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Analyzing the Core Performance Difference in SD-WANs

Gary Sevounts

SD-WAN solutions have been making inroads into the enterprise by delivering application performance improvements, reducing network complexity at branch offices, and reducing costs in some cases, but buyer beware: There are two primary underlying connectivity options, and application response times for one are four times better than the other.

That was one of the core findings of Aryaka's State of SD-WAN Connectivity Report that compared the performance of Internet transport links — which many SD-WANs rely on — to an SD-WAN that uses a private backbone that isn't susceptible to the vagaries of the public Internet.

It is that basic difference in transport — public vs. private — that separates the SD-WAN players. And while both approaches will save you money compared to legacy MPLS networks, if global mission-critical application performance is a key concern for your next generation WAN, you'll need to shop carefully.

Taking a Measure

To compare the performance of the two approaches, Aryaka set up a global test bed and then sent a randomly generated 100 KB file between locations using the Internet and then using a global cloud-native private SD-WAN. Statistics were collected on HTTP result codes, connect times and transfer times. When the HTTP result code was non-zero, the application response time was calculated as connect time plus transfer time.

Once the data was captured — end points for the test ranged from San Jose and Chicago to London, Frankfurt, Dubai, Johannesburg, Beijing and Shanghai — it was analyzed for two key parameters that influence application performance: average response time, and variation in application response time.

The upshot:

■ On average the private network provided 4.1 times better application response time compared to Internet links, and 2.5 times less variation in response time.

■ What's more, there were times when the response rate over longer Internet links — for example, between San Jose and Shanghai — took a full 4 seconds (4,000 milliseconds). That's simply unacceptable for enterprise applications in this day and age.

Not surprisingly, response times and the variation in response times for the Internet links tended to vary by circuit length and by geographic region. The analysis showed, for example, response time fluctuations between 750 milliseconds and 2 seconds on Internet links between Dallas and Dubai. Three quarters of a second is an uncomfortable application delay in and of itself, but big swings like that will frustrate users.

By comparison, the average response time on the private SD-WAN between Dallas and Dubai was 0.375 seconds, and the average response rate on that link varied by only 12.5 percent. This lower variation helps deliver a more consistent user experience, especially for voice and video applications.

When it Comes to SaaS

The analysis showed that using the Internet as the underlying transport can offer a low-cost, flexible and rapid deployment option for regional deployments, but companies with resources spread around the world need to look at the bigger picture, especially if the SD-WAN will be used to support links to cloud/SaaS applications. Accessing those applications over local, Internet-based SD-WAN links may work fine, but the user experience deteriorates significantly with an increase in distance. Latency, packet loss and jitter are inherent to the Internet and these issues are aggravated with distance.

Historically, Internet-based SD-WANs have been effective at simplifying branch connectivity and driving cost savings from a regional perspective. However, global enterprises that are forced to go over the Internet for most cloud- and SaaS-based applications, experience lost productivity and poor end user experience due to slow application performance. This data highlights the faster and more consistent way to deliver business-critical applications. IT leaders in global enterprise must deploy an SD-WAN solution with a cloud-native private network if they want to ensure real-time delivery of their most essential applications.

And make no mistake, the shift to cloud/SaaS is well underway. In a separate study of traffic on the Aryaka backbone, almost half of the traffic already uses HTTP and HTTPS, the protocols that support cloud/SaaS applications.

The reality is you are going to sacrifice user experience/productivity if you rely on SD-WANs that use Internet links. A SD-WAN based on a fully managed, global private network shrinks the perceived distance between locations to deliver an application performance experience that is nearly identical to those where applications and users are located in the same geographic region.

Before you pull the trigger on that next generation global WAN, make sure you carefully weigh all the facts.

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Analyzing the Core Performance Difference in SD-WANs

Gary Sevounts

SD-WAN solutions have been making inroads into the enterprise by delivering application performance improvements, reducing network complexity at branch offices, and reducing costs in some cases, but buyer beware: There are two primary underlying connectivity options, and application response times for one are four times better than the other.

That was one of the core findings of Aryaka's State of SD-WAN Connectivity Report that compared the performance of Internet transport links — which many SD-WANs rely on — to an SD-WAN that uses a private backbone that isn't susceptible to the vagaries of the public Internet.

It is that basic difference in transport — public vs. private — that separates the SD-WAN players. And while both approaches will save you money compared to legacy MPLS networks, if global mission-critical application performance is a key concern for your next generation WAN, you'll need to shop carefully.

Taking a Measure

To compare the performance of the two approaches, Aryaka set up a global test bed and then sent a randomly generated 100 KB file between locations using the Internet and then using a global cloud-native private SD-WAN. Statistics were collected on HTTP result codes, connect times and transfer times. When the HTTP result code was non-zero, the application response time was calculated as connect time plus transfer time.

Once the data was captured — end points for the test ranged from San Jose and Chicago to London, Frankfurt, Dubai, Johannesburg, Beijing and Shanghai — it was analyzed for two key parameters that influence application performance: average response time, and variation in application response time.

The upshot:

■ On average the private network provided 4.1 times better application response time compared to Internet links, and 2.5 times less variation in response time.

■ What's more, there were times when the response rate over longer Internet links — for example, between San Jose and Shanghai — took a full 4 seconds (4,000 milliseconds). That's simply unacceptable for enterprise applications in this day and age.

Not surprisingly, response times and the variation in response times for the Internet links tended to vary by circuit length and by geographic region. The analysis showed, for example, response time fluctuations between 750 milliseconds and 2 seconds on Internet links between Dallas and Dubai. Three quarters of a second is an uncomfortable application delay in and of itself, but big swings like that will frustrate users.

By comparison, the average response time on the private SD-WAN between Dallas and Dubai was 0.375 seconds, and the average response rate on that link varied by only 12.5 percent. This lower variation helps deliver a more consistent user experience, especially for voice and video applications.

When it Comes to SaaS

The analysis showed that using the Internet as the underlying transport can offer a low-cost, flexible and rapid deployment option for regional deployments, but companies with resources spread around the world need to look at the bigger picture, especially if the SD-WAN will be used to support links to cloud/SaaS applications. Accessing those applications over local, Internet-based SD-WAN links may work fine, but the user experience deteriorates significantly with an increase in distance. Latency, packet loss and jitter are inherent to the Internet and these issues are aggravated with distance.

Historically, Internet-based SD-WANs have been effective at simplifying branch connectivity and driving cost savings from a regional perspective. However, global enterprises that are forced to go over the Internet for most cloud- and SaaS-based applications, experience lost productivity and poor end user experience due to slow application performance. This data highlights the faster and more consistent way to deliver business-critical applications. IT leaders in global enterprise must deploy an SD-WAN solution with a cloud-native private network if they want to ensure real-time delivery of their most essential applications.

And make no mistake, the shift to cloud/SaaS is well underway. In a separate study of traffic on the Aryaka backbone, almost half of the traffic already uses HTTP and HTTPS, the protocols that support cloud/SaaS applications.

The reality is you are going to sacrifice user experience/productivity if you rely on SD-WANs that use Internet links. A SD-WAN based on a fully managed, global private network shrinks the perceived distance between locations to deliver an application performance experience that is nearly identical to those where applications and users are located in the same geographic region.

Before you pull the trigger on that next generation global WAN, make sure you carefully weigh all the facts.

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According to Auvik's 2025 IT Trends Report, 60% of IT professionals feel at least moderately burned out on the job, with 43% stating that their workload is contributing to work stress. At the same time, many IT professionals are naming AI and machine learning as key areas they'd most like to upskill ...

Businesses that face downtime or outages risk financial and reputational damage, as well as reducing partner, shareholder, and customer trust. One of the major challenges that enterprises face is implementing a robust business continuity plan. What's the solution? The answer may lie in disaster recovery tactics such as truly immutable storage and regular disaster recovery testing ...

IT spending is expected to jump nearly 10% in 2025, and organizations are now facing pressure to manage costs without slowing down critical functions like observability. To meet the challenge, leaders are turning to smarter, more cost effective business strategies. Enter stage right: OpenTelemetry, the missing piece of the puzzle that is no longer just an option but rather a strategic advantage ...

Amidst the threat of cyberhacks and data breaches, companies install several security measures to keep their business safely afloat. These measures aim to protect businesses, employees, and crucial data. Yet, employees perceive them as burdensome. Frustrated with complex logins, slow access, and constant security checks, workers decide to completely bypass all security set-ups ...

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Cloudbrink's Personal SASE services provide last-mile acceleration and reduction in latency

In MEAN TIME TO INSIGHT Episode 13, Shamus McGillicuddy, VP of Research, Network Infrastructure and Operations, at EMA discusses hybrid multi-cloud networking strategy ... 

In high-traffic environments, the sheer volume and unpredictable nature of network incidents can quickly overwhelm even the most skilled teams, hindering their ability to react swiftly and effectively, potentially impacting service availability and overall business performance. This is where closed-loop remediation comes into the picture: an IT management concept designed to address the escalating complexity of modern networks ...

In 2025, enterprise workflows are undergoing a seismic shift. Propelled by breakthroughs in generative AI (GenAI), large language models (LLMs), and natural language processing (NLP), a new paradigm is emerging — agentic AI. This technology is not just automating tasks; it's reimagining how organizations make decisions, engage customers, and operate at scale ...

In the early days of the cloud revolution, business leaders perceived cloud services as a means of sidelining IT organizations. IT was too slow, too expensive, or incapable of supporting new technologies. With a team of developers, line of business managers could deploy new applications and services in the cloud. IT has been fighting to retake control ever since. Today, IT is back in the driver's seat, according to new research by Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) ...

In today's fast-paced and increasingly complex network environments, Network Operations Centers (NOCs) are the backbone of ensuring continuous uptime, smooth service delivery, and rapid issue resolution. However, the challenges faced by NOC teams are only growing. In a recent study, 78% state network complexity has grown significantly over the last few years while 84% regularly learn about network issues from users. It is imperative we adopt a new approach to managing today's network experiences ...

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From growing reliance on FinOps teams to the increasing attention on artificial intelligence (AI), and software licensing, the Flexera 2025 State of the Cloud Report digs into how organizations are improving cloud spend efficiency, while tackling the complexities of emerging technologies ...