How to Choose the Right SD-WAN?

Adopting new technology is rarely an easy process. The SD-WAN market has a vast variety of vendors and managed services providers all pitching their products. The variety of messages can create a storm of confusion with each player making as much noise as possible about how their technology and service is the best in the market. We recommend that the IT manager responsible for selecting a solution takes all of these claims with a pinch of salt and conducts a thorough evaluation of the services available.

Here is a list that should help with the order of this evaluation process: 

1. Decide whether you want a DIY vs. managed SD-WAN service. For a DIY option, you will need to make sure that you have the internal IT resources to manage what can become a very complex migration. Some costs savings may be achieved via a DIY approach, but beware the hidden costs. A managed service from a qualified service provider should give more consistency with the budget and give access to tested skill-sets and experience with running networks. 
2. Conduct a full audit and assessment of your existing network and IT footprint. It will be necessary to invest time sharing all these details with the managed SD-WAN service provider that you have chosen to hep them support a smooth transition. 
3. Create a list of cloud applications in use by your company, and consider what network metrics and SLA parameters they will need to run smoothly. The underlay network remains a very important component for supporting a solid overlay SD-WAN. For example who are your provider's ISP peering partners for supporting low-latency on cloud apps? Latency and jitter-sensitive apps will not perform well if this aspect is not engineered robustly from the outset.