Southwark Council is expanding its Software-Defined Wide Area Network (SD-WAN) to connect housing estates and schools, aiming to improve connectivity and efficiency. The decision, which is pending final approval, was discussed at the Joint IT Committee (Brent, Lewisham and Southwark) meeting on Tuesday, July 8, 2025.
The expansion is part of a broader network upgrade initiative to replace dedicated leased lines with SD-WAN technology. This approach offers the advantage of utilising internet connections instead of dedicated leased lines, providing significantly enhanced flexibility in routing network traffic. For example, traffic related to Microsoft 365 applications can be directed straight from the site to Microsoft servers, bypassing the need to route through the council data centres. This promises to optimise network efficiency and improve overall connectivity for the councils' operations.
According to the Public Reports Pack for the meeting, Southwark has 150 connections in scope across 112 sites, with 51 connections completed and 10 removed from scope as of July 2025. This is an increase from the previous report, which listed 119 connections in scope across 111 sites, with 19 connections completed and 6 removed from scope.
