Legacy WAN edge

For decades, the hub-and-spoke network architecture portrayed in the following image has been commonplace. All network traffic flows through the central corporate datacenter—including traffic moving from branch locations to the internet. Branch traffic travels to the datacenter using dedicated connections, usually multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) circuits.

But a set of forces collectively known as digital transformation (DX) is quickly changing that model. These trends include the digitization of virtually everything in business, the emergence and growth of cloud-based services like Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), and the proliferation of Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices at the network edge. Together, these revolutionary changes necessitate new approaches to networking.

To address the needs of such a widely distributed network, many businesses have embraced solutions, such as a software-defined WAN (SD-WAN), alongside lower-cost connectivity options for businesses. As a result, many organizations have undertaken major WAN edge transformation projects in recent years.

To support these goals, Fortinet Secure SD-WAN leverages:

• Path failover

  Moving flows from an under-performing transport to a transport that performs better

• Remote destination monitoring and steering

  Detecting issues at a remote location and re-routing traffic through optimal paths

• Link aggregation

  Taking advantage of multiple WAN transports

• Active path performance metrics

  Viewing WAN underlay metrics and trends

• Application performance improvement

  Improving user experience by using a variety of techniques, such as Forward Error Correction, Packet Duplication, QoS, and WAN Optimization

Logically speaking, Fortinet SD-WAN determines which path best meets performance expectations or service-level agreements (SLAs) for a particular application, and assigns application flows to that WAN path.