SD-WAN the players

SD-WAN (software defined wide area network) It’s the next new thing, right? Replace your legacy routing with a device that understands traffic at the application level and simplify your WAN management.

There are a number of players in the game, from the established players and new up and coming options.

This post is my collection point for my research on SD-WAN so it will be links, questions, and ideas I have about the solutions. I may be a little disjointed sorry.

• Cisco IWAN  – http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/solutions/enterprise-networks/intelligent-wan/index.html

  • We use Cisco for all our network gear other than firewalls so this would make sense from compatibility. But the research I’ve done on IWAN shows like most Cisco solutions its very complicated and includes many different pieces to make it work. Cisco also has the Meraki solutions that on the wireless side look like they rock (other than the question about using them in the manufacturing space) but the switches and firewalls have gotten mixed reviews. But the simplicity of Meraki can’t be beat.

• SilverPeak – https://www.silver-peak.com/products/unity-edge-connect

  • SilverPeak comes from the WAN accelation background. They are looking to translate that into the SD-WAN market. I spoke to a rep at a conference and it sounds like they aren’t into the application layer for creating rules yet. Something to me is a must for this market.

• Citrix netscaler SD-WAN – https://www.citrix.com/products/netscaler-sd-wan/

  • Another big name that renamed cloud bridge and started marketing it as SD-WAN. We do run XenApp and any additional information about ICA traffic would be a big help. We are looking to use a netscaler for ICA proxy, a reverse proxy for internal apps, and to replace the old Microsoft TMG.
• velocloud – http://www.velocloud.com/
• Cloudgenix – http://www.cloudgenix.com/
• Viptela – http://viptela.com/
• Talari – http://www.talari.com/

Most of our sites currently run on MPLS ( we have two different carries based off speed and cost, each site only has one option) back to our data center where they access internal applications and can access the internet. We use Palo Alto Firewalls with url filtering for client security. We have a few sites with their own internet connections those sites also have PA units. We using o365 and run a few vms in Azure using a VPN from the DC.

How do these solutions bring traffic through the PA’s for filtering?

How do they improve performance to o365? including Lync (in the data center) and Skype for business in o365?

Can they create a VPN tunnel to IAAS in Azure so sites don’t have to go through the data center?

Does the device has a application firewall to protect the resources behind it?

A number of our sites are currently just running a MPLS single T1, will SD-WAN benefit those sites?

More to come..

Do you use SD-WAN or have more questions? Leave them in the comments below and I’ll add them to the list.