Business Connect vs SD-WAN: Do You Need Both?

SD-WAN and private links like Business Connect are often presented as alternatives. In practice, they solve different problems and work very well together.

What private links provide

Business Connect links offer predictable performance, consistent latency, private traffic paths and SLAs. They are the foundation for critical inter-site traffic like ERP, voice and data replication.

What SD-WAN provides

SD-WAN is software running on edge devices that monitors multiple links at each site — private, broadband, 4G/5G — and steers each application over the best path in real time. It also centralises management and policy across sites.

Using them together

• Critical traffic such as ERP and voice uses private links by default.
• Cloud and internet traffic breaks out locally over broadband.
• If a private link fails, SD-WAN moves critical traffic to a backup link automatically, often encrypted over the internet.

Cost optimisation

Combining a modest private link with affordable broadband under SD-WAN control can deliver both performance and resilience at a lower cost than large private circuits alone.

Small vs large networks

A business with a few sites and simple needs may need only private links. Larger, cloud-heavy organisations with many branches benefit most from adding SD-WAN.

Management

Both can be delivered as managed services, so your team sets policies while the provider handles operations.

The bottom line

Combine private links and SD-WAN for resilience, performance and cost efficiency. UbiFi designs networks that use each where it makes the most sense.

Learn more about Business Connect (NLD & Local Loop) from UbiFi, or talk to our team.