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EXTENSIBILITY OF SD-WAN
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SD-WAN IN DEMAND
The quickly growing demand for remote working capability is no secret. Over the last several years there has been a rapid increase in the workforce moving to working remotely and as the current Covid19 crisis continues this percentage will only increase. The Covid-19 crisis has put business in a position to adapt to the current conditions to maintain operation and has forever reshaped how business will be conducted moving forward.
This increase in the remote workforce has also increased the demand for the reliability of residential broadband. It is almost certain that each remote worker is competing for bandwidth with their children attending virtual classrooms, internet intensive video streaming and game streaming. This poses many issues for the remote worker trying to access enterprise applications. Software-defined WAN (SD-WAN) technologies are giving businesses the ability to manage and optimize their branch site connectivity. Elements of SD-WAN such as: designating higher priority to business traffic instead of streaming or social platforms, using traffic-handling techniques to limit application traffic that isn’t critical to business operation and continuous monitoring of the traffic path for delay or packet loss and increasing throughput, allow a remote worker to get the most out of their single residential broadband connection.
PRIORITIZING BUSINESS TRAFFIC
The prioritization of business traffic is one of the largest benefits of extending SD-WAN services to the remote workforce or work from home (WFH) employees. As residential bandwidth speeds have increased, so has the bandwidth demand from consumers through internet intensive streaming platforms such as Netflix, Hulu and even more so all gaming platforms. Competing for bandwidth for recreational applications like these greatly reduces a remote workers productivity especially when their remote work is through a virtual desktop connection. Using SD-WAN services, a companies IT administrator has the ability to apply policies that provide priority over the network for business-critical applications over all others ensuring that productivity is never affected but an episode of The Office.
CONTINUITY FOR REAL-TIME COMMUNICATION APPLICATIONS
This prioritization of bandwidth is especially important to real-time communication applications such as audio, video and web conferencing, messing and content sharing programs like Zoom, Webex and Microsoft Teams. These SD-WAN services and be configured to provide features like path conditioning to monitor the links for packet loss or delays providing superior performance to the remote worker.
SD-WAN; HERE TO STAY
Although SD-WAN services have long been a part of the remote workforce, the pandemic has really showcased the capability and power of cloud and connectivity to provide continuity to businesses and their workforce. The following verticals poses a high level of extensibility of SD-WAN services:
HEALTHCARE
In recent years the development and implementation of telemedicine has allowed a large segment of medical staff to work remotely. This is especially important during the current covid-19 crisis through increased screening processes to evaluate symptoms of a patient before they go to a testing facility. The use of SD-WAN services also allows a healthcare system to mobilize new testing centers rapidly using 4g/LTE or satellite links.
EDUCATION
With the closure of schools nation-wide, the education system has shifted to a virtual model due to the covid-19 crisis and many schools may remain that way even beyond the pandemic. SD-WAN services are important to a virtual learning experience and can limit potential classroom distractions such as social media, YouTube or other applications that aren’t critical of the learning environment. SD-WAN services would allow the institutions IT administrator to limit traffic from “distracting” applications (social platforms, Netflix & Hulu) providing a more seamless learning experience through their video conferencing applications such as Zoom while the educator provides curricula to the students.
TECHNOLOGY
The use of SD-WAN services is no stranger to the technology industry allowing large companies to have a remote workforce providing flexibility to their employees. The implementation of cloud-based applications has greatly enabled the remote workforce in the technology field. When critical employees are unable to be present in the office for whatever the reason, they are able to work from home on the companies enterprise applications just as they would in the office.
CONTACT CENTERS
Out of all verticals, contact centers has been using SD-WAN services much longer than most. This allows a business to source work from stay at home parents that need flexibility to take care of their children and even source talent from across the world when necessary. The use of SD-WAN services provides a predictable network environment ensuing the continuity of business via broadband or mobile connections.
CLOSING POINTS
SD-WAN technology has existed for many years to enable remote working however very few employers have been forced to move such large sections of their employees to the remote workforce as they have during the pandemic.
SD-WAN and Cloud services have and will continue to shape the way businesses empower their employees. Covid-19 has forced employers to find new ways to support their remote workforce and with over 15 years of industry experience Technology Resource Group is here to support employers SDWAN needs regardless of the size of their remote workforce. We provide SD-WAN services, U.C.a.a.S. and managed security solutions allowing your business to maintain continuity during these demanding times. Give us a call today for a free consultation and learn how SD-WAN services can help your business!
