Success with software-defined WAN (SD-WAN) implementation
For businesses with global presence and operations, having multiple international branches may impede existing MPLS WAN architecture. This was the case for top 10 accountancy firm, Mazars UK. The existing data centre of Mazars is located in Tower Hill and delivers multi-protocol label switching (MPLS) circuits to sixteen of its offices around the UK.
With its expansions across the globe, Mazars found its existing MPLS architecture was proving to be problematic. The addition of international offices in Sydney, Delhi and New York resulted in disruptions in the performance of its cloud-based applications including Citrix printing capabilities and Skype for video and voice calls.
The solution? Software-defined WAN (SD-WAN) technology, a software that enables better WAN to create secure connections without compromising application performance.
Using a hybrid WAN approach and migrating to a local internet breakout, Mazars was able to eliminate the need to backhaul its application traffic to a central site and reduced its dependance on international MPLS lines. This migration also implemented lower cost, higher bandwidth broadband services to deliver secure, direct branch access to cloud applications.
The SD-WAN solution has provided Mazars with greater control of their WAN while delivering high performance applications and accessibility. The technology has now been deployed across all international offices of Mazars.
David Bennett, chief technology officer (CTO) at Mazars UK said, “The existing WAN infrastructure was designed to support our UK operation however, it was starting to creak and was certainly not capable of supporting us internationally. With the introduction of a range of new cloud-based solutions, we knew that we needed to change our underlying infrastructure to support all our offices – and critical to that was a transport agnostic SD-WAN solution.”
The deployment of SD-WAN technology has seen Mazars reduce overall bandwidth traffic by more than 40 per cent at each office and gain substantial cost savings.
