Making the Switch: MPLS to SD-WAN
With the growth in market innovations, new approaches to connectivity and network design keep emerging.
You no longer have to deal with a slow network service because the market offers many reliable and efficient networking technologies.
Similarly, gone are the days where you have to incur additional networking costs that may limit the growth of your business. All you need is to upgrade to an efficient and reliable network that will help you to keep up with the changing communication trends.
Many business people often find themselves in a dilemma of having to choose between MPLS Network and SD-WAN. However, with the many benefits enjoyed by users of SD-WAN, it is essential that you make the switch from MPLS to SD-WAN.
Before the invention of software-defined wide area networking (SD-WAN), people commonly used Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS). Although it offered some solutions to networking issues, there was a need to upgrade to a more efficient system due to limitations.
MPLS is a protocol that was designed to use labels and packet-forwarding technologies in making data forwarding decisions. SD-WAN, on the other hand, enables the business to capitalize on the integration of cloud services thus connecting the entire enterprise networks to all its data offices and branches.
Pros and Cons: MPLS
When analyzing SD-WAN vs. MPLS, it is critical that you consider some important aspects of both. It is undoubtedly true that MPLS provides an unmatched delivery of the data packets. That means that the chances of losing your data are very minimal. Another benefit that users of MPLS enjoy is that they can prioritize the network traffic.
However, the disadvantage of using this system is that it is quite expensive. You will have to spend more on the expenses that MPLS demands its customers to meet. Again, it fails to offer the inbuilt data protection, and if not well handled, it makes the network more vulnerable.
Pros and Cons of SD-WAN
SD-WAN offers many benefits over all the other traditional networks. It erases the geographic boundaries and connects the entire business. It becomes easy to control the activities done in the different departments of the organization. SD-WAN also avails other vital advantages that you are not likely to find in MPLS or any other traditional network. They include visibility, performance, control, and scalability. Also, it is cost effective since you will no longer have to incur the penalties incurred in MPLS. The business also enjoys end-to-end encryption throughout the entire network. You, however, might not prioritize the data as quickly as you would have done with MPLS.
From the SD-WAN vs. MPLS discussion, it is evident that SD-WAN is the network that every business needs to look into. If you are unsure which network solution is right for your business, contact us today for your complimentary consultation!
