By Sander Barens, VP Commercial Development, Expereo
Ten years ago, the Internet was all about speed. How could we make the Internet faster? How could we cut download times in half? How could we reduce the gap between wanting information and acquiring it?
The need for speed remains a key requirement for Internet users across the globe, but in the world of enterprise business immediacy is part and parcel of a larger proposition: performance.
The Internet today is not just a business solution, it is business. Downtime and inadequate performance mean increased cost and even a reduction in turnover. For today’s enterprise business, high-priority traffic demands consistently high-performing Internet, and this isn’t always possible with traditional, not to mention two-decades old, Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) solutions.
However, solutions such as SD-WAN, Accelerated Cloud Access (XCA) and other disruptive leaps in technology are powering performance, increasing flexibility and impacting the bottom line.
As time goes by, the question is less “Do we make the shift?” For discerning business owners, it’s “When do we make the shift?”
The Advent of SD-WAN
If it makes sense for a business to adopt it, SD-WAN is a game-changer. For the majority of multinationals in logistics, electronics, technologies, oil and gas, government, manufacturing and retail, it’s the right direction. Even the slightest drop in performance can have an exponential impact later down the line, so performance-based network management technologies such as SD-WAN are more than an exciting option: they’re necessary.
The need for performance is one reason why Expereo bought Border 6, further powering its XCA capability. Using a mathematical model to monitor all available destinations across the public Internet, XCA analyses data, providing a global, radar picture of where the problems lie. Using this information, it can select the optimum path for performance. With the acquisition of Border 6, Expereo owns the optimization algorithms that power this service.
It makes for a much higher performing network solution, which is key for enterprises around the world: e-commerce portals can attract customer traffic by identifying the quickest and most reliable routes. Logistics companies can bypass problem spots along the Internet path, ensuring digital information on deliveries is delivered as smoothly as the goods themselves. Technology companies can analyze tracking patterns, making smart decisions around IP connectivity strategy.
It’s likely that the growth of SD-WAN is going to triple over the next three to five years. We’re at the moment of acceptance. After all, solutions such as SD-WAN and XCA will be absolutely necessary if companies are to go blow-to-blow with their competition.
Pick what’s best for your business. But it’s time to make the choice.
