SD-WAN overview

SD-WAN is a software-defined approach to managing Wide-Area Networks (WAN). It consolidates the physical transport connections, or underlays, and monitors and load-balances traffic across the links. VPN overlay networks can be built on top of the underlays to control traffic across different sites.

Health checks and SD-WAN rules define the expected performance and business priorities, allowing the FortiGate to automatically and intelligently route traffic based on the application, internet service, or health of a particular connection.

WAN security and intelligence can be extended into the LAN by incorporating wired and wireless networks under the same domain. FortiSwitch and FortiAP devices integrate seamlessly with the FortiGate to form the foundation of an SD-Branch.

Some of the key benefits of SD-WAN include:

• Reduced cost with transport independence across MPLS, 4G/5G LTE, and others.
• Reduced complexity with a single vendor and single-pane-of-glass management.
• Improve business application performance thanks to increased availability and agility.
• Optimized user experience and efficiency with SaaS and public cloud applications.