WTA has released its newest research report, SD-WAN for Competitive Advantage and Revenue Growth. The report is free for WTA Members and available for purchase by others. Click here to get the report.
Software Defined Wide Area Network (SD-WAN) architecture allows networks to combine different transport services into a virtual wide area network that adapts to changing availability and throughput. Widespread in terrestrial communications, it is being greeted in the satellite communications business as a potential game-changer for its power to deliver high reliability and quality of service while making more efficient use of bandwidth. But implementing SD-WAN is not only technically complex, it forces ground segment operations to adopt a digital-first mindset.
In this report, WTA explores with engineering and operations executives their tips, tricks and use cases that demonstrate the near-term value and long-term potential of SD-WAN to generate competitive advantage and accelerated revenue growth.
A technology executive summed it up: “The biggest customer need is better availability. SD-WAN provides additional resiliency to communications networks because you have virtual connection to wherever – satellite, 5G, GEO, LEO. Thanks to the combination of the different paths, we can reach 99.99 percent availability or higher. We can even do high-bandwidth L-band with maritime customers by bonding four links. When you’re in the middle of the ocean in a storm, you appreciate knowing at least one of those links will be available, no matter what.”
“The value of a service is different from customer to customer,” another technology executive noted. “An energy customer is looking for high availability. Commercial maritime vessel wants to get as much internet service to crew and passenger as possible for an affordable cost. Being able to bring a portfolio of options and using SD-WAN to tune it to meet their need – that’s how you win the business.”
