Software-defined wide area networking (SD-WAN) has been hyped in the marketplace for several years now with the result that many organisations recognise the technology as a means to enhance the security and performance of their enterprise networks. Now, as workers have dispersed due to COVID-19, these attributes are in great demand - but what has been missing is a way to integrate SD-WAN with the large number of applications that enterprises use to collaborate on. In addition, benefits beyond the headlines of enhanced security and performance can be achieved with a focus on the user experience.
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Shams Khan[/caption]
With this goal in mind, Microsoft Teams voice solutions specialist SCB Global has added SD-WAN, powered by award winning Versa Networks, to its OPTO family with the introduction of OPTO4Edge, which provides a SD-WAN overlay capability to enable improved and optimised experience on the OPTO4Teams platform. “We’re not jumping on the SD-WAN bandwagon with this new overlay because we’ve been providing SD-WAN to customers that could benefit from it for a number of years now,” confirmed Shams Khan, a Principal Solutions Consultant at SCB Global. “What’s new is that we’re now able to offer SD-WAN’s deeper network visibility, advanced security and reporting tools as part of a single pane of glass experience alongside our customers’ other applications.”
For users trying to cope with increased remote and home working, the capability that SD-WAN adds to OPTO4Teams includes Stateful SIP transfer (SST) functionality that enables a session to be kept active during transfer between WAN connections. These transfers are more likely to happen with degraded network conditions or as a consequence of outages. The changed network utilisation profile caused by the pandemic has resulted in these service interruptions becoming a bigger issue for enterprises that want to ensure high quality voice performance regardless of the locations of workers.
“Our SD-WAN as-a-service capability ensures enterprises are able to move from face-to-face interactions to virtual interactions securely, so the office user can work in a similar business-grade environment to before,” adds Khan. “The focus is on supporting homeworking and flexibility and ensuring workers’ efficiency isn’t hampered - but there are additional benefits in security optimisation."
