Organizations are implementing SD-WAN to bring secure, cost-effective, and efficient connectivity to distributed branches, retail outlets, and an increasingly distributed workforce. Top of mind for IT when expanding remote connectivity is ensuring the security and integrity of remote network appliances that are no longer under lock and key in the data center. Therefore, one of the advantages of adopting a software-defined network architecture is the plug-and-play, zero touch installation and configuration of remote SD-WAN branch routers and compute platforms. These Cisco-engineered appliances can be shipped directly to a remote site, powered on by a non-technical employee, and remotely configured by an IT expert from anywhere in the World Wide Web. For budget-constrained IT departments, remote provisioning, configuration, and management of network components, both hardware and software, provides significant time and cost savings.

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