(whooshing)
- [Instructor] This is one of multiple videos
discussing SDN, network programmability,
network automation, overlays and related technologies.
Another very popular software-defined networking trend
is software-defined WAN.
Here's an example of Cisco purchasing another company
specifically for their SD-WAN solution.
Cisco already have a product called IWAN,
so Cisco have now purchased a additional product
in this space.
SD-WAN applies software-defined networking concepts
to the WAN or wide area network.
In the past, companies used Frame Relay
for their wide area connections.
Then they moved to MPLS.
These days, the internet is good enough
that you can send a lot of traffic
across the internet or public cloud
rather than sending it across a more expensive MPLS network.
SDX Central have this definition
that software-defined wide area network or SD-WAN
is a specific application of SDN technologies
applied to WAN connections
which are used to connect enterprise networks.
So, the idea with SD-WAN
is that traffic can be dynamically controlled
and some traffic sent through the MPLS network
while other traffic is sent dynamically
through the internet cloud.
Rather than using static VPNs
and policy-based routing,
a controller can be used centrally
to forward some traffic across the MPLS network.
So, as an example, load latency applications
such as voice and video
could be sent through the MPLS network
whereas other traffic
could be forwarded across the internet.
Centralized controllers as an example
will have better visibility
of applications traversing the WAN.
They can stop asymmetric routing
and dynamically forward traffic
across different network paths.
An SD-WAN solution could use an overlay
where traffic is sent through various tunnels
that are dynamically formed
but the net result is that it's easier
to manage the forwarding of traffic
across wide area networks.
It can be controlled through a graphical user interface
and an easy-to-use interface
allowing for better management
and less resources and saving companies' money
by sending some traffic across expensive links
but other traffic across less expensive links.