SD-WAN
Technology & Computing abbreviation · Networking
| Stands for | Software-defined wide area network |
|---|---|
| Categories | Technology & Computing |
SD-WAN stands for Software-defined wide area network, a networking abbreviation.
Manages the links between branch offices, data centers and cloud services centrally in software, steering each application's traffic over the best available connection, such as broadband, 5G or MPLS. It lets companies replace or supplement costly private circuits with cheaper internet links.
Example: After the SD-WAN rollout, stores fail over to LTE automatically when the fiber goes down.
Usage notes
The term spread around 2014 to 2016 as startups such as Viptela, VeloCloud and Silver Peak, all later acquired by larger vendors, sold appliances with cloud dashboards. SD-WAN typically encrypts traffic between sites and applies policies per application. It is often bundled with cloud-delivered security under the SASE label.
Related abbreviations
More networking abbreviations
- RDP – Remote Desktop Protocol
- RFC – Request for Comments
- RIP – Routing Information Protocol
- RIR – Regional internet registry
- RTT – Round-trip time
- SAN – Storage area network
- SDN – Software-defined networking
- SFTP – SSH File Transfer Protocol
- SMB – Server Message Block
- SMTP – Simple Mail Transfer Protocol
- SNI – Server Name Indication
- SNMP – Simple Network Management Protocol