A TELIA CARRIER WHITEPAPER Author: Johan Ottosson, Vice President Strategy

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SEVEN RECOMMENDATIONS FOR YOUR SD-WAN STRATEGY

After years of hype, SD-WAN (Software-Defined Wide Area Networking) is going mainstream. According to Gartner, by the end of 2019, more than 50% of new managed WAN deployments incorporated SD-WAN and analysts at IDC expect that 80% of enterprises will define their SD-WAN strategy within the next 24 months. However, the path towards SD-WAN is often not straightforward. Inflated technology expectations, legacy IT dependencies and underlying physical network

constraints have left enterprises uncertain about which approach will deliver the greatest business benefit. The stakes are high - partners selected now will be delivering the next 3-5 years of transformation.

This white paper provides guidance for enterprises looking to reap the benefits of SD-WAN, whilst securing a smooth migration, with minimal business disruption.

2020: A PIVOTAL YEAR FOR SD-WAN

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CAN SD-WAN LIVE UP TO THE HYPE?There are many reasons why SD-WAN is so alluring. Several years ago, in response to the second-rate customer experience and poor value for money provided by legacy network service providers, SD-WAN presented a welcome alternative and the promise of a brighter future. It would eliminate the need for MPLS-based networks and bring agility, cost-efficiency and transparency to enterprise networking. Fast-forward a few years and the accelerating pace of cloud migration further increased the need for change - by radically shifting traffic patterns towards the Internet. In turn, this introduced more complex fault scenarios and infrastructure departments were required to support constant change driven by fast-paced DevOps teams.

INCREASED AGILITY AND COST EFFICIENCY

Enterprise customers are tired of waiting months for local access providers to turn up a new site. They are also frustrated with MPLS pricing (particularly in less competitive markets) and idle back-up circuits, which result in a seemingly extortionate effective Mpbs rate, especially when compared to consumer broadband alternatives. As with the IPSec VPNs of the past, SD-WAN facilitates cheaper local access from services such as broadband Internet, with faster deployment times to boot.

HIGHER QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE

SD-WAN aims to emulate the performance and uptime characteristics of MPLS by taking advantage of the relatively inexpensive public Internet. By aggregating two or more connections and by using techniques such as application-aware routing and dynamic link assessment, SD-WAN selects the optimum connection per application.

ENHANCED VISIBILITY AND SIMPLIFIED NETWORK MANAGEMENT

Service managers traditionally lacked visibility of application performance – the cause of much frustration, especially when troubleshooting. And whilst the rest of the IT environment can be modified with a simple click, 90% of network changes are

still manual, painful and slow. With SD-WAN, data transparency provides enhanced visibility of application level performance, allowing service managers to make the changes that really matter to their end-users. Built-in next-generation firewall capabilities add the basic security features required, with central implementation of policy changes. And everything is managed through a “single pane of glass” management interface.

But despite all the benefits, SD-WAN also has its limitations. Before embarking on a WAN transformation journey, enterprises need to establish a holistic approach that addresses the harsh reality of most network migration projects:

CLOUD TRANSFORMATION DOESN’T HAPPEN OVERNIGHT

The majority of today’s applications (75% according to Gartner) will still be operational in five years’ time. Not only were these applications developed for premises-based IT delivery, and a QoS/CoS-based network, but they were also built with the traditional castle-and-moat approach to IT security. In stark contrast to today’s zero-trust environment, everyone inside the network was trusted by default. Before these applications have been migrated, and proper access control, encryption and inspection have been implemented, enterprises are reluctant to let

SOME REAL BENEFITS(AND A FEW LIMITATIONS)

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go of the private MPLS-based networks that help keep their applications and data safe and secure.

END-TO-END SLAS STILL NEED A HIGH-PERFORMANCE UNDERLAY NETWORK

Traditionally, network managers bought non-contended bandwidth with guaranteed availability. For more critical sites, this was augmented with diverse back-up links. SD-WAN won’t ease last or middle mile chokepoints, so the physical reality of networks infrastructure still dictates the absolute degree of new-found SD-WAN freedom. Both provider availability and Internet quality often fall short of expectations; especially in the middle mile. Even with two diverse ISPs, enterprises may still be poorly connected to clouds and remote sites on the Internet. For some locations, MPLS is still the best, or only option to secure always-on connectivity. Rather than replacing it, enterprises need to right-size MPLS spend, optimize end-to-end performance and improve automation. For the full benefits to be realized, this also requires software-defined, on-demand delivery models – all the way into the underlay network.

ORGANIZATIONS ARE NOT YET WILLING OR ABLE TO DELIVER ON THE PROMISES OF SD-WAN

Enterprise network managers are often unsure as to whether they have the right resources and skill set inside their organizations to monetize SD-WAN and adopt a different sourcing strategy. As an example, sourcing local broadband across multiple geographies increases both business continuity risk and management overhead. Other organizations, with access to seasoned network engineers may find some of the highly touted benefits of SD-WAN overrated. Indeed, cost savings (from offloading traffic to cheaper Internet connections) or application visibility can already be achieved with a well-designed hybrid WAN. So while SD-WAN may simplify management and orchestration, some enterprises still don’t see the business case for deploying it in their own networks. To add to that, in a world where technology is changing fast, WAN managers are often still conscious of the disruption caused by previous technology shifts and tend to approach new developments with understandable caution.

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HOW IS YOUR BUSINESS EVOLVING?

Aligning your WAN strategy to business needs will help you get your priories right: Are you entering new geographic markets or consolidating your position in existing ones, developing new revenue streams or simply trying to operate more efficiently? Is IaaS/PaaS a vehicle to improve agility or enable new business models? Or are you pursuing IT infrastructure consolidation simply to reduce cost?

Our recommendation: When your network agreements come up for renewal, be extremely clear on what is important to you and the tangible improvements you are looking to realize (faster upgrade turnaround, better support, lower TCO etc.). This will give challenger service providers like Telia Carrier a greater chance to help you achieve your goals.

WHAT ARE YOUR 3-YEAR CLOUD AND IT INFRASTRUCTURE TARGETS?

What needs to be connected to the WAN, and how, changes constantly - but by how much, and how fast? Are you looking to migrate to a single major cloud ecosystem, or many - considering not just the availability of SaaS, but also where your core workflows will be? How fast will your IT go to zero-trust? How many legacy apps will still be on-prem or in data centers? Who will be using them, and how? What does it all mean for your data flows? How will your Dev and DevOps team access their environments?

Our recommendation: Now is the time to identify and harmonize your business requirements based

on what they are now, and will be in 3 years. This will also help you define the right type of underlay network, as well as the implementation and management of SD-WAN profiles and data flows. Review your network architecture and site categorization in accordance with a standardized segmentation model. Most companies work with 3 to 6 site tiers – based on the number of end-users, the applications and workloads they run, the critical nature of applications, and the necessary security and regulatory requirements.

WHAT IS THE RIGHT MANAGEMENT MODEL TO SUPPORT YOUR 3-YEAR EVOLUTION?

You’ve defined your network topology, a tiered site structure - with clear end-user requirements and established a good understanding of your connectivity needs - now and in 3-years’ time. The next step is to look into implementation; When do current connectivity contracts end? Do you want to separate the overlay from the underlay, or would you rather have a single partner do both? Our recommendation: Now’s the time to decide upon what extent you wish to manage your WAN transformation. If your topology and policy rules are simple, your offices are in competitive locations within a narrow geographical footprint, and your local operations are both able to procure and manage local network providers, then it may be worth looking into a DIY SD-WAN implementation, or the pure overlay provider route.

However, the following may apply to you: • You require centralized support and trouble- shooting for both the overlay and underlay.

EVOLUTION OR REVOLUTION? DEFINING YOUR SD-WAN STRATEGY For the vast majority of global enterprise WANs, the SD-WAN journey is a transition, rather than a radical rip-up-and-replace exercise. In fact, more than 80% (according to Gartner), will use a hybrid WAN combining MPLS/Ethernet and the Internet. Enterprises should establish holistic strategies, allowing them to reap the benefits of this transition. Networks shouldn’t simply be software-defined, but rather, business defined. By answering seven seemingly simple questions, transformation can be based on business need - avoiding costly pitfalls driven by inflated expectations, market constraints and misaligned capabilities.

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• You have offices in multiple locations and countries, with more complex traffic flows and where staff are not ready to manage the local access or equipment.• You’re concerned about how many more partners you can realistically manage with existing staffing levels.

In which case, you should consider bringing onboard a service provider, such as Telia Carrier, who can manage core connectivity, the local access, SD-WAN CPEs and configurations.

HOW DO YOU SECURE COMMERCIAL FLEXIBILITY ALONG THE WAY?

Whilst you may not yet be ready for an SD-WAN, Internet-only approach for all sites and contracts, you certainly don’t want to be locked into another 3-year, one-size-fits-all model. Once your target WAN is defined, how can you get the commercial flexibility to support your evolution? What happens when you want to add, change or remove services on-the-go? How will your network scale to support bandwidth growth? How does it support the transition towards an Internet-centric underlay?

Our recommendation: You know your network best, you’ve set out your management model and you’re ready to move forward. A supplier comparison will get you up to speed about new business and delivery models. Going the DIY route? If you are relocating your hubs to carrier-neutral data centers, you can already benefit from competitively priced cloud and Internet connectivity, with near-instant provisioning. Looking for a more comprehensive solution? Be sure to invite providers who’ll give you a clean slate approach. Forward-leaning service providers like Telia Carrier have extended these abilities into the WAN, offering a modular connectivity platform, where customers can use the same access for multiple services, flex dynamically between them, and bring their own access if needed. Services should be priced transparently, with the opportunity, but not an obligation, to commit.

WHAT ARE YOUR LAST & MIDDLE MILE CONSTRAINTS?

The availability of high-quality network infrastructure will dictate the design you need in order to keep end-users satisfied. Are you aware of the options? Is the market competitive or constrained? What is the quality of Internet connectivity in your different geographies and how well-peered are your ISPs? Based on the apps and workloads you run, how close are your cloud regions and how do you connect back to your on-prem applications? What is the need for

back-up and do you have truly diverse uplinks? Our recommendation: All sites do not require the same level of connectivity, and depending on your network mix, you will either opt for a more radical SD-WAN deployment, or steady evolution. Define your site tiers by geography from the outset and be sure to understand the different underlay technologies such as global Direct Internet Access (DIA) and business or consumer broadband. Strike a balance between pricing and performance for the traffic you are running. Pay particular attention to the way in which these technologies support site-to-site and cloud access in challenging regions. If you have mostly small branch offices using cloud-based services, in main street locations within a single jurisdiction, you could deploy SD-WAN with almost any Internet service. However, if you’re connecting large offices, with heavy-duty R&D or mission-critical traffic, such as call centers or manufacturing hubs in multiple regions, you should consider using a mix of high-quality Internet and MPLS. For example, datacenter-to-datacenter traffic can be optimized with ethernet or wavelength services, at a lower price and with lower latency. Look to providers with Tier 1 Internet connectivity, extensive cloud ecosystems and a solid understanding of local markets.

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WHAT DO YOU NEED TO SPEED UP AUTOMATION?

Most IT organizations want to focus more of their time on the front-end, directly supporting their businesses. Now’s the time to set the right expectation level with your provider. Can self-serve portals and APIs help automate daily networking routines? How can you simplify troubleshooting end-to-end, now that the service complexity extended to an even larger ecosystem of different partners? What network/service information, and what integration, would put you in the driver’s seat?

Our recommendation: Ensure that your partners’ journey towards automation aligns with your own. Most global network service providers have evolved from decades of M&A activity, delivering their services over multiple networks and legacy platforms. This creates a massive barrier towards a data-driven and highly automated network future. Before renewing or signing-up with a new provider, enterprises should assess the impact of patchwork infrastructures on their future WAN. Service providers like Telia Carrier, who have built a global network organically, with strong inventory control, are in a much stronger position to deliver the promise of a zero-touch, self-provisioning network.

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At the same time, don’t ignore the human aspect entirely – in a world where fault-finding becomes more complex, look at the experience, responsiveness and success rate of your partner’s customer support team.

WHAT’S YOUR PLAN FOR SUCCESS?

You are setting out on a major journey of change that will fundamentally impact your company’s digital infrastructure. How do you plan to pull that off without business disruption? And how do you complete your roll-out without getting saddled with hardware assets that aren’t even halfway through their lifecycle?

Our recommendation: Look for a service provider who can provide your network “as-a-service”, with a smooth transition that doesn’t leave stranded assets behind – like the ability to upgrade your legacy routers to SD-WAN with a software patch. Or someone who can transition your underlay services from MPLS VPN to Internet if needed. Moreover, look for providers who will deliver with predictability, transparency and high attention to detail. Even if SD-WAN deliveries can be zero-touch, coordinating initial CPE logistics and underlay readiness still requires close collaboration and hands-on expertise.

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ABOUT TELIA CARRIER Telia Carrier solves global connectivity challenges for multinational enterprises whose businesses rely on digital infrastructure. On top of the world’s #1 ranked IP backbone and a unique ecosystem of cloud and network service providers, we provide an award-winning customer experience to customers in 120 countries worldwide. Our global Internet services connect more than 700 cloud, security and content providers with low latency. For further resilience, our private Cloud Connect service connects directly to Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, IBM Cloud and Oracle cloud across North America, Europe and Asia.

Cloud adoption and digital transformation are redefining the requirements of enterprise WANs, whilst new technologies and service providers challenge the status quo. For most enterprises, this creates the perfect opportunity to right-size their networks and rethink the way services are bought, and from whom. But enterprises must combine the free thinking of a clean-slate approach with a realistic view of what’s needed to keep everyday business running smoothly. When embarking on the next stage of your WAN transformation, take time to define a holistic strategy beyond the SD-WAN hardware.

• Start by setting your priorities straight: Low cost or value for money?

• Be realistic about your last/middle mile constraints and the degree of freedom your SD- WAN migration will actually deliver.

• Develop a framework for how your connectivity needs will evolve in the next 3+ years.

• Outline a management model that will support your transformation.

• Engage with multiple suppliers to identify providers who can offer a flexible approach, free from vested interests.

• Challenge the automation agenda of your prospective suppliers, and their ability to cooperate with increasingly complex troubleshooting challenges.

• Be confident in the people who will deliver your migration. Even in a software-driven world, networking is still a physical environment that requires the human touch.

Whether your change agenda is big or small, it should be driven by business needs and be well grounded in market realities. Look for service providers with deep insight and knowledge of the underlay and inner workings of cloud and Internet ecosystems. Someone without vested interests in legacy products and a strong customer support that keeps your end-users free from disruption. Your future network shouldn’t just be software defined – it should be business defined.

LET THE TRANSFORMATION BEGIN

Find out how SD-WAN can help you transform your business and read more about us at teliacarrier.com

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