The massive shift to distributed and hybrid work models has challenged legacy network architectures that are straining to connect and secure a mobile workforce. As remote has become permanent for lots of us, a new networking paradigm has emerged to provide enterprise-grade connectivity and protection everywhere work happens – one delivered through the cloud. The good folk at Hillstone Networks (more info) explain technologies like SD-WAN are paving the way.

The Distributed Enterprise 

Business properties are decentralized, with employees, data and applications dispersing beyond central offices to new locations. Work from home means knowledge workers access enterprise apps and resources remotely via personal networks full-time, with ad hoc home Wi-Fi replacing wired ports.  

As well as this, secondary branch offices have proliferated, moving critical services like CRM closer to where customers are at. Consistent experience is crucial. Mobile users like sales and field teams access enterprise systems constantly on the go via hotels, coffee shops and other transient connections outside IT control.

This distribution strains legacy hub-and-spoke network models that are predicated on concentrated, owned infrastructure. We need alternative approaches to provide enterprise-level support outside the data center.

Challenges with Remote Access

Traditionally, remote users connected back to the enterprise via VPN tunnels using client software on laptops. VPN provides site-to-site encryption for secure access over the public internet. This model faces challenges though. VPN tunnels add latency, throttle bandwidth, and increase jitter for voice and video critical to collaboration, ultimately hurting productivity.  

As the remote paradigm transitions from temporary to permanent, legacy remote access needs a redesign so as to provide enterprise-grade user experience, flexibility, and security everywhere work happens.

Enter the SD-WAN Paradigm

Software-defined networking introduces a cloud-delivered architecture that overcomes remote access challenges while simplifying branch networking. SD-WANs act as a cloud-based network overlay, abstracting connectivity services from the physical transport layer.

They assess real-time route conditions to shift traffic away from congestion and outages to maximize reliability and performance, which keep apps smooth. Contextual policies map application needs like latency and bandwidth to underlying network characteristics, ultimately matching apps to the right transport. 

Leveraging cloud intelligence and agility means SD-WANs adapt dynamically to power optimal remote user experience while also enabling direct, secure internet access everywhere.

Maximizing the Cloud’s Potential 

Complementing the network transformation, and maximizing cloud productivity for distributed teams requires embracing cloud-native architectures differently from legacy designs. This includes prioritizing SaaS apps over legacy clients to enable unified collaboration across locations and reduce dependency on centralized infrastructure.

Connecting branch and mobile users directly to closest cloud points of presence optimizes performance on cloud-destined traffic rather than routing solely through data centers. This distributing of traffic intelligently across multi-cloud deployments and based on application needs, costs and geo-locations provides built-in redundancy and scale.

Migrating apps to distributed cloud architectures relieves centralized bottlenecks while bringing services closer to users. Cloud and SD-WANs integrate to deliver seamless experience.

Securing the Distributed Edge

With the workforce and apps decentralized, security must also be distributed using cloud intelligence. This involves integrating identity-based access through cloud directories to enable secure sign-on from any device or location instead of solely VPNs and implementing least-privilege access.

Additional aspects are software-defining micro-segmentation to limit application tier communication to only essential ports and protocols and prevent lateral movement after intrusions, as well as inspecting web and cloud app traffic inline using continuously updated global threat intelligence to block newly discovered malware and hacking techniques.

Conclusion

Converging remote desktops, cloud office apps, phone systems and team chat into unified workspaces accessible anywhere with single sign-on simplicity will eliminate friction. With thoughtful design, remote-first paradigms don’t just work – they unlock productivity and creativity by erasing geographic divides. The future enterprise rests on user experience.