WAN-as-a-Service Enables Networks to Respond to Evolving IT Needs

Enterprises have long relied on multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) services or IPSec VPNs over broadband Internet to build wide area networks (WANs). Both of these methods have always had their challenges. MPLS is a reliable way to establish a virtual private network (VPN) across private data centers, offices, retail stores, and other locations, but it is expensive to establish. IPSec VPNs over broadband are cheaper, but are inherently unreliable.

In addition, both of these WAN models were designed for a world where apps lived in a private data center and users were mostly in offices. Fast forward to the present day — with more data-rich applications, more applications running in the cloud, and entire workforces enabled to work from home — and we see conventional WANs struggling to keep up.