What are WAN services? (Wide Area Network services)

In today’s digital landscape, Wide Area Network (WAN) services are the backbone of global business operations, enabling seamless data flow, cloud integration, and real-time communication across vast distances. 

For network engineers and IT leaders, WAN services address crucial challenges like maintaining consistent performance, reducing costs, and ensuring data security across widely dispersed locations.

What you’ll learn:

• A deeper understanding of what WAN services are
• Types of WAN connections
• Key benefits of WAN services
• Why WAN network services are important to a business
• Management challenges in WAN services
• How to choose the right WAN services
• WAN security best practices
• Why you should partner with Meter for your WAN solution

What are WAN services?

Wide Area Networks (WANs) form the backbone of modern enterprise connectivity, enabling organizations to communicate and share data across vast geographical distances. Unlike their smaller counterparts, Local Area Networks (LANs), WANs are designed to connect multiple locations, spanning cities, countries, and even continents.

What truly sets WANs apart from LANs is their scope and capability. While LANs operate within confined spaces like office buildings, WANs excel at connecting dispersed locations, supporting global operations, and managing diverse network requirements. 

This fundamental difference has driven continuous innovation in WAN technology, culminating in modern solutions like SD-WAN technology, which emerged in the 2010s to address the growing demands of mobile and cloud-based operations.

Today's WAN services combine intelligent routing, enhanced security measures, and sophisticated traffic management to ensure seamless business operations across the globe.

Types of WAN services

MPLS (Multiprotocol Label Switching)

MPLS network traffic management represents a sophisticated approach to network traffic management, using predefined short path labels to direct data through the network. Instead of complex routing decisions at each node, MPLS streamlines data flow by assigning labels that determine the packet's path. This technology delivers consistent performance and guaranteed quality of service (QoS), making it ideal for businesses requiring reliable data delivery and minimal latency.

Internet-based WAN

Internet-based WAN solutions leverage the public internet infrastructure to establish secure connections between locations through Virtual Private Networks (VPNs). This approach offers significant cost advantages compared to dedicated lines while maintaining security through encrypted tunneling protocols. Secure VPN tunneling creates secure pathways over the public internet, ensuring data confidentiality and integrity during transmission.

SD-WAN (Software-Defined WAN)

SD-WAN technology has revolutionized network management by separating the control plane from the data plane, enabling centralized network control and automated traffic routing. This modern approach simplifies WAN architectures while providing enhanced visibility and control over network resources. Organizations benefit from intelligent path selection, which automatically routes traffic through the most efficient available connections, whether MPLS, broadband, or cellular networks.

The key advantage of SD-WAN lies in its ability to dynamically manage multiple connection types simultaneously, ensuring optimal performance while reducing costs through efficient bandwidth utilization and simplified network management.

Key benefits of WAN services

Scalability

As companies expand by adding new branches or increasing their workforce, the network infrastructure must keep pace. WANs provide the ability to scale bandwidth and connectivity options, accommodating increased data traffic without sacrificing performance.

For instance, when a new office is established in a different city, WAN services can quickly integrate this location into the existing network, providing the same level of access and security as the central office.

Cost efficiency

Modern WAN solutions cut costs by using affordable broadband instead of pricey MPLS circuits, reducing connectivity expenses. Standard hardware replaces costly proprietary equipment, while centralized management automates processes, lowering operational overhead and minimizing support needs.

Reliability

Some WAN services incorporate redundancy and failover mechanisms, but this depends on the specific solution and configuration used (e.g., MPLS may include these features, but not all WAN technologies do by default). These features include backup routes and automatic switchovers that activate when the primary connection fails.

An example of this would be if a company’s primary leased line experiences an outage, the WAN service can switch to a secondary connection, such as an MPLS or Internet-based VPN, preventing any disruption to operations.

Centralized network management

Managing a network that spans multiple locations can be complex, but WAN services simplify this task by offering centralized management. IT teams can monitor, configure, and troubleshoot the entire network from a single, unified platform.

Centralized management not only simplifies operations but also enables quicker identification and resolution of issues, reducing the time and resources spent on network maintenance. This central oversight is invaluable to network engineers, as it provides visibility across all network segments, allowing potential problems to be addressed before they escalate.

Why are WAN services important for businesses?

WAN services are indispensable for businesses, particularly those with multiple locations or a distributed workforce. The ability to maintain effective communication and collaboration across geographically dispersed teams is no longer a luxury; it’s a fundamental requirement for staying competitive in today’s global market.

Remote work and branch connectivity

As remote work becomes a standard practice, WAN services provide the infrastructure that links employees across different locations. Accessing shared resources, collaborating on projects, and communicating in real time are all made possible through WANs.

Employees, regardless of their location, can access the same tools and information, enabling them to perform their tasks as efficiently as if they were in the same office.

For network engineers, implementing a WAN that meets the specific needs of their organization—whether through dedicated leased lines, MPLS, or SD-WAN solutions—requires careful consideration of both performance and security.

Network redundancy and disaster recovery

Downtime can be costly for any business, and WAN services offer the redundancy needed to maintain operations during network failures. Not all WANs inherently include multiple transmission pathways. It depends on the WAN architecture and redundancy planning, such as implementing backup links or SD-WAN configurations.

For instance, in the event of a natural disaster or major outage, a well-designed WAN can reroute traffic through alternative paths, maintaining the continuity of business operations. It helps to prevent productivity losses but also protects the company’s bottom line by avoiding the financial impacts of prolonged downtime.

Traffic prioritization and improved data flow

Some applications and processes are more important than others, and WAN services allow network administrators to prioritize traffic accordingly. Making sure that applications—such as VoIP, video conferencing, or cloud-based business tools—get the necessary bandwidth, WAN services can help to prevent bottlenecks and maintain optimal network performance.

Effective data flow management is important for maintaining business continuity and delivering consistent user experiences, especially during peak usage times. Configuring these priorities within a WAN is a key task that directly impacts the overall efficiency of the organization.

Management challenges of WAN services

Managing WAN services presents unique challenges that require a focused approach, especially in areas like security, complexity, and performance. For network engineers, tackling these challenges is key to maintaining an effective and secure wide-area network.

Security concerns

One of the primary challenges in WAN management is safeguarding data as it moves across diverse networks. Unlike local data transmission, WAN traffic often passes through multiple touchpoints, each posing potential security risks.

Key security elements in WAN management require focused attention:

• Encryption: Encryption of data in transit is highly recommended, especially for sensitive data, but not universally implemented. Some businesses may use encryption selectively based on risk assessments and compliance requirements. Protocols such as IPsec and SSL/TLS play a central role in protecting data during transfer, making intercepted information unreadable and useless to unauthorized parties.
• Firewalls and secure protocols: Firewalls act as a gatekeeper, filtering traffic and blocking unauthorized access. Their configuration must account for the varied nature of WAN traffic, which includes different data types and applications. Additionally, secure tunneling protocols, like VPNs, add an extra layer of protection by creating encrypted channels for data exchange.
• Compliance and data privacy: For businesses handling sensitive information, adherence to regulations like GDPR or HIPAA is a must. WAN configurations need to enforce stringent data privacy measures across all connections, backed by comprehensive security policies that are uniformly applied throughout the network.

Complexity in configuration and management

WANs are inherently more complex than LANs, given their scale and the variety of technologies involved. Managing this complexity requires a thorough understanding of networking principles and the ability to integrate various systems cohesively.

Managing WAN complexity requires a strategic approach:

• Vendor and technology diversity: A WAN can involve multiple service providers or a single provider offering various technologies. It's common for businesses to use multiple technologies within a single WAN, but this isn't always the case. Coordinating these diverse elements into a single, cohesive network demands careful planning and precise execution. Misconfigurations or incompatibilities can lead to inefficiencies or security vulnerabilities.
• Management tools: The complexity of WANs necessitates the use of advanced management tools that provide comprehensive visibility and control over the network. These tools are indispensable for real-time monitoring, automated alerts, and configuration management, all of which help minimize the risk of human error. Network engineers must be adept with these tools to maintain optimal network performance.
• Staff expertise: Managing a WAN requires specialized knowledge beyond basic networking skills. Network engineers need to be proficient in advanced configurations, troubleshooting, and staying updated with the latest technologies and industry best practices. Ongoing training and education are essential for maintaining a skilled IT team capable of managing a WAN effectively.

Latency and bandwidth issues

WANs, by their nature, span large geographical areas, which introduces challenges related to latency and bandwidth. These factors can significantly impact the performance of applications, particularly those that are time-sensitive or data-intensive.

WANs present unique challenges that impact application performance over large distances:

• Latency: This term means the total time it takes for data to travel from one point to another across a network, not just the delay before the transfer begins. It’s influenced by the physical distance between locations, the quality of communication links, and the number of network hops data must make. High latency degrades the performance of real-time applications like VoIP or video conferencing. Network engineers must consider solutions like SD-WAN to optimize routing and reduce latency.
• Bandwidth management: Managing bandwidth is another critical aspect, as inadequate bandwidth can lead to congestion, where multiple data streams compete for limited resources, resulting in slowdowns and packet loss. Implementing Quality of Service (QoS) policies allows for prioritizing critical traffic and allocating bandwidth more effectively. Regular monitoring and bandwidth assessments help in identifying potential bottlenecks before they impact performance.
• Scalability: As businesses grow, so do their bandwidth needs. WAN solutions must be designed to scale with the organization, allowing for additional capacity to be integrated with minimal disruption.

How to choose the right WAN service for your business

Choosing the right WAN service is a critical decision impacting your network’s performance, security, and scalability. Begin by assessing your current and projected network needs to determine which service aligns best with your operations.

Start with your current and future network needs

Evaluate your business’s needs in terms of bandwidth, reliability, and security. 

For example, high-demand applications like video conferencing and large file transfers require a WAN solution that can handle substantial data traffic smoothly. 

Reliability is crucial if your operations depend on uninterrupted access to data, so prioritize options with strong failover capabilities to minimize downtime. 

If your business handles sensitive data, a WAN service with solid encryption and secure protocols is essential to protect information as it moves across the network.

Compare different WAN technologies

Each WAN technology has distinct advantages:

• MPLS is known for high reliability and quality of service, ideal for businesses needing consistent, low-latency connectivity, though it is typically more costly.
• SD-WAN allows for centralized management and cost-effective scaling, using multiple transport services like MPLS, broadband, and LTE. This flexibility makes it suitable for growing businesses that need adaptability without sacrificing performance.
• Internet-based VPNs offer a secure connection over the public Internet at an affordable price, although they may not deliver the same low-latency performance as MPLS or SD-WAN for real-time applications.

Plan for growth with an eye on flexibility

Your WAN solution should be able to grow with your business. Solutions like SD-WAN simplify the addition of new sites and can handle increased data traffic without extensive configuration. 

Flexibility is also important for adapting to future needs; a scalable WAN should support technologies like IoT and edge computing as they become relevant.

Weighing costs against long-term value

Consider both the upfront and long-term costs. While some options might require a larger initial investment, they can ultimately save you from future expenses associated with network downtime or security risks. 

Additionally, reliable vendor support is vital for maintaining performance, especially during upgrades or critical times like outages.

WAN security best practices

Securing your WAN is important to protecting your network and sensitive data. Here are practical measures to enhance WAN security:

• Encryption, firewalls, and secure protocols: Encrypt data as it travels across the network to keep it inaccessible without proper decryption. Use firewalls to filter traffic and secure protocols like IPsec for VPNs to safeguard communication between remote sites.
• Threat detection: Implement real-time monitoring tools like IDS/IPS to detect and respond to suspicious activities promptly. These systems can identify threats based on known signatures or unusual patterns, helping you act quickly to mitigate risks.
• Regular updates and patches: Apply security patches regularly to all network devices. Automating this process can help minimize vulnerabilities and reduce the risk of attacks that exploit outdated software.

Next steps: Advantages of Meter Connect for WAN services

Meter offers comprehensive WAN services that simplify network management and enhance security. Adopting Meter’s WAN services allows you to optimize network performance while reducing the workload on your IT team.

Discover how Meter Connect can simplify your business’s WAN service needs by handling Internet service provider negotiations, setting up new connections, and providing ongoing maintenance.

Meter also offers complete Network as a Service (NaaS) solutions, including features like managing your entire WAN through a unified Meter dashboard for streamlined network monitoring.