Software-Defined Wide Area Networking (SD-WAN) is a technology that simplifies the management and operation of a wide area network (WAN) by decoupling the networking hardware from its control mechanism. In traditional WAN setups, such as MPLS (Multiprotocol Label Switching), network hardware dictates how traffic is routed. SD-WAN, on the other hand, abstracts the network hardware and uses a centralized software controller to intelligently route traffic across the WAN.