Multi-protocol label switching (MPLS) has powered enterprise-wide area networks (WANs) for decades but there’s a more agile and lower-cost contender in the market: SD-WAN. Not willing to totally dismantle legacy MPLS networks, many enterprises are phasing in SD-WAN architectures that incorporate lower cost network access options such as broadband internet when connecting remote branch sites to existing MPLS backbones to gain greater flexibility and lower CAPEX. This can all be done via software by leveraging agile, cost-effective virtual network functions (VNF) devices. Since SD-WANs route all kinds of traffic—like multiple MPLS providers and internet —it is the perfect complementary solution…

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