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The Benefits of Combining SD-WAN and 5G

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The ability to better manage connectivity and performance for cloud-focused IT environments drove adoption of software-defined wide area networking (SD-WAN). With improved visibility, network segmentation, and the ability to choose from a variety of pathways, SD-WAN addressed concerns around bandwidth demand and cloud application performance.

Now, with the availability of 5G coming to fruition, companies experience data services that are even faster than some wired WAN options like multiprotocol label switching (MPLS). The benefits of 5G, including low latency and speeds exceeding 1GB, allow for better performance than comparable wired options.

5G also delivers speeds over 150 Mbps, equipping most branch offices with the performance levels they need. This is only expected to increase, exceeding 1GB with very low latency, and equipping wireless capacity for branch WAN.

But 5G is still early in its deployment, and many of the benefits have only been enjoyed in some metro areas. Also, 5G network slicing, offering guaranteed quality of service, is only available in certain U.S. cities.

SD-WAN and 5G Working Together: When used in combination, SD-WAN and 5G create a new WAN architecture that offers important benefits to employers of large hybrid or work-from-home teams. SD-WAN and 5G combined offer high-speed bandwidth, better reliability, and rapid provisioning.

IT teams are introduced to new wireless service providers equipped to replace their wired alternatives. Many companies with branch locations already utilize LTE to promote reliability and high availability to avoid downtime, which can be essential features for pop-ups and temporary branch locations.

The combination is also useful in cases where work-from-home employees require a secondary network access with high application performance requirements.

Multiplying Benefits: More companies are making SD-WAN their standard infrastructure upgrade when trying to segment traffic across multiple WAN links. It offers better link security as well as improved reliability and performance to create a cost-efficient path to greater bandwidth capacity. 5G links add additional benefits because they are simple, efficient for provisioning, and offer link diversity as a guard against downtime. 5G is a cableless option that is easy to purchase and deploy.

Some of the most powerful benefits of combining 5G and SD-WAN include:

  • Link redundancy and quality of service
  • Easier link provisioning
  • Improved application performance
  • Better visibility, security, and traffic segmentation
  • Connectivity diversity
  • Support for edge devices
  • Cost-efficiency

The large number of employees working from home in either permanently remote or hybrid situations is increasing the demand for 5G, and this type of work environment is expected to remain long after the pandemic has faded. 5G and SD-WAN make ideal partners either as a replacement for the primary delivery of broadband or as a way to complement services and create redundancy and quality of service.

When it’s time for a network infrastructure upgrade, your organization may be considering circumstances like remote and work-from-home employees. Contact us at Cloud Source where we understand the many factors influencing your technology decisions and are ready to guide you in considering how SD-WAN and 5G may play a role.

5 Steps to Data Center Optimization

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Investing in a new data center promises new possibilities, but it can be a process filled with challenges. Err on the conservative side, and you’ll be starting the process all over again in a few short years. But if you build your data center too large, you’ll be paying for space you don’t need. Data center optimization is a formidable goal, but these five steps will get you closer:

Manage Pathways: Coordinating pathways with airflow and power, along with cooling efforts, can optimize access and utilization while reducing interference. When investing in cable management, look for a solution that will support cable density, allow ample airflow around cables, provide room for additional cables in the future, and support both copper and fiber.

Go High-Density: To get more computing power in a small amount of space, choose high-density solutions and mixed-media options, which can be used with both fiber and copper, to support larger port densities. This offers the kind of scalability and flexibility you need as demand grows, with the option to add more connectivity without requiring exact port numbers or types of connectors. This enables technology changes and increased density without the need to tear out and replace the original infrastructure. Mixed media makes it easier to switch from copper to fiber without additional components demanding more space.

Small-Diameter Cables: Even if you don’t feel that you currently have a congestion problem with cables, as your equipment footprint gets smaller, the number of cables in your data center will increase. Smaller-diameter cables not only take up less space, but they don’t require the larger racks and cable trays. Small-diameter cables even improve airflow and cooling needs to help you achieve data center optimization.

Think Outside the Rack: Above-the-rack space can be efficiently used to work with Zero U solutions. These maximize RUs for equipment with ladder racks above cabinets, extending your vertical rack space. Zero U vertical patching is also useful with accommodating copper or fiber connectivity in data center cabinets, avoiding taking up rack space. In addition to saving rack space, these types of wall-mount cross connects make network upgrades easier with all equipment ports replicated.

Make the Most of Rack Space: Discussions around data center optimization aren’t complete without a consideration of the square footage taken up by racks. Your data center will operate most efficiently when you focus on seeing how much connectivity can be fit into a specific space, reducing energy usage and freeing up space for other uses. When racks aren’t being used efficiently, you end up purchasing more rack space, in addition to the floor space, to accommodate your new equipment, cabling, and connectivity.

For more ideas around data center optimization, or for assistance in a network infrastructure upgrade, contact us at Cloud Source. From assessing your rack space to pathway optimization, we can help you make the most of your data center.

Building a Network to Support Cloud Communication

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If you’ve been exploring a communications technology upgrade for your enterprise, you’ve likely encountered a number of cloud communications options. From unified communications as a service (UCaaS) to embedded solutions like communication platform as a service (CPaaS), they offer affordability and flexible features that can be tailored to support business objectives.

These real-time communications solutions are most effectively implemented when the network infrastructure also receives an upgrade. In the past, networks were hardware-based with storage devices, servers, modems, routers, and firewalls all working to support connectivity in an on-premise setting. Any upgrade to a traditional hub-and-spoke network was a lengthy and costly process, depending on the scope of the objectives.

Virtualization: In today’s environment, enterprises have to prioritize scaling heavy loads of data transmissions. The network has received an overhaul to support cloud communications, and the transition continues into the new decade.

The virtualization of the network has made it possible to separate networking activities from the hardware supporting it. An upgrade no longer requires a major hardware investment, as long as the power of the devices is sufficient. The next step from virtualization is network cloudification through software-defined networking (SDN) and 5G connectivity.

Through network cloudification, cloud communications can access networking as a service (NaaS) that offers a lower level of capital and operating expenses. Programmable networking improves flexibility and is easier to manage. 

Cloudification: The next step from virtualization is cloudification, in which network functions are optimized and hosted through edge data centers. This provides high throughput for cloud communications. This decentralized, distributed approach is transforming enterprise branch offices into central office re-architected as a data center (CORD) locations. The end result is better cloud agility for communications.  

Aren’t Virtualization and Cloudification the Same Thing? Virtualization worked to optimize the use of commodity hardware resources, driving innovation because of its ability to utilize more compute on the same infrastructure.

Cloudification is the next step: gaining access to shared computing resources on an on-demand basis. It improves economies of scale further than can be achieved with virtualization alone.

Even with the advances that cloudification of the network offers cloud communications, there are still challenges. Interoperability, automation, and flexibility are all areas that will need attention as enterprises embrace cloudification.

Are you thinking of an infrastructure upgrade to better support a cloud communication solution? Contact us at Cloud Source to initiate a consultation. We can help you determine your network infrastructure needs and leverage the best tools to support your communications technology.

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328 S. Jefferson St. Suite 603
Chicago, IL 60661
Ph: 312.753.7880
E: info@CloudSourceServices.com

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