What are the differences between WAN, LAN and SD-WAN?
Businesses working with complex networks have complex network needs. These can be around performance, visibility, access, security and more. Today, there are numerous networking solutions available, each with its own benefits and ways of interoperating with the others. However, understanding which solutions your business needs isn’t always straightforward, so here we’ll break down the difference between WAN, LAN and SD-WAN.
Understanding WAN
Simply, WAN stands for Wide Area Network, and is a single geographically distributed private telecommunications network that is made up of Local Area Networks (LAN) in the form of private lines, Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS), virtual private networks (VPNs), wireless (cellular) and the Internet.
There are various types of WAN technologies, including packet switching, overlay networks, and TCP/IP protocol suites. Today, business often choose to optimise their WAN to alleviate bandwidth, visibility and performance issues. Often with SD-WAN.
Understanding SD-WAN
SD-WAN stands for Software Defined Wide Area Networking. It’s an overlay solution applied to WAN connections using software-defined networking. This provides greater visibility of the entire network estate, helping businesses optimise their networks and become more efficient.
Some of the key benefits of SD-WAN include greater control over networks, built on enhanced visibility of performance and the ability to make informed decisions about traffic and routing. Alongside better integration with cloud services and automation solutions.
It means that businesses can make the right steps to improve network performance, and adapt quickly in times of change or disruption, so networks perform better overall.
Understanding LAN
LAN stands for Local Area Network and operates within a limited, specified geographical area like an office building or a home. Common examples are Ethernet and Wi-fi. A business LAN enables devices to connect to servers (both internal and external), applications, business hardware (like printers) and other LANs. To do this, your business will need to have or have access to a WAN.
Due to the rapid uptake of remote working, the ability to connect multiple LANs together has become increasingly important for IT leaders. Without this, businesses can find workers siloed, suffer from security weaknesses, and experience challenges in collaboration and communication. As such, most large scale organisations will now have a WAN solution alongside their LAN.
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