Wide Area Network — Reliable, Low-Latency Connectivity Across Sites, Clouds & Users
A WAN (Wide Area Network) links your branches, campuses, data centers, and clouds into one reliable fabric.
SolveForce designs WANs that are application-aware, secure-by-default, and evidence-rich—combining SD-WAN, MPLS/VPLS, Lit/Wavelength/Dark Fiber, fixed/mobile/satellite underlays, and cloud on-ramps with clear SLOs.
Related pillars:
🔀 SD-WAN → /sd-wan • 🛡️ SASE / ZTNA → /sase / /ztna • 🧭 BGP → /bgp-management
🧵 Underlays → Fiber /fiber-internet • MPLS /mpls • VPLS /vpls • Wavelength /wavelength • Dark Fiber /dark-fiber • Lit Fiber /lit-fiber • Fixed Wireless /fixed-wireless • LTE/5G /mobile-connectivity • Satellite /satellite-internet
☁️ On-Ramps → /direct-connect • 🖧 Fabric → /networks-and-data-centers • 🌐 Catalog → /connectivity
🎯 Outcomes (Why SolveForce WAN)
- Deterministic performance — per-app SLOs for loss/latency/jitter; failover measured in seconds.
- Resilience by design — dual underlays (fiber + wireless/satellite), diverse POPs/paths, and rapid brownout steering.
- Cloud-ready — private on-ramps (Direct Connect/ExpressRoute/Interconnect) with policy-based routing. → /direct-connect
- Security built-in — SASE/Zero Trust for users, encryption (IPsec/MACsec/L1) for links, and microsegmentation for east-west. → /sase • /microsegmentation
- Audit-grade evidence — turn-up baselines, SLO dashboards, and carrier tickets exported to SIEM/SOAR. → /siem-soar
🧭 Scope (What We Build & Operate)
- Topologies — hub-and-spoke, partial/full mesh, regional hubs, cloud-edge, and Anycast front doors.
- Overlays — SD-WAN for app-aware routing, brownout detection, packet duplication/FEC. → /sd-wan
- Underlays — DIA fiber, MPLS/VPLS, Wavelength/Lit/Dark Fiber, fixed wireless, LTE/5G, satellite.
- Cloud WAN — on-ramps, Private Link/Endpoints, policy routing to VPC/VNet workloads.
- Routing — BGP for multi-homing, policy & communities; OSPF/IS-IS internally. → /bgp-management
- Encryption — L3 IPsec, L2 MACsec, optional L1 encryption on waves. → /encryption
🧱 Building Blocks (Spelled Out)
- Class-based SLOs (per app): EF/AF/BE mapping, loss/latency/jitter thresholds, brownout vs blackout behavior.
- Path diversity: separate laterals, conduits, bridges, and POPs; request diversity letters.
- QoS: EF for voice/telemetry; AF for interactive; shape/back-pressure for bulk.
- DNS & Anycast: nearest healthy entry points; health-based withdraw at the edge.
- Security: SASE SWG/CASB/FWaaS/ZTNA for user traffic; microsegmentation for workloads; WAF/Bot for web. → /waf
🔁 WAN Topology Patterns (Choose Your Fit)
1) Dual-Path Branch (Gold Standard)
Fiber DIA + LTE/5G (or Fixed Wireless) underlays; SD-WAN steers per-app by SLOs; tertiary Satellite for remote sites.
→ /fiber-internet • /mobile-connectivity • /fixed-wireless • /satellite-internet
2) Hybrid WAN (MPLS + Internet)
Keep MPLS for strict QoS or regulatory enclaves; move bulk/SaaS to Internet with SD-WAN policy.
→ /mpls • /sd-wan
3) DCI / High-Throughput Inter-Site
Use Wavelength (L1) or Lit Fiber (EPL) for predictable latency and jumbo frames; encrypt with L1/MACsec if needed.
→ /wavelength • /lit-fiber
4) Cloud-First
Regional hubs at carrier-dense colos; private on-ramps; SD-WAN breaks out near cloud regions; ZTNA for private apps.
→ /colocation • /direct-connect • /ztna
5) Regulatory/Policy Networks
Deterministic controls mapped to HIPAA/PCI/FedRAMP/NIST; segmentation + immutable logs; measured failover.
→ /cybersecurity
📐 SLO Guardrails (Targets You Can Measure)
| Class | Typical Transports | One-Way Latency | Jitter Target | Packet Loss (sustained) | Availability* |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | Metro fiber / wavelength | ≤ 2–5 ms | ≤ 15% of latency | < 0.1% | 99.99% (core/DC) |
| B | Regional DIA / MPLS | 15–35 ms | ≤ 15% | < 0.1% | 99.95% |
| C | Continental/global DIA (+ CDN/Anycast assist) | 80–120 ms | ≤ 15% | < 0.1% | 99.9% |
| D | LEO/GEO satellite / remote | variable | engineered per path | engineered | 99.5–99.9% |
*Availability depends on path diversity/protection. SD-WAN masks brownouts by shifting flows before outages.
🔒 Security & Zero-Trust (Concrete, Enforceable)
- User access: ZTNA per app/session with posture; SWG/CASB/FWaaS at SASE POPs; no flat VPNs. → /sase • /ztna
- Site-to-site: IPsec (Ikev2, PFS) or MACsec/L1 where policy requires; vault-managed keys. → /secrets-management
- East-west: Microsegmentation to contain lateral movement; identity-aware policies. → /microsegmentation
- Boundary: WAF/Bot for web/API; DDoS protections and Anycast withdraw options. → /waf • /ddos
📊 Observability & NOC
- Metrics: latency/jitter/loss per class, throughput, path health, optical light levels/FEC/BER, RF RSSI/SNR, tunnel states.
- Dashboards & alarms; carrier escalation playbooks; monthly SLO & availability reports.
→ /circuit-monitoring • /noc • /siem-soar
💵 Commercials (What Drives Cost)
- Underlay mix (fiber/MPLS/wireless/satellite), speeds, distance, protection/diversity, on-ramp ports, cross-connects.
- SD-WAN/SASE licensing, headend capacity, monitoring/NOC scope, and change windows.
🛠️ Implementation Blueprint (No-Surprise Rollout)
1) Inventory & SLOs — sites, apps, clouds, regulatory needs; per-app loss/latency/jitter targets.
2) Underlay plan — dual paths per site (fiber + wireless/satellite); request diversity letters.
3) Overlay — SD-WAN policy (per-app SLOs, packet dup/FEC, brownout thresholds).
4) Cloud — regional hubs, private on-ramps, BGP policy; Anycast where useful.
5) Security — SASE/ZTNA for users; IPsec/MACsec/L1 for sites; microsegmentation for workloads.
6) Routing — BGP communities, local-pref/MED; pin golden prefixes; failover drills.
7) Turn-up tests — RFC 2544 / ITU-T Y.1564 baselines; archive evidence to SIEM.
8) Operate — NOC thresholds, SLO dashboards, carrier escalation & monthly reports; quarterly optimization.
✅ Pre-Engagement Checklist
- 📍 Site list & coordinates; cloud regions; regulatory zones.
- 🔀 Preferred underlays per site (fiber, fixed wireless, LTE/5G, satellite, MPLS/VPLS).
- 🧭 Diversity requirements (dual POPs/laterals/bridges) & on-ramp ports.
- 🧠 Per-app SLOs; QoS classes; packet dup/FEC policy.
- 🔐 Security posture (SASE/ZTNA, IPsec/MACsec, microseg); key custody.
- 🧰 BGP policy & Anycast needs; DNS strategy.
- 📊 SIEM/NOC destinations; reporting cadence; escalation tree.
- 💰 Budget guardrails; licensing; managed vs co-managed scope.
🔄 Where WAN Fits (Recursive View)
1) Grammar — dedicated links & policies in Connectivity.
2) Syntax — composes the fabric in Networks & Data Centers and Cloud.
3) Semantics — Cybersecurity preserves integrity and trust on every path.
4) Pragmatics — SolveForce AI predicts congestion/outages and auto-tunes steering.
5) Foundation — consistent terms via Primacy of Language.
6) Map — indexed in SolveForce Codex & Knowledge Hub.