MPLS

Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) enables Enterprises and Service Providers to build next-generation intelligent networks that deliver a wide variety of advanced, value-added services over a single infrastructure.

SD-WAN

SD-WAN is a software-defined approach to managing the WAN.

Key advantages include:

• Reducing costs with transport independence across MPLS, 4G/5G LTE, and other connection types.
• Improving application performance and increasing agility.
• Optimizing user experience and efficiency for software-as-a-service (SaaS) and public-cloud applications.
• Simplifying operations with automation and cloud-based management.

Better application experience

• High availability, with predictable service, for all critical enterprise applications
• Multiple hybrid active-active links for all network scenarios
• Dynamically routed application traffic with application-aware routing, for efficient delivery and improved user experience
• Improved OpEx, replacing expensive Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) services with more economical and flexible broadband (including secure VPN connections)

More security

• Application-aware policies with end-to-end segmentation and real-time access control
• Integrated threat protection enforced at the right place
• Secure traffic across broadband Internet and into the cloud
• Distribute security to the branch and remote endpoints with NGFW, DNS security, and NGAV

Optimized cloud connectivity

• Seamless extension of the WAN to multiple public clouds
• Real-time optimized performance for Microsoft Office 365, Salesforce, and other major SaaS applications
• Optimized workflows for cloud platforms such as Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure

Simplified management

• A single, centralized, cloud-delivered management dashboard for configuration and management of WAN, cloud, and security
• Template-based, zero-touch provisioning for all locations: branch, campus, and cloud
• Detailed reporting of application and WAN performance for business analytics and bandwidth forecasting

MPLS vs SD-WAN

SD-WAN represents evolution of MPLS technology which has successfully powered private connectivity for more than two decades. In many ways, SD-WAN can be seen as a software abstraction of MPLS technology that is applicable to wider scenarios i.e. it brings secure, private connectivity agnostic to all kinds of links and providers and is cloud aware. Whereas MPLS handled failure scenarios with backup links, SD-WAN handles them with real-time traffic steering based on centralized policy. Also, given that SD-WAN unifies the entire WAN backbone, it delivers comprehensive analytics across the full enterprise back bone, globally. This wasn’t possible before due to disparate pieces of infrastructure and policy.