FINAL WORD
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Building an adaptive and
secure SD-WAN framework
With many organisations turning to Software-Defined Wide Area
Networking (SD-WAN) to support their Digital Transformation,
many IT leaders are working out how they can tie all of their
connected resources into a single cohesive network. Kalle Bjorn,
Director, Systems Engineering, Fortinet, says a critical challenge
of such a model is establishing an effective security strategy that
can span and adapt to this expanding and evolving network.
O
rganisations today are facing a
variety of business and technological
pressures that impact their networks:
The rise in the number and variety of smart
devices requiring access to network and
data resources; the growth of multi-cloud
infrastructures and services being driven by
evolving requirements of connected and
highly mobile workers; demands for greater
performance; the need to deploy new
technologies; along with the need to comply
with new standards and regulations.
Many IT leaders in the middle of multiple
Digital Transformation projects are now
wrestling with the question of how to tie all
of their connected resources into a single
cohesive network.
Software-defined wide area networking
(SD-WAN) is increasingly becoming the
approach many organisations are turning
to in order to support their enterprise’s
Digital Transformation.
SD-WAN solutions uses all available WAN
services more effectively and economically,
giving users across the distributed enterprise
the freedom to better engage customers,
empower employees, optimise business
processes and innovate.
A critical challenge of such a model,
however, is establishing an effective security
strategy that can span and adapt to this
expanding and evolving network. Which is
why SD-WAN experts and industry analysts
point out that an optimal enterprise SD-
WAN solution needs to not only support
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WAN performance requirements, but also
address security priorities.
As the potential attack surface grows,
opportunities for breach, data loss and
compromised information integrity come
with every new device, application, and
connection as attackers look for the weakest
link in the enterprise.
At the same time, increased performance
demands and distributed network resources
often undermine the effectiveness of many
traditional cybersecurity tools, which struggle
to keep up with increasing speed and
bandwidth requirements.
Another of the problems organisations
face is growing security complexity. As
a result of the project-oriented way in
which organisations have expanded their
networks, many have inadvertently created a
patchwork of isolated ‘point’ products. This
has led to a security architecture that’s not
only hard to manage, but that actually lacks
integrated, end-to-end protection.
While most SD-WAN solutions provide
effective tools for managing a distributed
network, many fail to provide an integrated
security strategy. Instead, they rely on
external legacy security systems that far too
often limit visibility, restrict performance, and
cannot adequately adapt to a constantly
changing WAN architecture.
So if SD-WAN effectiveness and data
security are both high priorities for your
distributed enterprise, it is essential that you
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