Connect Every Location to the Cloud with Intelligent SD-WAN
SD-WAN integration with cloud environments enables dynamic, policy-driven routing of branch office and remote site traffic to cloud workloads — optimizing performance, reducing MPLS dependency, and enabling secure direct internet access for cloud-destined traffic.
What RLM Delivers on SD-WAN Integration with Cloud
RLM advises on SD-WAN platform selection, cloud integration architecture, security service chain design, and the migration from legacy MPLS to a cloud-integrated SD-WAN fabric — ensuring every location has reliable, cost-optimized access to cloud resources.
How We Approach SD-WAN Integration with Cloud
We work SD-WAN Integration with Cloud the same way each time: establish the baseline, test the market properly, negotiate on evidence, and stay involved through implementation.
Network Architecture Assessment
We assess your current WAN topology, branch office connectivity, cloud traffic volumes, and application performance requirements — identifying the SD-WAN integration architecture that delivers the best performance-to-cost ratio.
SD-WAN Platform & Cloud Integration Evaluation
We evaluate SD-WAN platforms — Cisco Viptela, VMware VeloCloud, Fortinet Secure SD-WAN, Palo Alto Prisma SD-WAN — specifically for cloud integration quality: native AWS/Azure/GCP gateways, Cloud OnRamp capabilities, and direct cloud peering.
Security Architecture Design
SD-WAN with direct internet access requires a robust security stack. We design the security service chain — local internet breakout security, cloud-delivered SASE, or hybrid approaches — integrated with your SD-WAN deployment.
Migration from MPLS
We design the phased migration from legacy MPLS to SD-WAN — managing the transition to avoid disruption to business-critical applications while progressively retiring expensive private circuit costs.
SD-WAN Integration with Cloud Evaluation Criteria
These are the dimensions we have seen separate a SD-WAN Integration with Cloud deployment that works from one that quietly becomes shelfware.
Cloud On-Ramp Quality
Native cloud gateways (AWS Transit Gateway Connect, Azure Virtual WAN, GCP NCC) provide optimized SD-WAN-to-cloud routing. Evaluate the platform's cloud on-ramp capabilities for your specific cloud providers.
Application-Aware Routing
SD-WAN must classify and route cloud-destined application traffic intelligently — sending Salesforce, Microsoft 365, and video traffic via different paths than backup or bulk data traffic. Evaluate routing policy granularity.
Security Integration
Direct internet breakout at branches creates security exposure. Evaluate the integration between SD-WAN and your security stack — inline firewall, cloud-delivered security (Zscaler, Netskope), or SASE.
Underlay Transport Flexibility
The ability to use any mix of MPLS, broadband, LTE, and satellite as underlay transport — and dynamically optimize across them — is a core SD-WAN value. Evaluate transport diversity support.
Zero-Touch Provisioning
Branch deployment without on-site IT resources is a key SD-WAN value. Evaluate zero-touch provisioning capability and the time-to-production for new branch deployments.
Visibility & Analytics
End-to-end application performance visibility across all WAN paths is essential for SD-WAN operations. Evaluate the analytics platform quality and its integration with your NOC and ITSM tools.
"Our migration was stalled for months. RLM came in, assessed the gaps, and helped us select a managed services partner that got us across the finish line in 60 days."
No upfront fees, no retainer, and no obligation to act on what we find.
Where This Matters Most
Sector-specific considerations we see repeatedly in cloud and managed services engagements.
A Sample of the Cloud & Managed Services Providers We Evaluate
RLM is vendor neutral. These are among 600+ providers in our evaluation set — inclusion here is not an endorsement, and we are paid by the provider you choose, not by any provider in particular. How that works →
Where Do You Want to Start With SD-WAN Integration with Cloud?
Start with a no-cost conversation with an RLM cloud advisor — vendor neutral, no agenda, just clarity on the right path forward.
Talk to a Cloud Advisor