The modern business landscape is drastically different from what it used to be. The vast majority of businesses today operate across various locations, and this is particularly the case with retail chains, healthcare facilities, and many others.
Maintaining and managing high-quality network connectivity across a variety of different sites may seemingly look simple and easy, but it’s actually far from it. It can often be very difficult because you constantly need to think of numerous ways to maintain high security standards, have a continuous performance, and many other things, which is anything but smooth sailing.
Fortunately, there’s a major lifesaver that comes in the form of centralized control, which is designed to meet all these aforementioned standards. With its assistance, companies from different industries can effectively secure and supervise their network by using one interface only.
If you’d like to further delve into this topic, then stay tuned because this article will talk about the various solutions that just might be the answer to this problem.
The Biggest Challenges That Many Firms Face Nowadays
Organizations that operate several sites often deal with different challenges and obstacles. One of the most common ones, as far as this is concerned, is how to make sure every single spot is properly connected and responsive as if it isn’t separated from other locations in any way.
If this issue isn’t tackled the right way, then every business that operates this way will inevitably deal with different problems at some point. The biggest ones include the following:
- Poor performance – For example, one location may have a smooth connection, while the other one faces an inconsistent one.
- Costs will skyrocket – Each site may be forced to continuously call on-site technicians due to troubleshooting.
- Security issues – When you have different configurations, your systems become a lot more susceptible to hackers and all kinds of cyber threats.
SD-WAN Can Help!
If you’ve never heard of this before, yet you’re facing any of the above-mentioned problems, then now may be a good time to learn more about it! So, the question is, what is SD-WAN and how does it work, and how can it help you navigate everything when it comes to this? To put it simply, it is a cutting-edge solution to networking that employs software to effectively optimize WAN connections.
Conventional WAD setups usually rely on top-notch MPLS lines, and they are a real game-changer because they utilize software to properly direct traffic across various connection types. If you opt for this solution, your company will significantly reduce its expenses, and you won’t face any issues with connection anymore, because if one connection fails, your traffic will instantly switch to a different one.
The Advantage Of The Centralized Network Management
A centralized network is built around one server that handles all the essential management and data processing functions. Other servers are able to connect to the major one and manage various functions; however, those servers aren’t actually independent of the central server.
Now, what are the real advantages of centralized network management? The truth is that there are many, but the most important ones involve having a single central server that’s extremely efficient and fast, and above all, very straightforward because you only need to manage one configuration.
Besides that, you won’t need to worry about your costs, because centralized networks are generally pretty affordable due to the fact that you are leveraging a restricted number of servers, meaning that you won’t need to acquire tons of equipment.
How Crucial Is Scalability?
Even though reliability is surely very pivotal, it simply isn’t enough. If you want your firm to have a sturdy multi-location network, then you need to concentrate on scalability. As you embrace new locations, you need to ensure your network is able to meet their needs without any friction, or at least minimal one. In these types of situations, you can make use of these things:
- Plug-and-play hardware – With it, you can easily add new devices and start using them right off the bat without dealing with a bunch of different intricacies and many other things that usually come with device configuration.
- Automated provisioning – By virtue of it, you will drastically decrease manual errors that normally occur during traditional provisioning processes, and, at the same time, you will accelerate the entire provisioning process.
The whole point of multi-location connectivity is to create a solid, centrally managed network that’s going to help you run your business seamlessly without any disruptions across every single site, and that’s what you’ll be able to accomplish with some of the previously mentioned solutions.
