We deployed the Cisco SD-WAN FlexVPN version. At the organization I was at, the Cisco SD-WAN solution allowed us to reduce costs by getting off MPLS circuits and using a regular IP provider, cellular provider, or satellite provider for primary and backup networks. The SD-WAN solution cut costs and was well adopted by the IT department since most corporate IT departments are Cisco brand.

Cisco's performance is very good. The branches that we installed went on smoothly. We operate with no complaints. When it comes to management, it's simple. One PIN will allow us visibility into everything. Another thing is troubleshooting; we can see the issues quickly, dig down, and know exactly what the issue is.

Since the new one comes with the included IPSec tool, we don't have any security issues. It's already covered because all the data is fully encrypted between the branch and the office.

One of the benefits of Cisco SD-WAN is cost reduction for customers. In Indonesia, it's costly to use NPLS and Metro for connection, so I always propose using an internet link to communicate between branches to the data center or disaster recovery center. Cisco SD-WAN can provide that service; the product also keeps traffic secure. Some customers may be afraid to use the internet link or connection to communicate between the branches and the data center because of some critical applications, so it may not be the best practice for some customers.

However, as my company is a partner of Cisco, I give the customer the PLC first before providing the solution, and I have customers happy about what I propose, in this case, Cisco SD-WAN.

If a customer wants access to cloud-based collaboration apps, such as WebEx, Google Meet, Zoom, and Teams, Cisco SD-WAN can integrate with Cisco Umbrella for cloud security.

With Cisco SD-WAN, customers can enjoy cost reduction. Customers also don't need to use a third-party DNS or process security solution because Cisco SD-WAN integrates with Cisco Umbrella. This is how beneficial Cisco SD-WAN is to an organization or business.

The integration, scalability, and ROI that Cisco SD-WAN provided are the main features that helped the organization advance further.

Some clients resist switching to new technology and they're also afraid of problems with compatibility and the layout of the NOC. The NOC must change because nowadays new things are happening, but I believe that the beauty of SD-WAN is the vEdge. So for the customers that are afraid of new technologies, we can install the vEdge without spending a lot of money. It's just a virtual machine over there. You can do it on Cisco CSR or even ISR.

So we deploy a new branch or similar branch with this technology and show them. Then they're not afraid of it. It's very easy. Now, vManage is coming. So we have the analytics team, we have all the GUI interfaces so you can create a policy and now deploy it anywhere or you can define it. I believe everything is very easy for the people who want to work with it. 

Technologies are not new. Just the name changes. VPN is the same as VRF, which is the same as Tenant, but the way they're playing with this technology is very different. The method of management is different. I believe that if I show clients what is happening with vManage— the interface, the analytics how you can integrate with them—they will be in love with that. Mostly what I have done is to define and elaborate for them the differences between two solutions, and point out the advantages like visibility and easy management. In the end, but they agree to move to SD-WAN

But I believe that most of the customers are still afraid of SD-WAN because they rely on old solutions. And the old solution was great and working for many years, so they are afraid of the new solution. With vEdge, we have a great way to attract them to make them feel comfortable upgrading everything into the Cisco SD-WAN.

The integration to the LAN could be improved. It should be an end-to-end solution, not only on the WAN side but also on the LAN and wifi, so a full end-to-end solution.

In general, Cisco SD-WAN is a scalable tool that simplifies network management. It can be a great way to transform a legacy network into a more standardized one, which can help reduce operational issues.

Over time, a regular network with different point solutions can become very complex. There are different vendors for WAN, LAN, cloud security firewalls, etc. Each device may be configured separately, and each region may have its own IT team with its own way of working. All of it has created silos over the years. If you want to make a change or a rollout, It takes a lot of time to do a risk and impact assessment because there are hundreds of teams and hundreds of devices. Every device and no team or no region has a similar type of configuration. There is no useability. There are no template extensions. Every device is configured differently depending upon the liking of the individual who has done it on the first go. 

However, with Cisco's SD-WAN, when you manage it through a central dashboard, you use templates, etc. You build that standardized configuration or discipline, for that matter, and you maintain it.

You have a common policy repository, and standard template, and use one template to configure 50 devices or one. If you have 100 similar devices, we do the same thing, which is very easy. It'll be too extreme, but it'll be far easier to understand that if I work 100 branches, this is how the branch organization will look. If I have 50 medium-sized branches or a corporate office, this is how the configuration will look.

The solution gives an immense opportunity for standardizing the network configuration. It reduces mean repair time, mean deployment time, and uses and predictability in operation. This will also improve your first-time deployment because the network is more predictive. Since I've been in the industry for 20 years, every time you make some change, you are 90% expecting one or the other surprises, which you'll have to deal with during the maintenance window. 

Cisco enhances these aspects by providing an opportunity to make networks simpler. Simplicity is crucial for multiple family networks, and Cisco ensures improvement without unnecessary complexity.

This solution has allowed us to implement much more flexible payment models than the current ones. As such, we can better plan the budget that is needed for technology.

In addition to this, it has prompted us to see the cloud differently. We now look with more confidence since the orchestration is SaaS, which is why we do not see a compelling reason to avoid introducing more services in this format. We plan to stop investing in physical or virtual infrastructure, reducing our dependencies on data centers where we host services.

It has allowed us to better understand the client's business. It breaks down a bit the traditional barriers of uptime and SLA and thus we are able to profile the branches in a better way.

Real-time traffic monitoring has become a fundamental tool for clients since it allows them to see what is happening in the moment and thus to be able to estimate trends or to project changes in a better and more assertive way.

The secure connection to the cloud is a gain when evaluating the traditional centralized internet links that generally exist in data centers.

With this SD-WAN solution, all we have to do is configure the VM network. The older reconfiguration could take months or even years because we needed to check, verify, test — this was very hectic. I would say that this solution allows businesses to avoid any unnecessary lengthy network changes. At the same time, necessary network changes can be done quickly and easily.

Before we deployed SD-WAN, we used to have at least two links per branch but could only use one at a time. Now we are able to use all the links together.

Cisco SD-WAN improved the productivity of our organization, in terms of ROI and in terms of the resources they require.

The introduction of Cisco SD-WAN, has make some greate change to our organization in terms of acquiring new knowledge as we are a cisco premium partner, we have to take some training on SD-WAN to understand the knowledge so that it will be easy for us to sell and implement to the end customer

80% reduction in WAN costs.

New sites can be onboarded in hours or days versus many months with carrier based technology. 

The mean time between the failures is much lower than was before. Also, the man-hours required are fewer. Overall, the user experience is better than before this solution.

With Cisco, you can optimize and design the solution in the way you want. For example, you can have 1,000 branches with three or four data centers, and if you can reroute the traffic from one branch to the nearest data center in order to inspect the traffic.

It is good enough to provide normal web access but it doesn't offer any add-ons. We plan to move away from this solution and use the cloud-based firewall that is managed by our provider.

While it is not implemented in our organisation, I have been looking in SDN for quite a while and had some concern about hype and buzz words surrounding development of the subject.

With Viptela (Cisco is buying this start up), it is the golden average on what I would like to see in SDN implementation.

It has improved our connection and bandwidth.