SD-WAN

Optimize bandwidth and reduce costs with SD-WAN

When you’re managing a wide area network (WAN), having sufficient bandwidth at a reasonable cost is priority #1. Cloud computing, video collaboration, mobility and other digital initiatives are constantly driving a need for greater connectivity. As you adopt emerging technologies and migrate more applications to the cloud, supporting a broad range of bandwidth-intensive activities will require new solutions that can optimize bandwidth, minimize cost and simplify the task of managing increasingly complex network requirements.

That’s where Spectrum Enterprise can help. Our Managed SD-WAN delivers a complete, virtualized wide area network that offers greater visibility and control while reducing complexity, cost and management effort. With our Managed SD-WAN services, your teams get expert assistance with everything from solution design and installation to portal-based management and ongoing support.

The challenges of managing an efficient network

In today’s rapidly evolving digital landscape, there are several key challenges to managing a growing and complex network.

• Allocating bandwidth effectively: To maximize productivity and competitiveness, your network must prioritize mission-critical applications and important traffic in near real time while offloading non-critical traffic to secondary connections. Yet, legacy networks typically lack the flexibility to enable this kind of optimization, often resulting in severe underutilization or overutilization of network resources.
• Achieving cost-efficiencies: As connectivity needs increase, simply adding bandwidth to existing networks or maintaining backup circuits can be incredibly costly. As demand for bandwidth fluctuates at various sites on your WAN, your IT managers may struggle to balance the bandwidth needs of one site over another.
• Accommodating digital transformation: Bandwidth-intensive technologies like machine learning, IoT and high-definition videoconferencing are constantly presenting new challenges for network optimization. In this environment, your network managers must constantly adapt and evolve to ensure all users have fast and secure access to the mission-critical applications they need.

By virtualizing network resources so they can be managed from a central source, SD-WAN solutions simplify network management and bandwidth allocation. By enabling traffic to flow through any combination of connection types – fiber, coaxial, wireless and others – SD-WAN takes advantage of unused and underutilized circuits and redundant connections to make the most efficient use of existing bandwidth while simplifying network management. However, designing, implementing and continually maintaining SD-WAN technology can be a resource-intensive drain on IT teams that are struggling with constrained budgets and multiple priorities. That’s where SD-WAN managed services from Spectrum Enterprise offers enormous value.

Spectrum Enterprise Managed SD-WAN

Managed SD-WAN is a fully managed solution that streamlines implementation and management of your SD-WAN. With this Spectrum Enterprise offering, you can connect lean branches, implement a security-first SD-WAN, support a cloud-first architecture or modernize a private network. Managed SD-WAN lets you easily and cost-effectively implement the optimal network design and connectivity to ensure all users, applications and technologies can achieve top performance.

With our managed SD-WAN solution, you can:

• Customize your wide area network. Our managed SD-WAN solution tailors your network to the unique needs of your business and applications. Our teams of experts help design and streamline SD-WAN implementation, providing local resources and U.S.-based, 24/7/365 support for everything from designing a network, selecting connectivity options and installing technology to ongoing project management and assistance.
• Scale to meet varying workloads: With advanced technology from Cisco and Fortinet, our managed SD-WAN solution automatically routes, secures and optimizes traffic to maximize your network performance. Accommodate more data and locations easily with a platform and site-specific connectivity that adapts easily to changing needs.
• Manage your network the way you want: Managed SD-WAN includes hardware, licensing and device support while allowing your IT teams to manage the network or offload responsibilities to our experts. With managed SD-WAN, you can alleviate time-consuming management tasks while minimizing the total cost of operation.

A comprehensive Managed SD-WAN solution

Our managed SD-WAN offering includes:

• High-bandwidth access. Enjoy more high-speed connectivity options including fiber, coax and wireless.
• Public cloud integration. Leverage critical public computing and storage environments quickly and securely.
• Intelligent routing. Support the connectivity needs of dynamic workloads with application-aware routing that steers traffic across the best-performing paths.
• Strong security. Our broad range of security measures enables you to choose the right solutions to meet or exceed your security needs.
• End-to-end management and support. With Spectrum Enterprise as your single source provider, you’ll have one point of contact for the design, implementation and management of SD-WAN services across all your locations, with local technicians and a U.S.-based support team.
• National reach. Our national network covers 245,000+ fiber-route miles and 317,000+ fiber-lit buildings.
• Real-time insight. An easy-to-use management portal provides real-time insight and control of network performance, traffic, utilization and policies.

Why Spectrum Enterprise?

As a national provider of scalable, fiber technology solutions, we serve many of the nation’s largest businesses and communication service providers. In addition to managed SD-WAN, our broad portfolio includes solutions and managed services for internet, networking, security, voice and collaboration and HDTV. With a relentless commitment to providing exceptional client experiences and extraordinary value, we are proud to serve more than 80 percent of Fortune 500 companies who rely on us for technology solutions.

When you choose Spectrum Enterprise, you can count on:

• Tailored solutions. Our teams immerse themselves in your unique business needs and design custom solutions that address your technological challenges.
• Expert professionals. Our teams bring deep experience and extraordinary insights to the table, helping you stay ahead of industry trends and take advantage of emerging technologies at every opportunity.
• Flexible technology. Our solutions quickly adapt and scale as needed to deliver greater agility as you manage and leverage digital transformation initiatives.

FAQs

What is SD-WAN?

SD-WAN, or software-defined wide area networking, is a technology that uses software to manage and optimize the performance of a wide-area network across multiple locations. It intelligently routes traffic to ensure high performance and reliability, particularly for cloud applications, by prioritizing network traffic based on real-time analytics.

What are the benefits of SD-WAN?

SD-WAN improves network performance by intelligently routing traffic based on real-time conditions, ensuring applications run smoothly and efficiently. It reduces operational costs by allowing businesses to use cost-effective broadband internet options alongside traditional MPLS, rather than relying solely on expensive dedicated lines. Additional SD-WAN benefits include easier management, centralized control, better visibility and more robust protection for data traveling across the network.

What is managed SD-WAN?

Managed SD-WAN is a service where a third-party provider handles the deployment, configuration and ongoing management of an SD-WAN network for a business. This service allows companies to benefit from SD-WAN's performance, security and cost-saving advantages without needing in-house expertise. Managed SD-WAN is particularly appealing for organizations that want to focus on core business activities while ensuring their network is managed efficiently and securely.

What is SD-WAN vs VPN?

While both SD-WAN and VPN offer secure connectivity, SD-WAN is designed for complex, multi-site networks, optimizing traffic flow and supporting cloud applications. VPNs are primarily used to create secure, encrypted connections for individual users but don’t adapt to changing network conditions or prioritize traffic. In contrast, SD-WAN dynamically routes traffic based on application needs, offering better performance for larger networks.

What is SD-WAN vs MPLS?

MPLS and SD-WAN both support wide area networking but differ in approach. MPLS uses dedicated, private circuits for secure, low-latency connectivity, making it ideal for critical applications. SD-WAN combines multiple network types and routes traffic dynamically, providing flexibility and cost savings, especially for cloud-connected locations. SD-WAN also enables centralized management, making it suitable for scaling across diverse sites.