True Wireless SD-WAN for High-Speed Connectivity in Remote Locations
Remote working has become a necessity than a privilege. From a temporary requirement, it has turned into a permanent condition during the pandemic lockdown. Home internet is marred with buffering video calls, slow data access, tickets on additional remote support and poor application access. Though organisations provide laptops and other equipment support to remote workers, the employees use home internet services to connect to the network. With work becoming tenuous, remote workers are shrouded with network woes. While senior executives enjoy the privilege of internet expenses being borne by the company, other employees are left to fend for themselves.
The broadband providers are limited in a locality, forcing employees to use their services. Though cheap LTE and Wi-Fi routers are some of the choices, the bandwidth caps make it undesirable to combine work and personal activity on the same network. Consumer circuits have no application-based packet prioritisation; hence, some opt for the QoS option. But this is designed for gamers rather than for office applications. It is here that SD-WAN can fill the gap. SD-WAN can help improve network reliability. With consumer circuits oversubscribed, there is common to experience buffering and slow website refreshes, and more and more organisations are moving towards SD-WAN.
Here are some of the advantages of SD-WAN over traditional VPNs:
- Multiple remote connections offer high reliability.
- Gives ultimate control over routing configuration, like the ability to backhaul traffic to the central data centre for security scanning and moving non-business traffic to the internet directly.
- Provides high visibility over network usage, reliability, performance and reporting on individual application usage.
- Users can connect from different locations by carrying the SD-WAN device while on the move and yet gain the same security and access protections as in the workplace or home.
What are the WFH SD-WAN options available?
There are no optimised devices for WFH, though the hardware and software should be compatible with one another despite the choice of the vendor. The increased usage of cloud infrastructure and the need for geographic diversity, as the work communication moves online, proves that the traditional VPN needs to be improved as the remote networking called tunnelling employee traffic stops at the central data centre. On the contrary, SD-WAN turns a home office into a branch office providing full-fledged network services.
SD-WAN gives access to the internet from anywhere, but two active physical links and hardware are required to enjoy this. With the migration to WFH being a temporary situation, only a few vendors have designed exclusive WFH products. Even today, many products built for branch offices are being used for WFH. Enterprise SD-WAN products provide a centralised management console with policies, monitoring and detecting security concerns. Despite reliable broadband and hardware, the units can become unreachable. The problem can be resolved by simply unplugging the power cable and replugging it back. But an out-of-band management (OOBM) path is the best alternative for remote users to identify and fix snags. The OOBM device switches to the backup cell network for seamless connectivity by sending notifications while detecting strange or network activity.
Despite the end of the lockdown, WFH has become necessary, and SD-WAN is the best option to ensure your remote workforce’s productivity is not compromised. Installing SD-WAN solutions to the regular LTE services can give remote workers emergency backup, ensuring your business flow is not altered.
SMOAD SD-WAN solutions provide a reliable network without any woes of network interruptions. True wireless SD-WAN facilitates secure WAN connectivity while on the move without having to worry about terrestrial connections.
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