Multiple VLANs in Wide Area Networks

There’s been much hype around “SDN” (software defined networking) recently. The problem is that there are no standards (so you are locked into a single vendor), plus you need a physical network before you can define it with the software (often forgotten in the glossy brochures)!

Many of the benefits can be realised by using Multiple VLANs on a LAN or WAN. Not all WANs (wide area networks) support multiple VLANs, but if you can find one that does, there are a lot of benefits.

Multiple VLANs enable different types of traffic to be separated and treated differently: Inter-office data; VoIP telephony; public WiFi; user groups;  Citrix; internet downloads; etc.

Quality of Service is an obvious differentiator in this type of network, but different traffic types can also be delivered to different parts of the network (e.g. dedicated servers, gateways).

Variable VLANs can permit parts of the network to expand and contract to make the best use of bandwidth available (just like SDN, but automatically!)

Spend a bit of time working out how you could benefit from Multiple VLANs and Variable VLANs – I bet you can think of more examples than I can!

Of course, all this needs a modern private network solution with an underlying VPLS (Virtual Private LAN Service) protocol……

OAK Telecom provides an excellent range of solutions suitable for different customer types.

Inject Simplicity into Your Broadband Networking, as well as cost savings for your Organisation.

Tim Herring, OAK Telecom, 04 1733 9883, therring@oaktelecom.com