June 2020 SD-When
SD-When
Over the past 3 years our clients have been pounded with a promise of SD-WAN. It started out as a price panacea that was going to kill MPLS and, of course, every client wanted to know about it.
I will not get into the weeds on which SD-WAN provider is the ‘best’, but I think we have nailed down a few truths about SD-WAN and what the true promise is.
First and foremost, it’s a great technology play. It does give clients a reliable and easily scalable architecture for the WAN. Most solutions also offer great management tools and give clients a better view into their network with a focus on visibility into the application layer.
One myth I want to bust is the price factor. I haven’t necessarily seen a major reduction in monthly recurring spend on a total network solution with SD-WAN vs. MPLS. Designed like for like in speed and redundancy and with all components considered, they tend to be right in the same pricing ballpark.
One ‘aha moment’ we’ve had is that SD-WAN takes our clients out of Carrier prison. In the past, moving from one WAN provider to the next was cumbersome and often resulted in duplicate billing for quite some time. Instead of the hassle and expense of change, clients might opt to maintain their existing network while paying above-market renewal rates as the Carrier focused on holding onto the highest monthly recurring revenue possible, rather than focusing on fair market pricing and the client relationship.
With that being said, in my experience here are some of the wins SD-WAN takes over MPLS.
- Lower total cost of ownership
- Quick & easy to deploy
- Lower cost to change
- Quick and easy to scale
- Allows for right-sizing of the network
- Granular Management to the Application Layer
- Affordable Network Continuity Options
- Carrier SLA Accountability Tools
- Network Control
- Quicker Time to Change (move, add, change, delete)
If you’re ready to explore a change to your network, give us a call. Let us work with you to explore the best way forward with a TCO-driven solution.