The explosion in the use of IoT devices is extending the network edge to encompass vehicles, manufacturing equipment, wearable devices, and more. IDC estimates there will be 55.7 billion connected IoT devices (or “things”) by 2025, generating almost 80 billion zettabytes of data.
Unfortunately, IoT devices and data are targets for bad actors due to a lack of strong security controls, as it’s not practical to deploy cybersecurity software clients to every device. To combat this vulnerability, companies must centralize visibility and control over the increasing numbers and variety of IoT devices, sensors, and data no matter where they are.
SD-WAN from Cox Business takes a software-based approach to secure networking that can scale efficiently to handle the increasing number of connections and volume of data generated by IoT devices.
What is SD-WAN?
Great question. Software-Defined Wide Area Networking (SD-WAN) is a networking solution that simplifies WAN management by using a centralized, cloud-based control mechanism to route traffic. SD-WAN also uses diverse connections, including MPLS and broadband (e.g., cable, DSL and LTE), to deliver high-performance networks that are scalable, secure, and affordable.
How Do IoT Sensors Leverage SD-WAN?
SD-WAN solutions can extend beyond traditional internet traffic to support IoT environments. Traditionally, hundreds or thousands of IoT sensors collect data on IoT devices and send them to a centralized repository for analysis. SD-WAN can connect these IoT sensors with the data repository, transferring the benefits of SD-WAN’s high-performance, flexible network to IoT. From there, network administrators can control their IoT environments from a centralized location just as they do their business networks.
Why Is SD-WAN Ideal for IoT?
SD-WAN is critical to empowering modern IoT solutions. That’s because IoT solutions are complicated, leveraging a mix of wired and wireless connections with varied protocols, speeds and media types, which SD-WAN easily handles.
In addition, SD-WAN enables businesses to:
- Prioritize critical IoT data and send it through the optimum connectivity options
- Detect WAN congestion or outage and automatically route IoT traffic to circumvent them
- Simplify IoT deployments by reducing the need for backend hardware
- Centralize management, enabling consistent configurations and policy enforcement across all IoT devices
- Enhance security by segmenting the WAN and preventing malicious actors from using IoT access points as a gateway to infiltrate a network
- Reduce costs by connecting IoT devices with low-cost broadband connections
Why Choose Cox Business SD-WAN for IoT Connectivity?
Cox Business’ SD-WAN solutions can enable your business to expand its IoT environment today and tomorrow. We ensure network protection with enterprise-level security, reduce costs while optimizing bandwidth and deliver customized deployments tailored to your business needs.
