For many businesses in the UK, BT's infrastructure is at the heart of their network and telecommunications and so, when moving to or considering SD-WAN solutions, these businesses often question how their existing infrastructure would work alongside BT SD-WAN. In this article, we'll explore the vast integrations that BT SD-WAN has to offer and why its "ability to integrate with other BT services" is arguably one of the most key benefits of BT SD-WAN.

Core Integration Architecture

As with all SD-WAN solutions, BT's offers a single pane to manage all network activity, however unlike many other solutions, this pane is extended to interface with other BT services (via APIs), allowing different BT services to communicate and coordinate with one another automatically. For organisations with their own automation workflows, these APIs allow SD-WAN integration into broader IT service management processes.

For finance and procurement teams, BT consolidates billing and service management across all integrated services. Rather than receiving separate invoices for connectivity, security, cloud services and voice (each with different billing cycles and account structures) organisations receive unified billing that simplifies financial reporting, makes cost allocation more straightforward and reduces administrative overhead.

BT Cloud Services Integration

For organisations using BT's cloud offerings, SD-WAN provides optimised connectivity that treats cloud resources as natural extensions of the internal network.

BT Security Services Integration

At Netify, we'd suggest that security is often one of the biggest concerns when weighing up a move to a new network technology (such as SD-WAN), with security integrations running typically regimented in place, businesses find it difficult to trust moving away from them.

BT Managed Firewall services integrate at the SD-WAN edge, meaning each site benefits from enterprise-grade perimeter security without requiring dedicated appliances, ongoing firmware management or localised security expertise. Security policies are defined once centrally on the SD-WAN portal and then pushed automatically to all locations, ensuring consistent protection and minimising the risk of human error (where sometimes a branch might be forgotten about or take a bit longer to get updated). In our experience, this approach is particularly valuable for organisations with a vast number of branch offices, where deploying dedicated security staff to each one isn't practical or cost-effective.

And for those that don't necessarily rely on branch offices but more so remote workers and distributed workforces, the integration with BT Endpoint Security services extends protection to remote, mobile and hybrid workers. In a similar fashion to the above firewall services, BT enables these workforces to also have universally provided policies, alongside support for zero-trust security models - these ensure access is verified continuously rather than assumed based on network location.

Market Guide to ZTNA (Zero Trust Network Access) Services

ZTNA is a security feature that replaces implicit trust and requires continuous verification in order to gain access to networked systems. For the second in Netify’s series of security service market guides, we focus on zero-trust network access (ZTNA), which strengthens user and device authentication and authorisation by replacing static

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We've found that BT's integrated platform makes implementing these advanced security models practical for organisations that might lack the expertise to build such capabilities independently and provides your business with a more "out-of-the-box" experience.

BT Connectivity Services Integration

One of SD-WAN's greatest strengths is its flexibility in working alongside traditional connectivity methods and this is no different for BT SD-WAN.

For organisations with existing BT Ethernet connections, BT SD-WAN doesn't require wholesale replacement of infrastructure that's working effectively. Instead, you can maintain these dedicated Ethernet circuits for applications that genuinely require guaranteed bandwidth and predictable performance, whilst simultaneously deploying more cost-effective underlay connectivity for general office traffic such as email, web browsing and standard business applications.

For customers currently using BT's MPLS services, BT provides clear migration pathways that allow gradual transition rather than forcing disruptive "rip and replace" approaches. During migration periods, MPLS and SD-WAN can coexist, supporting phased implementations that minimise business disruption. Sites can be migrated individually or in groups, with the SD-WAN controller managing connectivity between migrated and non-migrated locations without adding complexity. In our experience, this proves particularly valuable for large organisations with many locations, where immediate wholesale migration simply isn't practical.

How Does BT SD-WAN Compare to MPLS or IPVPN?

When evaluating enterprise connectivity options, businesses often find themselves weighing up three of BT’s approaches: SD-WAN, MPLS and IPVPN. Each represents a different way of connecting distributed offices, with BT’s SD-WAN positioning itself as the most advanced alternative to traditional MPLS and IPVPN solutions. In this article we’ll provide a

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Finally, BT offers BT Mobile integrations that add 4G/5G connectivity as either backup or primary connections depending on your requirements. When configured as backup, the failover from primary circuits to mobile connectivity completes within seconds (fast enough that established application sessions continue without interruption), meaning users often won't even notice a primary connection has failed. For remote sites where traditional connectivity options are limited or too expensive, 5G can serve as the primary connection, with SD-WAN managing traffic intelligently across available links to ensure consistent performance.

BT Voice and Collaboration Integration

BT Data and Analytics Integration

With BT SD-WAN data is collated, combining the output of multi-vendor environments into complete network insights. Rather than consulting separate reporting tools for each service, IT teams access consolidated dashboards showing performance, utilisation, and trends across all BT services. This holistic view supports capacity planning and informed decisions about network investments.

BT Performance Monitoring provides end-to-end visibility into service delivery, tracking metrics from the user's device through the SD-WAN fabric to application endpoints. This is extended by their cross-service correlation capabilities that assist with identifying root causes, examining events across different services simultaneously, often identifying root causes within minutes rather than hours.

Implementation and Migration Considerations

BT's professional services team provides support throughout integration projects, from initial design and planning through implementation and optimisation. Alongside this, service level agreements (SLAs) are aligned across integrated services, ensuring consistent performance commitments and clear accountability when issues arise.