a tendency…
Simplify your Enterprise communications with Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) in the cloud. Enterprise businesses are constantly struggling with communication challenges. Traditionally, business phone…
Secured business communications mean better connections to your customers. UCaaS (Unified Communications) ensures your security with features like encryption, business continuity, and 24/7/365 support. Security…
Improve customer satisfaction and the customer experience with a hosted UC and Cloud Contact Center solution. One of the many exciting things happening at Magna5…
Managing your network can be hard, but it doesn’t have to be – that’s why Magna5 now offers Cloud Managed Network. Experience feature-rich benefits and…
Reduce Costs, Increase Uptime and Improve Performance A network operations center (NOC) is the heart of an IT managed services provider – monitoring, managing and responding…
Enhance collaboration to increase productivity and save money Being able to easily connect with your customers, vendors, and fellow employees is key. Without it, employees…
What is SD-WAN? Combined with UCaaS, it’s the future for small businesses in 2018 Unified communications, delivered as a service (UCaaS) from the cloud, is…
A fast, flexible data recovery system not only saves thousands – it could save your business. Business Data Loss can be the result of anything…
Businesses today either evolve or get left behind. We see organizations of all sizes that were once successful, now losing customers because they have not…
As business pushes the limits of IT availability, productivity and efficiency, the importance of reliable IT operations continues to be apparent. Small- and medium-sized organizations…
Interested in finding a Managed Service Provider for your network needs?
Would you like to find out more information about Magna5? Whatever your need, reach out!