Modern enterprise networks are becoming increasingly complex to manage and secure. But at the same time, IT departments are under pressure to build network solutions that can evolve at the same pace as the rest of the business.
Individually, software-defined wide area networking (SD-WAN) and 5G have significant potential to help address these challenges. Combining the two together, however, offers the promise of a network architecture with centralized control, diversity, simplicity, fast provisioning and greater speed and capacity — all essential features in an enterprise network that truly supports the wider needs of the business.
Networking in the Era of Big Data and Flexible Working
In recent years, there’s been astonishing growth in the amount of data running over organizational networks. The rise of cloud services and increasingly latency-sensitive applications — like video conferencing or remotely controlled IoT devices — also puts pressure on network performance.
The way we work and do business has changed network topology, too. Today’s networks are much more dispersed and generally incorporate many different locations, data centers, and cloud services and applications. A more geographically disparate workforce and an increase in home working, hybrid working and WFA (Working From Anywhere) also increases complexity.
These factors create a heavy burden for both IT teams and budgets, as network capacity and performance become more critical to the effective running of the business.
So where do SD-WAN and 5G fit into this picture?
5G and SD-WAN: New Tech Meets Mature Tech
SD-WAN appeared as a concept more than a decade ago, and it quickly gained a reputation as an innovative new way to manage the WAN for greater performance, efficiency and cost-effectiveness.
Despite rumors of its demise, it continues to grow in popularity as a pivotal element of network transformation initiatives: The global SD-WAN market is expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 30.9% from 2022 to 2030.
SD-WAN is continuing to evolve in response to other new technologies, such as AI (which has the potential to take over time-consuming tasks like network configuration) and — most notably — secure access service edge (SASE). SASE converges security and network management, and Gartner predicts that by 2026, 60% of new SD-WAN purchases will be part of a single-vendor SASE offering, up from 15% in 2023.
More recently, the advent of 5G has hugely stepped up the capabilities of cellular networks: 5G has the potential, it’s believed, to handle up to 100 times more connections per square kilometer than 4G.
It’s continuing to get faster and can offer much lower latency, too. Already we’re seeing 5G download speeds of 200Mbps or more, which is fast enough for many branch WAN connectivity requirements. It’s believed 5G speeds could reach an average of 10Gbps in the future — more than 100 times faster than current 4G technology.
Wireless has traditionally been relegated to the role of backup to wired SD-WAN networks, but the rollout of 5G makes it a real contender for primary connectivity.
Both these technologies, then, have much to offer. But what happens when you put them together?
5G SD-WAN: The Best of All Worlds?
Although this combination is still in the early stages of adoption, SD-WAN offers the potential to wrap 5G connectivity into a unified network architecture. This allows enterprises to extend the performance, control and visibility of SD-WAN to 5G services, while harnessing the flexibility, speed, capacity and quick provisioning of 5G as a primary WAN transport option.
Availability is currently limited to a select few urban areas, but 5G network slicing has important implications for the future of network performance. Network slicing allows the creation of multiple virtual networks on a single physical infrastructure, with each “slice” of the network optimized for a particular use case.
SD-WAN has the potential to manage and route traffic on these slices according to the performance needs of the applications running over them. For example, autonomous vehicles demand high speeds and ultra-low latency, whereas devices in a hospital environment might require high levels of reliability and security.
Adding 5G to an SD-WAN architecture also offers valuable diversity in the case of connectivity issues, such as wired cables being severed during construction work. It can also provide air-gapped, out-of-band management capabilities during a network outage.
Potential use cases for 5G SD-WAN include:
- Connecting hybrid or permanent work-from-home employees: Where staff need the performance and security of direct access to the corporate SD-WAN, extending the network using 5G may be a cost-effective high-speed connectivity option.
- Retail locations and branch offices: 5G SD-WAN can help where there is a pressing need for high levels of network performance (for example, to connect business-critical point of sale devices) but fixed line connectivity isn’t available or is too expensive or unreliable.
- Temporary locations: Pop-up retail sites and events could benefit from the performance, security and control of SD-WAN and the “day one” connectivity of cellular: 5G connections take around 26 minutes to set up, compared to an average of 35 days for wired connectivity.
- IoT deployments: Locations such as hospitals, factories and connected farms are increasingly reliant on large numbers of IoT devices, which often require high capacity and low latency for effective information transfer, data analysis and remote control.
Where Now for 5G SD-WAN?
5G SD-WAN has a promising future, but adoption is still in its early stages.
Although the SD-WAN market is mature, both technologies are continuing to evolve. The rollout of 5G is ongoing, and some areas still have limited coverage. Even T-Mobile, the carrier with the most extensive 5G coverage in the US, was only covering just over half (53.8%) of the country in early 2024.
5G signal strength can also vary in the higher-frequency bands which provide the fastest speeds, particularly where there are buildings and other obstructions. Boosters or repeaters may be necessary to provide sufficient signal strength.
Adding new WAN transport options has the potential to create additional layers of complexity for network managers when it comes to vendor management and end-to-end security. As 5G and SD-WAN continue to evolve, it may be difficult for organizations to keep up with new developments and upgrades too.
This is why many analysts believe the majority of organizations will choose to consume SD-WAN as a managed service; the market for managed SD-WAN services is anticipated to grow more than 33% (CAGR) between 2024 and 2032.
Managed services relieve enterprises of the burden of handling multiple vendors and technologies across different geographies, and allow them to keep up to date with developments that can provide competitive advantage in the unpredictable marketplace of the future.