{"id":19868,"date":"2020-11-04T10:12:35","date_gmt":"2020-11-04T10:12:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lavellenetworks.com\/?p=19868"},"modified":"2021-11-10T08:09:46","modified_gmt":"2021-11-10T08:09:46","slug":"what-it-manager-should-consider-before-choosing-an-sd-wan-vendor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lavellenetworks.com\/blog\/what-it-manager-should-consider-before-choosing-an-sd-wan-vendor\/","title":{"rendered":"What IT Manager Should Consider Before Choosing an SD-WAN Vendor?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The world has been pushed back due to the Coronavirus pandemic. While we make our way back with the navigation of the ongoing challenges, technology has been playing our backbone of operations.<\/span>
\nBesides the ever-increasing demand for new and better applications to bridge the gap between remote communication, SD-WAN adoption has been shifting gears to settle at an accelerated breakneck pace.<\/span>
\nAs a matter of fact, many companies that are now left with minimal or no employees at branch sites due to the lockdown and are focusing more on accelerating deployments. Now, if you are pondering over the thought as to why this is happening, it is because of the rise in the SD-WAN era. Organizations have finally started recognizing the efficiency that WAN transformation can put on their tables to realize maximum value from all the investments that they have made over previous as well as future cloud investments.<\/span>
\nSD-WAN (Software-defined Wide-area Network) technology can be an immensely powerful tool for companies of any size as it adds up to long-term benefits. However, SD-WAN for IT <\/strong>can be complex to deploy if you are not getting it done from the right vendor.<\/span>
\nFor many IT teams, the solution often leads to an SD-WAN vendor<\/strong>. However, here arises another question, how to consider before choosing a good one?<\/span>
\nWhile there might be a lot of criteria to thin the herd, here are these tips to help you select the best SD-WAN vendor<\/strong> for your business.<\/span><\/p>\n

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The SD-WAN vendor<\/strong> should utilize different forms of transport<\/strong><\/h2>\n

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While you are planning to upgrade to SD-WAN for IT<\/strong>, you should select a service provider that can provide you with lower cost and consumer-grade broadband. The broadband should be able to provide you with the highest application performance and availability without any trouble with the SLA tradeoff. To serve this functionality, your SD-WAN provider must be effective in overcoming the obstruction caused by packet loss, which happens due to network congestion.<\/span><\/p>\n

Besides handling the congestion, your SD-WAN provider should also be able to provide a sub-second failover in real-time, following the events of WAN transport brownout. Your ultimate objective should be to achieve incredible WAN performance over multiple channels.<\/span><\/p>\n

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1. Should have an ecosystem of best-of-breed partnerships<\/b><\/h3>\n

While it might sound complicated, this simply means that you need to do a quick check over the methods that your potential vendor uses. The common methods of best-of-breed ecosystems include technology partnerships with some of the technologically advanced vendors that provide the latest solutions for the cloud-delivered security services.<\/span><\/p>\n

One quality provider you can consider is Lavelle Networks. Being a complex security network, WAN is based out of cloud infrastructure. Your vendor must provide you with the flexibility to engage your channel with multiple solution providers to enhance a seamless pace to your operations.<\/span><\/p>\n

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2. Aged and industry-grade service and support<\/b><\/h3>\n

One of the most essential factors that an IT manager should consider while selecting the SD-WAN vendor is the type of support provided. You should always look up for a premium service support experience since facing issues over your network is very common.<\/span><\/p>\n

Your ideal vendor should be able to provide you with 24×7 support that not only provides immediate assistance over call but also comes with a global network of spares depots. Besides that, the spare depots should also be provided with an automated RMA process to quickly resolve hardware failures in real-time.<\/span><\/p>\n

The SD-WAN vendor should always address the technical failures as first priority and come up with real-time solutions to troubleshoot problems..<\/span><\/p>\n

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3. Security of your network<\/b><\/h3>\n

It\u2019s not a hidden fact that the industry is prone to cyber-attacks. As per reports by Purplesec, in 2018 itself, there were 80,000 cyberattacks per day or over 30 million a year. 21% of all files are not protected in any way. 41% of companies have over 1,000 sensitive files, including credit card numbers and health records left unprotected. <\/span><\/p>\n

Looking at the numbers, security should be a necessary check for your next SD-WAN vendor. You should always go after security reforms that can prove advanced security profiles and be able to detect intrusion and prevention (IDS\/IPS). <\/span><\/p>\n

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4. Focused on introducing the latest updates<\/b><\/h3>\n

Any SD-WAN vendor<\/strong> that relies on traditional ways and does not inject new upgrades into the system will lead to a collapse of the entire architecture in the long run. Your ideal vendor should always focus on \u2018continuous adaptation\u2019 by monitoring a seamless performance of application and network to simultaneously changing conditions. <\/span><\/p>\n

Having an upgraded technology manifests better links for the moving traffic. Besides that, the upgrade also helps maintain peak performance in case of a brownout or outage.<\/span><\/p>\n

Secondly, having an upgraded performance means that the SD-WAN platform should be able to provide periodic as well as daily updates over the SaaS application and the TCP\/IP address tables that are used to keep up with the pace of operations for the ever-changing cloud.<\/span><\/p>\n

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5. The vendor should have a proven SD-WAN history<\/b><\/h3>\n

For those who have little or no idea about the SD-WAN system, it is very differently operated from the LAN or data center networks. To ensure that you receive the end-term benefits of switching over to SD-WAN, ensure that your vendor has a proven history of serving in the suggested areas.<\/span><\/p>\n

Having a vendor who is focused on WAN has a vivid idea of working around the nuances of MPLS besides the other compelling services, like the internet and LTE. In some cases, there might also be hindrances at the satellite and microwave. Therefore, your vendor should be able to cover you up at the suggested places. The vendor must be able to segregate the different data packets and curate new ways of optimizing cloud connectivity that can be used to find the best ways to deliver a premium cloud application experience. <\/span><\/p>\n

Now that we have successfully come across some of the effective guidelines to look after, before choosing our next SD-WAN vendor<\/strong>, it is necessary to understand why it is a leading technology that helps us not only enhance our output but also save on costs.<\/span><\/p>\n

While having the idea of SD-WAN for effective networking has been a sought-after move, we need to get deeper and understand how it helps in the overall improvement of a firm.<\/span><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s take a look at the top benefits of adding SD-WAN to your network.<\/span><\/p>\n

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