Branch networking is how an organization's branch locations connect to each other and to shared internal resources, like applications, data centers, and the cloud.
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Branch networking is what connects an organization's various locations, enabling them to exchange information securely. Many companies have satellite locations spread out across a given region, or around the world. For these satellite locations to connect to the same corporate network and access needed resources, they must have network connections between them. This need is filled by branch networking — it connects these locations specifically to each other and to a centralized headquarters, not just to the Internet.
Imagine, for instance, an enterprise has a headquarters in San Francisco with additional offices in New York and Los Angeles. Branch networking connects them to one centralized internal corporate network. It can do the same for banks with multiple locations, restaurant chains, schools with various campuses, and other distributed organizations.
Typically, branch networking has used:
However, some organizations are modifying this architecture to rely less on hardware and dedicated network routes, and to allow for greater flexibility to support remote work and cloud computing. Branch networks might instead use:
Of course, a modernized branch networking architecture still needs some physical equipment, like routers and switches, to connect to the Internet and the corporate network.
A branch office is one of the distributed locations where an organization's work takes place. In the context of branch networking, branch offices may include data centers, stores, restaurants, campuses, banks, and any other connected locations.
From a networking perspective, branch offices are locations where connectivity must be available. Employees, contractors, and other users connect to the network using either managed or unmanaged devices.
Organizations must make sure their branch networks are both secure and fast-performing to support productivity and protect their data.
Branch networking security involves not just protecting the data within the network, but also data as it is in transit across networks and between locations. Access control is also a core component of protecting branch networks, but it can be difficult to enforce with a combination of managed and unmanaged devices connecting. Some of the main challenges of branch networking security include:
Branch locations still matter for many businesses, but today, large swaths of the workforce connect to company apps and resources remotely. And the adoption of software-as-a-service (SaaS) apps and cloud computing means traffic needs to leave an organization's network perimeter.
Hard-coded network connections are not flexible enough to support these developments. In addition, the challenges described previously make legacy approaches a poor fit for many organizations.
Therefore branch networking is modernizing by adapting more flexible, cloud-based models, such as secure access service edge (SASE). This model includes security features natively built in, instead of added on.
Cloudflare offers a simple platform with a unified dashboard for managing networks. Cloudflare’s cloud-based WAN services offer flexible branch office connectivity while Cloudflare’s smart routing capabilities take real-time network conditions into account, routing around network congestion and outages. With Cloudflare, Zero Trust security policies are automatically applied across all locations, users, and devices. Learn more about Cloudflare's SASE platform.
Branch networking refers to the system that connects an organization's various physical locations, allowing them to share information securely. This differs from simply connecting to the Internet, as it specifically links these locations to each other and to a central headquarters.
A branch office, in networking terms, is any of an organization's distributed locations where work occurs and connectivity is essential. This can include data centers, retail stores, restaurants, university campuses, banks, or any other connected sites.
Organizations frequently encounter degraded application performance due to inefficient traffic paths between distant locations and data centers or the cloud. Network bottlenecks can also occur if too much traffic converges at certain points, causing slowdowns. Additionally, managing multiple disparate networks remotely without direct physical access presents a significant challenge.
Branch networks face several security challenges, including an expanded attack surface due to the distributed nature of branch networks and the variety of connected devices, including personal devices (supported through bring-your-own-device [BYOD] policies). Gaining clear visibility into malicious traffic across these diverse networks can be complex, and branch networks are susceptible to distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks that can disrupt services. Ensuring regulatory compliance and consistently enforcing security policies across all locations and devices is also a major hurdle.
Branch networking is evolving to be more flexible and cloud-based, moving away from rigid, hard-coded connections. To modernize their branch networks, organizations often adopt a secure access service edge (SASE) model, which integrates security features natively, rather than as add-ons.
Modern branch networking models leverage network-as-a-service (NaaS) offerings for inter-branch, data center, and cloud connectivity. They also use SASE solutions for secure, location-independent networking and access control. And they use firewall-as-a-service (FWaaS) solutions to prevent threats. Modern branch networking often uses commodity Internet instead of expensive leased lines or private connections, though some physical equipment like routers and switches are still necessary for connecting to the Internet and the corporate network.
Cloudflare provides a centralized, cloud-based platform with a unified dashboard for network management. Cloudflare’s cloud-based wide-area-network (WAN) services offer adaptable branch office connectivity while intelligent routing capabilities optimize traffic paths in real time to avoid congestion and outages. Moreover, Cloudflare automatically enforces zero trust security policies across all locations, users, and devices.
