Why SD-WAN is the Future of the Network

Your Business Relies on Innovative Solutions and Services like Cloud to Remain Competitive

To deliver high-quality services at a lower cost, you probably have already considered or have adopted a hybrid network—a mix of MPLS, Internet VPN, and public Internet. You’ve seen the benefits of having multiple transport capabilities but, as you add more and different links, you’ve also dealt with the increasing complexity of managing quality, failover and traffic routing rules for a diverse application portfolio. Manual configuration of remote resources, especially routers in the branch, is costly and difficult, often requiring expensive IT expertise onsite, difficult CLI-based configuration and the risk of human error and misconfiguration.

You are considering SD-WAN as the next step for your network but you want to ensure its reliability, cost-effectiveness and security. With more than a decade of experience leading the industry in making WANs perform better, Riverbed has the track record to help customers on their SD-WAN journey. Here’s some information you might find helpful.

Wondering why SD-WAN is so talked about? Watch the "SD-WAN Hype or Not" video >

What Industry Analysts Say About SD-WAN

SD-WAN is an innovative way to orchestrate application delivery, accelerate application performance, and unify network connectivity across hybrid cloud networks. SD-WAN also can improve network management, increasing business agility and reducing time to revenue. Here’s what the leading industry analysts are saying about SD-WAN.

Gartner - Gartner estimates SD-WAN solutions can save 50% of both CAPEX and OPEX, compared to existing WAN routers.^[1]
Gartner also states that “global SD-WAN adoption has grown from a handful of paying customers in June 2014 to more than 2,000 as of September 2016.”^[2]
Gartner recommends that you “Pilot SD-WAN solutions for branch offices to redress device complexity and/or high WAN transport or equipment costs.”^[3]
Forrester - Forrester’s Technology Adoption Profile states “90% percent of network managers are looking to evolve their WAN using a software-defined approach.”^[4]
IDC - IDC’s Brad Casemore concludes “The need for SD-WAN is not only occasioned by the increased adoption of cloud services but also by the steady migration of enterprise data traffic from the enterprise branch directly to the Internet, and by the requirement to reduce the complexity and cost of WAN provisioning and management.” ^[5]

Key Requirements for SD-WAN

What are the Key Requirements for SD-WAN that will drive maximum success for your business? Creating an enterprise-scale software-defined connectivity and orchestration fabric requires the capability to:

Manage centrally from a cloud console with a complete view of the connectivity fabric that unifies all enterprise networks, from the hybrid WAN at branch locations, into cloud infrastructure environments and even reaching to the end user with branch wireless and wired LAN networks.
Orchestrate globally with business-aligned policies that automate enforcement of performance objectives and access privileges for all apps/users, wherever they may be.
Deploy remotely with zero-touch activation of on-premises network components, and “one-click” extension into cloud networks.
Make networks more visible with integrated tools that give you visibility end to end—all the way from the end user to the cloud.
Secure your business with security as part of the SD-WAN design—not added later to respond to security breaches.

Why SteelConnect SD-WAN?

Riverbed SteelConnect is a complete SD-WAN solution for securely connecting users and business to the applications they need, wherever they reside—on a remote LAN/WLAN, in a data center, or in the cloud.

SteelConnect leverages the principles of software-defined control to provide:

Simple yet powerful workflows for policy definition based on a new set of primitives to reflect the natural language of business: Applications, Users, Sites, Performance and Security
Single-click setup of SD-WAN and application acceleration capabilities in Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services cloud environments
User-to-server control, wherever the user (static or mobile) or server (cloud or on-premises) might be
Scalability for large environments, including data centers. No rip-and-replace needed
Integrated application acceleration and visibility capabilities, provided as a single-box, dual-box, virtual or cloud-based solution

For more information about SteelConnect SD-WAN, visit our Solution Center.

Hear from Riverbed SD-WAN Customers

Our customers have done pilot projects, proofs-of-concept and moved to enterprise-scale SD-WAN deployments. Read how SteelConnect SD-WAN is making a difference in these customers’ networks:

OpenEye Scientific - SteelConnect SD-WAN let OpenEye quickly expand its network while connecting team members to its cloud-based pharmaceutical design platform in minutes, compared to months required previously. SteelConnect also provided the scalability needed to expand SaaS offerings.
GHD - GHD deployed Riverbed’s SD-WAN solution SteelConnect across 50 new offices in just four weeks, and anticipates saving $1 million annually.
SimplePay - SteelConnect for Amazon Web Services (AWS) enabled SimplePay to deliver its service to new sites quickly, securely and cost-efficiently, paving the way for future growth.