Enhancing SD-WAN with Edge and Fog Computing: Architectures and Challenges

In recent years, the integration of Software-defined Wide Area Network (SD-WAN) within companies has marked a significant evolution, due to the advantages it offers in terms of the efficiency and security of interconnections, flexibility, costs, and services compared to traditional Wide Area Network (WAN), which faces limitations in meeting the needs of modern businesses in terms of flexibility, performance, and costs. SD-WAN has evolved over time, transitioning from network optimization by solving customer issues related to the management of hybrid WANs to a service delivery platform that now offers a connection to hybrid cloud services. In the future, research is shifting towards the development of a distributed system combining cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence, edge and fog computing, and IoT, with the aim of meeting the requirements of critical applications sensitive to latency and bandwidth. This paper is part of the integration of Edge and Fog computing paradigms into the SD-WAN architecture to improve network performance and security. The SD-WAN and Edge/Fog computing architectures will be explored, along with the presentation of our proposed architecture for the integration of fog and edge computing within the SD-WAN infrastructure and the challenges we might face.