Vodacom Expands SD-WAN Offering into Africa

Vodacom Business Africa is committed to supporting the internationalisation of multinational businesses into Africa. Testament to this is continuous development of innovative solutions to keep clients securely and reliably connected.

Having successfully deployed its Software-Defined Wide Area Networking (SD-WAN) solution to several businesses in South Africa, Vodacom Business Africa is now making the offering accessible to clients in all 47 operating countries across its African footprint.

“By launching this offering into Africa, we’re eliminating connectivity barriers that growing businesses are contending with. These include increasing cybersecurity threats, escalating data demands and costs, as well as slow or unresponsive digital applications that stall productivity,” explains Wale Odeyemi, Executive Head of Strategic Marketing for Vodacom Business Africa.

The appeal of SD-WAN

SD-WAN is emerging as the go-to solution in business, delivering unmatched performance and cost benefits, including increased agility and quality of service, better reliability and security. SD-WAN boosts efficiency by managing bandwidth availability and usage, traffic routing, and prioritisation of business-critical protocols. When working with business-critical systems and automated processes, this prioritisation is vital, as a connectivity lapse could cause production delays and revenue loss.

This is why clients across multiple industries, from mining and manufacturing to retail, have embraced SD-WAN. The technology offers high-quality connectivity across all sites, even in hard-to-reach locations or in rural areas, where it would otherwise be very difficult, and very costly, to connect.

Why SD-WAN is unique

“Vodacom Business Africa offers an end-to-end SD-WAN solution, meaning we provide both the physical network underlay and the digital overlay so that you don’t have to approach various providers to set up the kind of network you need,” explains Odeyemi. Companies can link to multiple providers and let their software decide which is the fastest, most efficient link to perform specific tasks.

“When choosing our solution, you don’t have to completely replace an existing network, either,” says Odeyemi. “You can simply strengthen what you already have. As an overlay technology, our SD-WAN can run on top of existing carrier-grade multiprotocol label switching connections (MPLS) and across hybrid WANs. Plus, it’s scalable and configurable to meet each business’s needs and pace of growth.”

Furthermore, the Vodacom Business Africa SD-WAN is fully managed by a team of technology experts, streamlines networks across multiple locations locally and internationally, which is crucial for organisations managing multiple data centres and critical branch operations across private and public cloud environments. As a result, clients get enhanced application performance and improved network visibility, and are equipped with a single-pane view of all data usage across multiple assets, whether in remote factories or branch office locations. “This central management is another major drawcard, as it enables the deployment of new branch or data-centre provisions without the costly expert labour traditionally involved with network upgrades,” adds Odeyemi.

“As an ambassador for change, Vodacom Business Africa is helping drive digital transformation across the continent, making emerging technologies both available and accessible to businesses across all industries by equipping them with the necessary tools to compete in the global marketplace,” concludes Odeyemi.