SD-WAN: towards controlling telecom budgets

Volume of data, videos, conferences, keeps increasing. CIOs must continuously align network capacity to such new usages. Considering MPLS network price-model, steady bandwidth upgrades cannot go without any impact on telecom budget. As a facilitator for hybrid network, SD-WAN addresses this challenge.

Nowadays, you purchase your MPLS network from a single operator.  Yet this operator does not always provide best speed at best price.

To cover some sites and build your global WAN network, you supplier has to rely on other local operators. For such sites called « OFF-NET », your MPLS supplier becomes a mere intermediary.  This is a long and expensive distribution channel.

Moreover, it is never easy to go from one MPLS operator to another. MPLS migration is long and complex.  There should be more than one point of connection between old and new network. Diaries of all actors must be tuned. An architecture for temporary routing must be designed. And more to plan… All this operations are not without risk and represents a real challenge for CIOs. Hence, current MPLS supplier enjoys a dominant position compared to competitors. And price optimization is not fostered.

Finally, MPLS was designed to carry light key traffic. The expensive price of MPLS is due to the quality of the provided network. SLA (insurance in case of breakdown) is an important component of MPLS prices. But such expensive means of transport does not suit big traffic, neither non-key traffic such as web traffic, backup, leasure usage…

Who has not wondered why consumer-internet accesses are much cheaper than MPLS ones? High-speed internet and friendly prices are sometimes compatible. In France, some major operators offer 100Mbps fiber accesses for less than 30€ a month. For sites the most isolated, VSL or 4G accesses are also able to provide comfortable speed.

So why not use such a capacity for serving your enterprise network?

Obviously, the cost differential between MPLS and internet depends on each country. In Western countries, counsumer-internet is clearly more affordable.

If you buy e-Qual SD-WAN, you may couple your MPLS and internet accesses, thus to obtain a hybrid network. You will benefit from both worlds: MPLS quality and power, good price from internet.

Contrary to MPLS, internet can be purchased from different suppliers. This means that you may favor short supply chains and hence reduce your costs. Local operators, called “LEX” for Local Exchange Carriers, are at last coming back thanks to SD-WAN.

The addition of internet capacity releases the pressure strained on MPLS network. Key traffic transit on MPLS. Other traffic is shifted to the internet link. MPLS sizing can be adjusted downwards, the same for MPLS charges. Gone are as well the ever reiterated MPLS upgrades.

SD-WAN is a change facilitator concerning MPLS links and operator but also concerning internet. Migration from old to new MPLS network is facilitated: no more need for temporary interconnection points, no more need for planning synchronization, no more need for temporary routing architecture, etc… All is managed automatically with SD-WAN solution based on internet links. So you can challenge your MPLS operator more serenely.

Like SDN, SD-WAN simplifies the physical architecture of sites. On each site, a single box can fulfil several functions: routing, link management, firewalling, optimization, visibility, etc… Mutualisation of equipment optimizes purchase expenses and deployment costs. Thanks to its software approach, SD-WAN leads to automation and simplification of WAN operation and administration. Hence, less human resources are required to operate your network.

With e-Qual SD-WAN you may provide a quality network to your end-users while controlling your telecom budget.

e-Qual teams have a strong experience of over 15 years in the management of complex networks and experience in optimization and performance of networks. We can help you with the deployment of your project. Feel free to contact us and let you be guided by SD-WAN experts.

To better understand SD-WAN technologies, we will soon present new papers about: