In a remote site where agentless IoT devices such as PoS and HVAC systems are installed (Figure 1 below), an advanced SD-WAN edge platform identifies applications used by the devices uniquely.

In the wave of digital transformation for enterprises, SD-WAN technology is becoming a key choice for optimizing network ...

With an SD-WAN “edge” device in the branch, traffic can go straight to the Internet, thus increasing performance while saving bandwidth.

To understand why SD-WAN is a natural successor to traditional WAN, let’s focus on the differences between both approaches and how SD-WAN overcomes some of the limitations of conventional WAN.

Traditional SD-WAN supported visibility for a few thousand applications, which served well at the time, but the sheer volume of cloud applications and IoT devices has since exploded.

The challenge is ensuring that your SD-WAN vendor has the feature set that aligns with your organization’s unique requirements and layout.

SD-WAN Edge devices can provide other virtual networking functions (VNF) services such as load balancing and because they are software rather than hardware-based, additional VNFs can be implemented ...

SD-WAN appliances with UTM and/or next-generation firewall capabilities built in, to help protect each branch location – getting back to the expanding perimeter point.

Among the key updates, Cisco said it's integrating application-aware enterprise firewall, intrusion prevention, and URL filtering into Cisco SD-WAN devices.

With an advanced, business-driven SD-WAN edge platform, enterprises can mitigate the risk of exposure to breaches associated with IoT devices without the need to install ZTNA agents.

Integrating frameworks such as SASE and zero-trust into SD-WAN allows built-in security for networks, regardless of where employees, applications and devices are located.