MTN Business will roll out its SD-WAN (software-defined networking in a wide area network) to existing and new enterprise customers from 25 November 2019.

According to a statement released by the mobile network operators, traditionally, wide area networks have allowed companies to extend their computer networks over large distances - to connect branches or remote offices to datacentres, and to each other - delivering applications and services needed to perform various business functions.

MTN says the increased uptake of WAN services by businesses over time has resulted in some challenges, including network congestion and even service outages.

"Bandwidth requirements have also increased due to the development of more advanced applications, like high-definition video, placing WANs under even more pressure," the company stated.

SD-WAN was developed to address these network problems, and to enable businesses to run their businesses more efficiently ," the company stated.

MTN is positioning its SD-WAN solution to enable businesses to leverage multiprotocol label switching (MPLS), broadband or wireless LTE, to securely connect the users on their networks to relevant applications.

"At its core, this offering is about building higher-performing wide area networks (WANs), using lower-cost and commercially-available internet access. It also allows businesses to switch between available connectivity options, and to mix-and-match them based on bandwidth availability," the operator continued.

In addition, this solution gives customers increased flexibility by allowing them to scale connectivity, up or down, to cater for peak and off-peak demand., it said.

"The advantages of SD-WAN are undeniable. Traditional wide area networks - based on MPLS - simply cannot cope with the exponential increase in bandwidth, cloud connectivity optimisation, and enhanced security needed to deliver against the increased data demands required by businesses today. In as much as other advances in technology have enabled entirely new ways of doing business, SD-WAN is a major plus for organisations wanting to do more with less, and those seeking to transform how they do business," says Sudipto Moitra, General Manager: ICT at MTN Business.

"The availability of our SD-WAN solution is good news for our enterprise customers as it will substantially lower WAN costs, reduce deployment times, offer application resiliency and provide robust security. Coupled with MTN's superior network performance, we are confident that our SD-WAN offering will go a long way towards exceeding the connectivity needs of our customers, and help them simplify the management of their networks," Moitra added.

MTN Business said it stagger the roll out and begin with an entry level solution, "...and building onto this with new value-added services over time."