Network and Voice
SD-WAN and SASE
SD-WAN is software that chooses, moment by moment, which of a site's network connections carries each application's traffic. The letters stand for software-defined wide area network. A device at each site manages two or more links, for example a private line, broadband and cellular, and one central console sets the rules for every site, where older networks were configured one device at a time.
- 81 companies on the shelf
- Coverage
Buyer's checklist
Eight questions that decide this purchase
Think these through before you buy. Answer what you can and your quote comes back faster. Skip what you cannot, and we will work through it with you.
- 01
What is driving this: cost against an MPLS network, resilience, security, cloud performance or a contract date?
- 02
What connections does each site have today? If a site has two, are they truly different kinds?
- 03
Will the current network keep running beside the new one for a while, or be replaced outright?
- 04
How many sites do you have, and in which countries?
- 05
Which security tools do you already own, and which should the platform keep, replace or add?
- 06
Where should firewall inspection happen: in the cloud, at every site, or only at hub sites?
- 07
Where do your main applications run: your own data center, the cloud, or both?
- 08
Who operates it after go-live: your IT team, the provider, or the two together?
No company matches every box you checked
That usually means the combination is rare, not impossible. Clear a filter, or add the service and we will go find who can do it.
Capabilities come from published supplier material. We confirm them for your addresses before anything is quoted.
More on what it is
SASE, for secure access service edge, is the bigger idea. The name comes from industry analysts. It folds the network and its security into one cloud service: the SD-WAN, a firewall, a secure web gateway that filters browsing, and zero trust access for people working remotely. The security half sold without the networking is called SSE, security service edge.
Zero trust network access, or ZTNA, is the piece that replaces the remote access VPN. A VPN generally puts a connected device on the network with broad reach. ZTNA checks the person and the device, then opens only the application that person is entitled to. It also removes a familiar slowdown. On many older VPNs a remote worker's traffic travels back to a data center before it goes out again to a cloud application.
How you connect depends on where you are. An office connects through its SD-WAN device. A remote worker connects through a software client or a browser, with no hardware. Both reach the provider's nearest point of presence, one of many sites it runs around the world, and the security checks happen there. Because the service runs in the cloud, a policy change reaches every location at once.
You do not have to switch over in one night. Most platforms run beside an existing MPLS network, the private network service carriers have sold for decades, and beside older security appliances, while you retire those on your own schedule.
One caution. A bundle is different from a platform. Several security products sold under one contract, or chained together in a cloud, are still separate products, and each one has to be sized and managed by someone. Ask whether you would get one console and one set of policies.
Who needs it
- You have several locations or branches that share data and applications.
- Your business depends on applications hosted in the cloud.
- A large part of your workforce works away from the office.
- A hardware refresh is coming, or an MPLS contract is near its end.
- Your IT team lacks the time or the specialist skills to run the network and its security day to day.
- You operate in many countries and need one policy enforced in all of them.
- You are in a merger or acquisition and must bring new sites onto your network quickly.
A single office with one internet connection gives SD-WAN nothing to choose between. It may still want the security half for its remote workers.
Signs you need it
- A backup link is already doing real work to keep a site connected.
- Network problems recur, and nobody can pin down the cause.
- A network contract or circuit term is close to its end.
- Voice and video suffer when the network is busy.
- Remote workers complain that the VPN is slow.
- You cannot say which cloud applications your employees use.
- Your security is a set of separate products, bought at different times and managed separately.
How IT Raven helps
Add SD-WAN and SASE to your quote list and tell us your sites, the links at each one, the security tools you own and any rules you must meet, such as HIPAA or PCI DSS. A person takes that to the network and security providers in our 500+ partner network and sorts them on fit: the countries they cover, whether they sell the circuits and the platform together or separately, and how much of the daily operation they will take on.
A site with one circuit has no second path for the software to use, so we quote the missing links in the same pass. Wired circuits sit in Business Connectivity and cellular or satellite backup in Wireless and IoT Connectivity.
We stay on one thread through design, the first site and the rollout, and the same team handles new sites and renewal. If you want someone watching for threats around the clock as well, see Managed Security.
How buying works
The store is the easy part. Staying on the account is the job.
Anyone can show you logos. The reason to buy here is what happens on install night, and on the ticket you open nine months later.
- 01
Build your quote list
Add services and companies as you shop. No form stands between you and the shelf.
- 02
We bring back real options
A person shops the bench against your addresses, then walks you through what fits and what does not.
- 03
We handle the order and install
Paperwork, site survey, install dates, cutover night. You get one thread, not five vendors.
- 04
We stay on your account
Same team for moves, adds, tickets and the next renewal. That is the part everyone else drops.