SD-WAN

Don’t let anything slow you down

If business apps are lagging and users are frustrated, it’s time to switch things up.

SD-WAN solutions give you smarter, more secure connectivity by routing traffic the right way, every time. With centralised control, app-level visibility, and support for any connection type, you stay in control without the stress.

We layer our Managed SD-WAN service over your existing connection, giving you faster speeds, more visibility, and fewer ‘oops, it dropped’ moments. Want to prioritise Teams calls over chat video traffic? Easy. Need to reroute around a troublesome bottleneck? Already done.

Nasstar is one of just two Expert Partners in the UK to earn SD-WAN, Operational Technology (OT), and Security Operations (SecOps) specialisations through the Fortinet Engage Partner Program. It’s our goal is to make your network simpler, so you spend less time troubleshooting and more time innovating.

Whatourexpertsays...

Connectivity is often thought of as "just internet access". But when SD-WAN technology is overlayed, it becomes a key enabler for many business activities. That includes cloud adoption and digital transformation. We understand the crucial role that connectivity plays in helping an organisation thrive.

Pat RogersManaged Network Product Manager, Nasstar

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Why choose Nasstar?

Backed by leading partners, expert support, and always-on innovation, we keep your network secure, scalable, and ready for whatever’s next.

FAQs

SD-WAN stands for ‘Software-Defined Wide Area Network’ and it is the process of using software to securely connect users to applications. It lets businesses connect and extend enterprise networks that are geographically dispersed, for example remote teams. SD-WAN uses a centralised control function to direct traffic across the WAN, resulting in greater application performance and an enhanced user experience. 

SD-WAN solutions can solve business challenges that occur when using traditional WANs. These include poor public network performance, network complexity, and MPLS limitations.  

SD-WAN improves public network performance by using dynamic path selections to route traffic down the best available path ensuring the most reliable connections are reserved for critical traffic. The simplicity of SD-WAN also means businesses have better control over complex networks so they can respond to changing demands and scale accordingly.  

In traditional WANs, multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) is a key component, but it doesn’t offer an efficient way to connect to various public cloud services. SD-WAN solves this problem by acting as part of a hybrid-WAN connection. Businesses can send business-critical applications through MPLS and everything else over direct internet connections, utilising SD-WAN's policy-based management and dynamic path selection capabilities. 

Businesses going through change can benefit from SD-WAN due to the flexibility and scalability of the solution. SD-WAN is ideal for customers going through digital transformations, migrating to the cloud, growing (particularly through acquisitions), or customers rapidly adopting new business operations. 

SD-WAN providers allow businesses to demand more from their network infrastructure investment. Through application visibility and controls, SD-WAN solutions can utilise multiple connectivity paths and restrict applications that are not part of your business operations. 

If end user productivity is most important for your business, SD-WAN solutions can improve Quality of Experience (QoE) for end users when collaborating across an SD-WAN network. 

SD-WAN offers many benefits for businesses of all sizes. Many organisations are moving to SD-WAN to gain additional bandwidth while making cost savings. Another key reason for adopting SD-WAN is to future-proof your connectivity with a flexible, secure, and scalable solution. By decoupling network software services from underlying hardware, SD-WAN creates a virtualised network overlay that enhances performance while offering simplicity and seamless connectivity.  

SD-WAN providers such as Nasstar can help you understand why SD-WAN might be a good choice for your business. Some of the other benefits of SD-WAN providers include: 

Improved end user application performance

A network architecture designed for dynamic multi-cloud strategy

Enhanced network agility

Quick deployment

Maximised connectivity investment

Managed SD-WAN services are different from traditional WAN services in several ways. Firstly, WAN is entirely hardware-based, while SD-WAN is software-based. While both can technically be classed as managed WANs in most cases, SD-WAN offers greater flexibility, more efficient traffic management, and increased visibility into network and application performance. 

SD-WAN is increasingly being used by businesses seeking to scale their connectivity and make cost efficiencies. With SD-WANs, it’s much easier and quicker to add a new branch, through automated configuration push from the central management platform 

Customers with SD-WAN can do more with the bandwidth they have by load balancing traffic across multiple connectivity paths regardless of the connectivity medium. For example, Ethernet, broadband, mobile, and satellite connectivity can be aggregated to use all paid for connectivity while ensuring connectivity resilience. 

SD-WAN’s centralised, policy-based management allows for minimal travel to sites for setup and configuration changes, driving deployment and operational costs savings.