Contributed by:
IDG Communications

An IDG survey of IT decision makers finds substantial disparity on the best strategy to connect non-HQ locations to the cloud. Hybrid WANs and SD-WANs are now leading the way, with 40% of respondents saying they are pursuing ways to adapt or bypass the traditional enterprise WAN.

End-user productivity and collaboration needs, IT strategy and digital transformation initiatives are driving growing reliance on cloud-based applications in branch and satellite offices. Just 3% of survey respondents favor accessing these applications through the traditional backhaul process to the corporate network hub via the WAN.

Instead, 37% favor a hybrid or software-defined WAN (SD-WAN) approach to meeting future needs of these non-HQ locations. Market research firm IDC projects the worldwide revenue of $8.05 billion for SD-WAN infrastructure and services in 2021.

“The increase in SaaS adoption for business applications throughout the enterprise disrupts the prominence of MPLS-based WAN connectivity to the branch,” says IDC. “SD-WAN is increasingly leveraged to provide dynamic connectivity optimization and path selection in a policy-driven, centrally manageable distributed network architecture.”

In the survey, 31% view direct connection to the cloud via business ethernet as the preferred option for branch connectivity. But SD-WAN may be the ultimate hybrid WAN option, because it can route to cloud providers dynamically via the best path available based on application needs and cost considerations.

For more insights on how branch locations are accessing the cloud, read the TechPulse white paper.