The Technology Headlines DEMAND FORCASTING & AI | Page 24

THE TECHNOLOGY HEADLINES
ECH
ALK
DISRUPTION IN THE TELECOM SECTOR
By Doug Farndale, Vice President, APAC Silver Peak
“
The rise of SD-WAN is already
happening among global enterprises that
want to leverage broadband Internet to
VICE PRESIDENT, APAC SILVER PEAK
D
esigning IT solutions for the telecom industry
is not the same as it used to be before. Telecom
companies have already shed their traditional
tech practices in favor of modern machines that are more
efficient and cost-effective. What business have planned for
their customers and partners are very different from the
days of legacy applications? Today, making fast changes in
business environment is a necessary step to venture into the
new world of technology driven by the digital revolution.
In the digital era, think how companies can re-imagine
their traditional boundaries and value proposition of their
industry? When trying to effect a digital transformation
on a large scale, companies are bound to face a number
of challenges unique to their organization setup. How
efficiently can they adapt to the new business continuum
will not only decide their future course, but also their ability
to stay ahead of the competition.
Disrupt or be disrupted. That was a recent message from an
outgoing CEO of an international tech giant. The message is
short but clear: the business climate is changing and you can
either change with it, or become irrelevant.
That has certainly been the case in networking and
telecommunications, where the explosion of cloud services
and mounting frustration surrounding the high cost
and inflexibility of multiprotocol label switching (MPLS)
AUGUST 2019
“
DOUG FARNDALE
augment or replace their existing MPLS
connectivity
networks is forcing enterprises to rethink their enterprise
wide area network (WAN) strategy.
Companies are now looking to the Internet to augment or
replace their current WAN connections, which has opened
the door for faster WAN provisioning and the ability to
use multiple WAN paths at the same time. This WAN
transformation is being referred to as the software-defined
WAN, or SD-WAN.
Why is SD-WAN so disruptive? As an overlay technology, it
enables customers to rapidly and non-disruptively augment
or replace their MPLS networks with any form of Internet
connectivity. It provides visibility into all applications, and
the capability to centrally-control all WAN traffic. It ensures
end-users are satisfied with consistent and enhanced
application performance. Finally, it can dramatically lower
connectivity, equipment and network administration costs
by up to 90%.
But is SD-WAN a friend, or a foe, of the telco?
At a first glance, it could easily be viewed as a competitive
threat. After all, the objective of most implementations of
SD-WAN by enterprises is to offset the cost, rigidity and lack
of control typically associated with MPLS. And, for most
service providers, MPLS is a huge source of revenue.
24