The acronym WAN stands for Wide Area Network. A WAN might be offered to the mass market by an Internet service provider or custom-built for your organization. There is no one way to get the most out of a WAN, but there are several ways to optimize its usage.

WAN optimization technology--that is, increasing data-transfer efficiencies across networks--is sure to become more important to businesses in the next few years. Currently, many businesses focus on improving their equipment to work better with their existing WAN, but you may want to look into improved WAN solutions first. This is especially true now that virtual or cloud-based network services can minimize your hardware needs, giving you less to pay for, install, maintain, and repair. An optimized WAN solution also makes it easier to back up data.

Many different WAN optimization solutions are available, and WAN optimization isn't a one-time improvement. However, once you've started, it's easy to keep up with improvements and jump on any upgrades as they become available--and it's much better for business if you're not working with an obsolete system.

The key to WAN optimization, according to many experts, is to make the most of your bandwidth. Before installing any expensive new equipment or services, check with a qualified consultant to find out whether you could be doing better with what you have.

Whatever solution you choose will depend on the programs you depend on. Your objective should be to achieve speed and efficiency equal to what you would expect of a local area network at an acceptable cost.