The internet vs private networks: the state of SD-WAN
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The internet vs private networks: the state of SD-WAN

US-based provider Aryaka has just released a report on SD-WAN examining public internet vs private network connectivity.

The report entitled State of SD-WAN Connectivity looks at several of the benefits and losses of each type of connectivity. The internet for example, although a low cost, flexible and quick to deploy solution it is also subject to latency, packet loss and jitter particularly over long distances. Private networks by comparison has better security and reliability but in the main are more expensive and MPLS networks for example aren’t built for cloud connectivity. 

As part of the report Aryaka undertook tests to compare the public internet SD-WAN connectivity with its own Aryaka Global SD-WAN offering, an example of private network connectivity. 

The results of the test showed that on the internet connectivity link between Dubai to Dallas (Texas), application response time 750ms and 2 seconds the response time over the same distance on the Aryaka private network showed an improved variation of 12.5%. Further tests linking Dubai and Mumbai showed an application response time of 127ms and 4 seconds using the Internet and a increased variation of 15.47% over the same distance on the Aryaka private network.

The data showed that it takes -200ms for a 100KB file to travel from San Jose to Chicago over the Internet. The same file takes nearly 400ms to travel from San Jose to Shanghai. When that same file is transferred over the Aryaka network the average transfer time between San Jose and Chicago is -150ms, and the time between San Jose and Shanghai is -300ms. The results indicating that the greater distance between locations, the greater the performance benefits of a private network.

The report goes on to highlight various other factors such as geography. According to findings location is a factor in stating that ‘data transfer in the Americas has a higher consistency than data transfer in other regions’ likely attributed to infrastructure maturity. Additionally it found that Asia-Pacific (APAC) links exhibit the highest unreliability. 

Overall the there are five key takeaways from the report:

  • Application performance – From Aryaka data the internet experiences the biggest application performance problems in EMEA and APAC.

  • Variability - Variation in network performance and low reliability is a significant issue with the Internet.

  • Complexity - Building a WAN infrastructure using combined private WAN or MPLS lines is not the most cost-effective approach an enterprise can take.

  • Flexibility - Enterprises need to think about how agile their WAN needs to be to support distributed cloud deployments.

  • Security - Sensitive and business-critical data flowing across the network and between different cloud types must remain protected and secure.


At the beginning of the year, Aryaka secured $45 million in funding from investors of which included Deutsche Telekom. Deutsche Telekom Capital Partners (DTCP), along with Third Point Ventures and a number of existing investors, put in money that Aryaka is using to expand its global reach.

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