RESEARCH PAPER: Are Software Defined WANs Ready For The Enterprise?

For too long, enterprises have been locked in a world where the advanced Wide Area Network (WAN) functionality that was required to help expand their businesses and make them more agile has been unattainable due to cost or complexity (or both). As the global business environment continues to speed up, and companies need to be more agile to either gain a competitive edge or just keep up, the need for an automated WAN orchestration has gone from a dream to a necessity. With bandwidth being pushed to its limits, the high cost and relatively low bandwidth of Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) lines are being challenged by broadband for businesses. But broadband does not offer the same features or dependability that enterprises have come to rely on with MPLS for their WAN services. Just as Software Defined Networks are bringing an opportunity to redefine the structure and economics of the data center, can Software Defined WANs do the same for the WAN space? Glue Networks is one vendor that is delivering a solution in this space that merits a close look if your enterprise is relying on Cisco routing today and you demand more flexibility or better performance from your WAN.

Are Today’s WAN Solutions Flexible Enough?
The Challenge with Today’s WANs
Maximizing the Investment
The Software Defined WAN
Glue Networks
The Next Generation Intelligent WAN
Glue Networks Savings
Target Environments
Moor Insights & Strategy’s Recommendation
Important Information About This Paper

You can download this paper here.

Patrick Moorhead

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Patrick founded the firm based on his real-world world technology experiences with the understanding of what he wasn’t getting from analysts and consultants. Ten years later, Patrick is ranked #1 among technology industry analysts in terms of “power” (ARInsights) in “press citations” (Apollo Research). Moorhead is a contributor at Forbes and frequently appears on CNBC. He is a broad-based analyst covering a wide variety of topics including the cloud, enterprise SaaS, collaboration, client computing, and semiconductors. He has 30 years of experience including 15 years of executive experience at high tech companies (NCR, AT&T, Compaq, now HP, and AMD) leading strategy, product management, product marketing, and corporate marketing, including three industry board appointments.