Stratus Deploys SD-WAN via Teltonika Networks RUTX Devices
#rutx, #2024, #usecase
Enterprise networking solutions are always down for prioritising network scalability, reliability, and high performance. Amidst these demands, technologies such as MPLS and SD-WAN have become the helping hand that strives to meet such criteria effectively. If you’re curious about what are SD-WAN and MPLS, including how SD-WAN distinguishes itself from MPLS, this article covers it all.
Managing network infrastructure in companies with many branch offices or remote workers can be tough and complex, to say the least. Most concerns derive from technical, security, and administrative challenges, as having control over endpoints distributed in different locations calls for none other than centralised management. Though, to make matters more complicated, this centralised control must also align with local network requirements and conditions.
Centralised management is a great option for controlling multiple remote endpoints securely, but achieving it through traditional methods like SNMP demands more manual configuration. Ultimately, this can be an inefficient solution which costs time and human labour that’s prone to errors, network vulnerabilities, and inconsistencies.
WHAT IS MPLS?
Due to such challenges, many enterprise companies have leaned towards MPLS, which stands for multiprotocol label switching. MPLS is often used to facilitate more efficient centralised management by configuring routing traffic using the shortest path within an organisation’s WAN.
This multiprotocol label switching can reduce the need for manual configuration, mitigate errors, and enhance network performance and security. However, it comes with its own limitations and cost.
A multiprotocol network is generally more expensive to maintain and it’s less adaptable to changes in network demands since it’s dependant and tied to physical infrastructure. Additionally, it lacks detailed visibility and control over a company’s network and is not inherently designed to connect to cloud-based services directly.
A much more convenient, efficient, and secure way of achieving centralised management with the most benefits is with SD-WAN.
This is something our partners at STRATUS Bilişim Sistemleri, a software engineering and distribution company from Istanbul, Türkiye, made possible. Utilising our software development kit (SDK) found in RutOS and WitchOS, the company successfully implemented its Qetra SDWAN — a firmware that enables SD-WAN functionality on our RUTX-series routers.
WHAT IS SD-WAN?
SD-WAN is an acronym for software-defined wide-area networking. It’s a technology that separates the control mechanism of WAN traffic and other networking decisions from physical hardware, like routers or Ethernet switches, that data travels through. It’s almost like SD-WAN controls the brain behind your networking solutions’ brawn.
SD-WAN, similarly to MPLS, enables a more efficient way of optimising performance and reducing costs over your WAN network by directing traffic across the most efficient routes. However, SD-WAN establishes it differently than MPLS due to their different operating architectures and methodologies.
MPLS works on a predetermined path through the network and can’t dynamically change the package’s route in response to network congestion happening in real time. On the contrary, SD-WAN continuously monitors a networking solution’s infrastructure and can dynamically route traffic over the best available path based on real-time network conditions.
MAIN SD-WAN BENEFITS
Software-defined WAN is great for many reasons, which are especially vital for enterprise Internet requirements. Key SD-WAN benefits include its ease of use and effectiveness over centralised control.
SD-WAN automates and simplifies WAN management of remote endpoints. With just a few initial configurations, this technology does the rest of the job while allowing you to have great visibility over the entire network infrastructure at all times. SD-WAN is also great for its capability to support cloud-based applications.
This technology is also much more affordable than other solutions, like MPLS, and can further overcome challenges related to security or network adjustments. SD-WAN has integrated Firewall and data encryption features and offers flexibility for quick adaptation to varying needs, like bandwidth demands, without having to perform any changes to physical infrastructure.
DO TELTONIKA NETWORKS DEVICES SUPPORT SD-WAN?
By themselves, Teltonika Networks devices do not support SD-WAN. However, we did publish a use case in collaboration with STRATUS that shows our devices’ capability to support the technology as long as they contain appropriate software.
The Dual Band Wi-fi Router Connectivity for Ferry Passengers use case presents how STRATUS equips Istanbul’s ferries with network connectivity shared among their passengers using our RUTX12 cellular router. Here, SD-WAN plays a crucial role in routing data packets coming from passengers’ phones to the Internet, delivering the packets quickly and smoothly.
HOW DID STRATUS IMPLEMENT SD-WAN?
The most important note to take is that none of this would be possible without the SDK feature that runs on our RutOS. Since the RUTX12 4G router runs on RutOS, STRATUS was able to integrate its Qetra SDWAN using the SDK feature.
It’s also important to note that STRATUS can enable SD-WAN technology only in our RUTX-series devices due to their satisfactory memory requirements, CPU, and flash storage capabilities – all necessary for efficient SD-WAN operation.
With this STRATUS’s Qetra SDWAN, the software-defined WAN enabled the management and configuration of all LTE routers from a central location. Additionally, if new devices would have to be added, SD-WAN ensured this task was completed as easily as possible.
SD-WAN does so thanks to its scalability. This technology can accommodate new network connection sites or devices without having to deal with infrastructure changes that would generally have to be done in traditional WAN networking solutions.
Erkan Tuğral, Chief Operating Officer at STRATUS, adds: “such a setup is not only relevant in mobile cases like the ferry one. Small enterprises, like shops or online retailers, can benefit from centralised management provided by SD-WAN as well. With this technology in hand, they can access and analyse the desired infrastructure services, increase speeds of large-scale operations, and minimise operating costs, which everyone highly appreciates.”
THE RUTX DOES IT AGAIN
Yet again, RUTX-series devices prove their worth to our clients and meet the demands of their networking solutions. Not only are they robust and powerful, but these cellular routers can be customised to support far more than you might think.
Need proof of that? Then have a chat with us, and we’ll guide you through the whole process, from picking the right networking devices to implementing unique solutions with them.
