The global digital economy is prompting South African companies to turn to more agile solutions when it comes to their network management.

This according to BCX, which is why the ICT firm recently debuted a new SD-WAN for local businesses to take advantage of.

“We know that digital transformation is not just about technology,” says Julian Liebenberg, chief of telecommunications solutions at BCX.

Adding that, “digital transformation is achieved by placing next-generation technology at the core of your organisation to enable new, digital-first business models. We regard Software Defined Networks as a major milestone for clients embarking on their digital transformation journey.”

One need look at some of the reports and predictions coming out of the ICT industry to see that an SD-WAN is the answer for businesses whose traffic is now shifting towards the cloud.

Research firm Gartner, for example, notes that 50% of WAN-edge refresh initiatives will be based on SD-WAN by 2020.

In addition to this, BCX has highlighted the networking industry’s constant evolution towards software-defined network function virtualisation (NFV) platforms, where various networking hardware devices like routers and firewalls from different vendors are implemented in software as a single, consolidated network.

They explain that his brings a host of benefits. These include bandwidth and traffic optimisation with network-wide visibility and control, to rapid application deployment.

As such, SD-WAN supports the management of both physical and virtual devices from a central controller, allowing IT managers to create a single management console for their physical and virtual devices.

BCX has also integrated its latest software-defined capabilities into a suite of SD-WAN solution, thanks to partnerships with some of its networking vendors. The result of which should be ability to cater to private and enterprise customer needs, explains the ICT company.

“We know that your business needs a tailored, bespoke solution for networking. We add value by creating customised and scalable solutions to meet even the most complex requirements by combining technologies within our holistic suite of SD-WAN solutions. This means that you only pay for what you need, allowing you to maximise flexibility and cost efficiencies,” concludes Liebenberg.