OREANDA-NEWS. June 24, 2016. CenturyLink, Inc. (NYSE: CTL) today announced the market introduction of CenturyLink® SD-WAN, a fully managed software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN) solution. CenturyLink SD-WAN, the latest solution in the company's advanced networking services portfolio, unifies network management across disparate network types, creating an agile, responsive wide area network. To ease customer adoption of this wide area network technology, CenturyLink is providing businesses with an exclusive proof-of-concept program.

"Cloud-based applications, media streaming, video surveillance, enhanced analytics and in-store experience continue to push the network needs of the enterprise. Without significant increases to their traditional private network budgets, enterprises are challenged to meet these ever-growing demands, improve the end-user experience and ensure security and application performance," said CenturyLink Chief Technology Officer Aamir Hussain. "CenturyLink SD-WAN offers a game-changing approach, enabling an instantly better network experience and addressing many of the common pain points faced by organizations that need high-speed, cost-effective network services for numerous locations."

CenturyLink SD-WAN addresses business needs for:CenturyLink's free-of-charge, 90-day proof-of-concept offer is designed for businesses interested in testing SD-WAN within their wide area network. CenturyLink will provide the customer-premise devices, access to an intuitive management portal and full customer support for up to five sites to showcase the substantial improvements this groundbreaking network technology can bring to businesses.CenturyLink SD-WAN enables software-based centralized control to deliver full-featured private networks over any available connectivity. CenturyLink SD-WAN bundles site connectivity, equipment, software licensing, configuration, performance tuning and monitoring with a comprehensive management and analytics portal. Customers can manage their own policies or have CenturyLink manage their policies. CenturyLink also can manage connectivity from a wide range of providers as part of an aggregated solution. Customers can build standalone SD-WAN networks or pursue hybrid approaches that seamlessly integrate MPLS and SD-WAN connected sites.

  • Unified management – One network manager that ties disparate networks and access types into a more agile, responsive wide area network that is easy to administer.
  • Access to bandwidth – Leverage broadband connectivity for bandwidth-intensive applications.
  • Speed and agility – Turn up new locations quickly and easily.
  • Simplicity – Add on-demand features that previously required hardware procurement.
  • Security – Access, implement and enforce a broad array of security controls.
  • Economic pricing – Reduce capital expenses and operating expenses for equipment, maintenance and staffing.
  • Visibility – Monitor network and application performance at any point in the network, with access to broad and granular analytics and reporting.
  • Reliability – Experience uniform service levels across all locations, thanks to flexible carrier choices and the ability to scale using network functions virtualization (NFV).
  • Integration – Extend and complement existing network services, such as MPLS and Ethernet, through integration into the SD-WAN platform.
  • Proactive customer support – Access personal support, ongoing performance tuning and recommendations from CenturyLink.

The emerging market for SD-WAN services is expected to expand rapidly. Research firm IDC recently noted that nearly 70 percent of organizations expect to use SD-WAN in the next 18 months and the market could reach approximately \\$6 billion annually by 2020*.

CenturyLink SD-WAN is being piloted today by more than 10 enterprises and will be generally available in Q3 2016. For more information, visit the CenturyLink SD-WAN product page.

* Source: IDC at Interop Las Vegas — Delivering Digital Transformation at Scale: Network Trends and Architectures, May 2016

About CenturyLink
CenturyLink (NYSE: CTL) is a global communications, hosting, cloud and IT services company enabling millions of customers to transform their businesses and their lives through innovative technology solutions. CenturyLink offers network and data systems management, Big Data analytics and IT consulting, and operates more than 55 data centers in North America, Europe and Asia. The company provides broadband, voice, video, data and managed services over a robust 250,000-route-mile U.S. fiber network and a 300,000-route-mile international transport network. Visit CenturyLink for more information.