Managed WAN that Keeps Every Site Connected

A Wide Area Network (WAN) is the backbone of your business. Chess designs and manages secure, reliable, high‑performance WAN solutions—so your people, sites and cloud apps stay connected,

Speak to a Network Specialist Compare MPLS vs SD‑WAN

The Cost of Unreliable Connectivity

When your WAN isn’t reliable, it hits productivity, customer experience and security. Slow links, dropped connections and poor visibility can turn everyday work into firefighting—especially across multiple sites and hybrid teams.

Pain points:

  • Applications lag or fail at peak times
  • Video calls and collaboration tools become unreliable
  • Critical sites lose access to central systems and cloud services
  • Security gaps appear when teams use workarounds
  • IT loses visibility across circuits, providers and locations
  • Outages and performance issues disrupt customers and revenue

Want to reduce risk and improve performance?

Talk to us about a WAN Built for Resilience

Switching from traditional MPLS to SD-WAN can cut network costs by up to 84%

YouGov, April 2025

Wide Area Network (WAN) Solutions from Chess

WAN connects every part of your organisation—sites, users and cloud services—over a secure IP network. Chess helps you choose the right approach: traditional MPLS, cloud-first SD‑WAN, or a Hybrid WAN that blends both as you transition.

Managed WAN

One service layer for monitoring, SLAs, support and change control.

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MPLS

Private, predictable connectivity for performance and control.

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SD-WAN

Flexible, software‑defined routing that prioritises apps and improves resilience.

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Hybrid WAN

Combine MPLS and internet circuits to balance performance, cost and cloud readiness.

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Managed WAN (Chess)

Chess Managed WAN gives you a single, accountable service for your connectivity—covering design, onboarding, monitoring and ongoing management. You get clear visibility, robust SLAs, and a team that keeps performance and availability on track.

Best for:

  • Organisations with multiple sites and mixed connectivity providers
  • IT teams who want proactive monitoring and fewer escalations
  • Businesses that need consistent service and change control

Benefits:

  • One service layer across MPLS, SD‑WAN or Hybrid WAN
  • Proactive monitoring and incident management
  • Clear reporting and network visibility
  • Structured moves, adds and changes
  • Service backed by SLAs

Get a Managed WAN Review

MPLS (Multiprotocol Label Switching)

MPLS is a private WAN approach designed for consistent performance and predictable connectivity between sites. It’s a strong fit where you need guaranteed bandwidth, stable latency, and a controlled network environment.

Best for:

  • Sites running latency‑sensitive or business‑critical applications
  • Organisations with strict performance requirements
  • Environments where private connectivity is preferred

Benefits:

  • Predictable performance and stable routing
  • Private connectivity designed for control and reliability
  • Supports consistent access to centralised systems
  • Fits well with structured network governance

Speak to us About MPLS

SD‑WAN (Software‑Defined WAN)

SD‑WAN uses intelligent, software‑defined routing to connect sites, users and cloud services. It can prioritise key applications, improve resilience through failover, and support cloud-first working—often with greater flexibility than traditional WAN designs.

Best for:

  • Cloud‑first organisations using Microsoft 365, SaaS and hosted apps
  • Businesses needing rapid change across multiple locations
  • Teams looking for improved visibility and application control

Benefits:

  • Application-aware routing for better user experience
  • Intelligent failover to keep sites online
  • Flexible connectivity options for growing organisations
  • Centralised policies and easier management

Explore SD‑WAN Options

Hybrid WAN

Hybrid WAN combines the strengths of MPLS and SD‑WAN to support organisations moving to the cloud while protecting critical traffic. It’s ideal when you need a controlled path for key applications alongside flexible, cost‑effective connectivity where it makes sense.

Best for:

  • Organisations transitioning from legacy networks to cloud services
  • Businesses that need both predictable performance and flexibility
  • Multi‑site estates with different requirements by location

Benefits:

  • Balance cost, performance and resilience by site
  • Support cloud adoption without a “big bang” change
  • Keep critical traffic on controlled paths where required
  • Designed to evolve as your organisation changes

Design a Hybrid WAN with Chess

Compare WAN Options at a Glance

Not sure which approach fits? Here’s a simple comparison of how MPLS, SD‑WAN, Hybrid WAN, and Chess Managed WAN align to common needs.

MPLS

  • Predictable performance
  • Private connectivity
  • Best for critical apps and stable routing

SD-WAN

  • App-aware routing
  • Flexible connectivity
  • Best for cloud-first and fast change

Hybrid WAN

  • Combines MPLS + SD‑WAN
  • Transition-friendly
  • Best for mixed estates and phased migration

Chess Managed WAN

  • Monitoring + SLAs
  • One accountable service
  • Best for visibility, support and governance

Still weighing it up? We’ll help you pick the right WAN for your sites and applications.

Speak to a Chess Expert

Making IT Work For You

Chess is one of the UK’s leading independent and trusted technology service providers, employing more than 240 skilled people across the UK, supporting over 18,000 organisations.

We believe IT should work for you, reduce costs, deliver efficiency, keep you secure, enhance your work-life balance, improving performance. At Chess, we’re passionate about our unique culture and our continuous investment in our people to be industry experts.

We’re extremely proud that our people voted us No.1 in ‘The Sunday Times 100 Best Companies to Work for’ list 2018, and we continue to celebrate more than 17 years in the top 100.

Frequently asked questions

 A WAN (Wide Area Network) connects multiple locations—offices, sites and data centres—so people and systems can work securely across the organisation.

 MPLS is a private, predictable network approach. SD‑WAN is software-defined routing that can prioritise applications and improve resilience using multiple connectivity paths. Many organisations choose Hybrid WAN to combine both.

 Yes—when designed properly. A secure SD‑WAN approach uses strong encryption, segmentation and central policies. Chess can help design a secure WAN that aligns to your security requirements.

 Hybrid WAN combines MPLS and SD‑WAN (often with internet circuits) so you can balance performance, cost and cloud connectivity—ideal for phased migrations and mixed site needs.

 Yes. Chess Managed WAN provides monitoring, incident management, SLAs and ongoing support—giving you one service layer across MPLS, SD‑WAN or Hybrid WAN.

 Yes. WAN is designed for multi-site organisations, and modern WAN options support hybrid working by improving access to cloud services and central applications.

Speak to an expert

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