Kumar Ramachandran, Co-Founder and CEO of CloudGenix recently sat with me and explained his vision for software-defined enterprise WANS, which use off-the-shelf hardware and allow corporations to abstract their business processes, utilize hybrid network virtualization and network function projection. SD‐WANs use centralized controllers without relying on interactions with underlying provider transport solutions. De‐coupling the data plane from the control plane, replacing internetworking protocols with APIs and building policies based on application metrics rather than network metrics make this possible according to Kumar.

In case you were wondering – according to the company, the simplest definition of a SD‐WAN is a WAN that utilizes software and virtualization technologies instead of traditional hardware such as routers to connect remote locations.

The company would love for you to learn more by downloading their Dummies book on SD-WANs

He went on to explain the company’s solution provides centralized control and is easily programmable. In fact, by decoupling the data plane, the SD-WAN can effectively use multiple data paths and load-balance applications across them. Obviously there are benefits to having redundancy built into your network solution but another benefit is greater speed as a corporation can leverage all data paths at once.

Another benefit is enhanced security which becomes a consideration when you realize traditional static WANs are becoming a larger target for attack. By controlling the entire WAN edge, security services such as encryption and application firewalling can be rapidly and reliably deployed to the entire WAN – with more visibility and better peace of mind.

The bottom line according to Kumar is with SD-WAN you can securely segment and encrypt the network, manage PCI, HIPAA and SOX compliance, have a secure perimeter, all while sharing a pool of resources in an automated fashion. He concluded that customers are able to utilize the technology with their current network infrastructure today and if they like, migrate to off-the-shelf hardware in the future.

The news seems to be tickling the fancy of investors as well – the company recently closed $25 million in funding led by Bain Capital Ventures on top of the $9 million they closed about a year ago.