5 Use Cases for Cisco SD-WAN

You need to deliver a secure connectivity solution from anywhere for a reliable application experience for your users. You need to connect your users across multicloud, branch, and a hybrid workplace. Leverage Cisco® SD-WAN’s deep integration with each cloud provider to help ensure unrivaled network performance and application experience without compromising on security or visibility.

Secure, automated software-defined WAN (SD-WAN)

When you need an agile, cloud-based solution that meets the performance and security requirements of today’s evolving workplace, Cisco SD-WAN provides comprehensive on-premises and cloud-based security, enabling your organization to transition to a secure access service edge (SASE) architecture where and when it is needed, in a secure and agile manner.

  • Drive business agility with on-premises security and a cloud-delivered SASE model that best fits the needs of your organization.
  • Help ensure end-to-end visibility, segmentation policy management, and security enforcement across the network with a single WAN fabric.
  • Enable full integration with the cloud-delivered Cisco Umbrella® platform for a truly zero-touch experience.

58%

faster implementation of policy and configuration changes

 

65%

lower cost of connectivity

Visibility with actionable insights

Transform your network operations from a reactive to a highly proactive model with enhanced visibility, historical benchmarks, and correlated analytics for actional insights. 

  • Extend your visibility beyond the underlying SD-WAN fabric and into the internet, cloud, and SaaS. 
  • Lower the mean time to identification (MTTI) with fast root-cause isolation to maintain the highest service-level agreements (SLAs) and optimal application performance.
  • Leverage a highly visualized graphic interface that simplifies analysis to help improve your users’ experience.
  • Mitigate network issues in real time with automated dynamic path selection, which automatically steers critical applications around network problems.

48%

average reduction in application latency across major deployments

100%

application uptime during hurricane blackouts for a national food distributor

Direct internet access (DIA)

DIA optimizes branch and remote workloads while increasing security and improving application performance, thereby providing efficient and cost-effective secure access to the network.

  • Accelerate your journey to a SASE architecture with the cloud-delivered Cisco Umbrella platform, which offers protection against potential security blind spots and cyberthreats.
  • Simplify security management using integrated workflows, unified security policies, and threat insights across branches and remote workers.
  • Provide the ability to segment and prioritize network traffic such as critical cloud applications, unified communications, guest access, and more.

94%

reduction in unplanned downtime

33%

more efficient WAN management

The hybrid workplace

Accelerate your transition to a hybrid workplace with Cisco SD-WAN. Extend optimal enterprise WAN and consistent application experience to the branch and remote locations, wherever and whenever it is needed. 

  • Provide a consistent and optimal application experience with seamless connectivity to cloud and SaaS applications.
  • Simplify and automate deployment, configuration, and troubleshooting with centralized management and control. 
  • Deploy a cloud-delivered SASE architecture for unified security policy and compliance across the hybrid workforce.
  • Leverage existing branch infrastructure and extend enterprise-grade SD-WAN in a scalable and distributed manner. 

38%

lower 5-year cost of WAN operations

59%

faster onboarding of new services

Multicloud access

Connect branches and a hybrid workforce to multicloud applications seamlessly with unified visibility and management.

  • Accelerate multicloud access with Cloud OnRamp tools for SaaS and public cloud infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) applications.
  • Optimize Microsoft 365, Webex®, Salesforce, and your critical SaaS applications in real time with visibility and control.
  • Automate provisioning, workflow management, and policy enforcement for migrating infrastructure to all major public clouds, such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud.
  • Provide flexible, secure, and automated connectivity to any cloud environment with middle-mile networks.

40%

improvement in Microsoft 365 performance

Public cloud migration completed in 1 week (estimated 12 months) for a large tech company

Only Cisco can provide integrated, end-to-end security across your WAN, branch, and multicloud.

Sources

Business Value of Cisco SD-WAN Solutions: Studying the Results of Deployed Organizations, IDC, April 2019.

Enterprise Grade SD-WAN, Cisco, 2019.

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