Bridgeworks features in the latest Government and Public Sector Journal to discuss how WAN Acceleration adds a layer of cyber security to government and defence strategies.
Winter/Spring 2026
In Government and Defence circles, protecting data isn’t to be dismissed, and it shouldn’t be taken for granted. Wide Area Networks are often based on TC/IP protocols, which are inherently unencrypted. With Defence and some parts of Government, where it is deemed necessary, Top Secret videos, documents and communications are encrypted. However, there will be certain aspects that aren’t. As Google AI says, Zero Trust Architectures (ZTA) only go so far as to require “strict, continuous verification for every user and device trying to access resources, regardless of their location inside or outside the network perimeter.” It doesn’t protect data in the way that encryption does.
Both must be in place because a Zero Trust Architecture only aims to secure network access rather than data protection. So, if an unauthorised user were to gain access, ZTA could still fail to protect data from theft or misuse. To prevent this, it’s particularly vital in certain Government and Defence operations to secure network access and to encrypt highly sensitive and confidential data.
For example, command and control data in a Defence situation could be exposed to hostile actors unless a Zero Trust Architecture and data encryption is put in place to protect it. This principle applies as much to the UK government as it does to the US administration.
The Executive Summary of the US National Security Agency Technical Report, published a ‘Zero Trust Implementation Guideline Primer’ in January 2026, explains: “Rather than relying on perimeter s, ZT emphasises continuous authentication and authorisation of every User/Person Entity (PE), device/Non-Person Entity (NPE) and application, operating under the principles of “never trust, always verify” and “assume breach.” This approach is critical for safeguarding sensitive data, systems and services against increasingly sophisticated cyber threats.”
WAN Optimisation risks
So, if data is sent unencrypted, for Government purposes or for military command and control, data can be diverted when it’s sent over a Wide Area Network (WAN). Arguably, technologies such as WAN Optimisation therefore don’t fulfil the defined objectives of Zero Trust architectures. That’s because, while it has its benefits, it can’t handle encrypted data. The data needs to be unencrypted, deduped, and then re-encrypted before it can be sent over a WAN, and then, once it has been received, it can be de-encrypted and then de-duped before it can be used.
Due to digital transformation. however, this might happen less frequently: It’s a bit like a bank or a large shop needing to transport significant amounts of cash or goods to a safe location. Once the cash or goods leave the premises, there is a danger that someone might attack the security vehicle or even a less secure vehicle, to steal whatever it needs to move to another location. Similarly, once data has been transmitted, there is a risk that a cyber-criminal or bad actor from a Defence perspective could divert and steal the data – particularly if the data is not encrypted and is sluggishly transmitted.
WAN Optimisation often uses MPLS (Multiprotocol Label Switching). It employs a private and isolated infrastructure rather than encryption. Google AI adds: “It offers separation of traffic between customers, but data typically travels in the clear (unencrypted), making it vulnerable to interception if the network is breached.” Conclusively, it is therefore often not considered secure by default.
Unpredictable SD-WAN performance
The option that’s proving to be increasingly popular in Government and Defence market is the SD-WAN – a great technology, but it also has its weaknesses. These include unpredictable performance, latency and packet loss. WAN Optimisation was originally a standalone appliance in the past, but it’s often integrated into SD-WANs, which can use MPLS or LTE networks simultaneously. Bolted on as an afterthought is artificial intelligence and machine learning to improve SD-WAN performance.
The UK Government’s Digital Marketplace claims: “SD-WAN service revolutionises network connectivity. Seamlessly integrating security and optimisation, it ensures agile, reliable and secure connections. Experience enhanced application performance and simplified network management with Fortinet’s advanced SD-WAN solutions.”
Despite this, SD-WANs can still be impacted by latency, packet loss and poor bandwidth utilisation. To help with this, Tristan Wood, founder of Livewire Digital, recommends a hybrid approach to networking. Speaking in military and Defence terms, he comments in his article for Advance, ‘Strengthening military connectivity in contested environments’ on 14th March 2024:
“A key benefit hybrid connectivity brings to battlespace is its ability to bolster resilience to physical and cyber-attack. By combining the resources across the full spectrum of available channels on a Wide Area Network, (WAN) including satellite, hybrid connectivity mitigates against single-point failures and ensures continuity of operations – even in the face of persistent interference and disruptions caused by adversaries.”
He explains that SD-WANs sit at the core of this hybrid infrastructure and says software-defined networking concepts use an architecture to create a virtual overlay that “creates a virtual overlay that bonds underlying private or public WAN connections, such as Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS), internet broadband, fibre, LTE, 5G cellular or wireless.” This permits hybrid SD-WAN networking to “agnostically combine and transition between these networks.”
Hybrid SD-WANs don’t rely on a failover that employs classic routing techniques, replacing one bearer with another. Instead, he says, they bond all the available connections into a single, seamless and heterogenous ‘pipe.’ He therefore claims: “Applying this technique to connectivity on the move, where the availability and characteristics of networks change rapidly, a hybrid solution overcomes the challenges of intermittent connectivity, poor performance and resultant difficulty in scaling.”
SD-WANs: Strong growth
It may be for this reason that the UK SD-WAN market for Government and Defence is experiencing strong growth. The drivers are the need for secure, high performance, cloud-first networks, accelerated digital transformation and the adoption of high-assurance, low-cost connectivity. Industry reports also suggest that the UK SD-WAN market is projected to grow significantly by 2031. Leading the demand for SD-WANs will be managed services and cloud-based solutions. They may also be supported by 5G integrated.
However, both Government and Defence sectors could do with a literal boost with WAN Acceleration, which is not to be confused with WAN Optimisation. It can also accelerate SD-WANs as an overlay. How? Well, rather than making AI and machine learning an afterthought, they are fully integrated into the technology, which is for use alongside data parallelisation to mitigate the effects of latency and packet loss. A significant advantage of WAN Acceleration is that it can send and receive any kind of encrypted data – not even my team at Bridgeworks can see the data when it’s at rest or on the move.
Project TRINITY: Essential connectivity
Its benefits could be useful to Defence WANs such as Project TRINITY, which is an £89m programme led by BAE Systems. It has the aim of delivering a secure, state-of-the-art tactical WAN. As it stands, it is said to offer 100 times the data capacity than previous systems, with the ability to facilitate real-time video feeds from drones and aircraft to commanders on the ground.
The key goal is to provide the essential connectivity that’s needed for modern, data-centric warfare and Defence. WAN Acceleration could support the transmission of large volumes of Government and military data by, for example, increasing bandwidth utilisation and by obfuscating bad actors. The data is sent at higher speeds than WAN Optimisation, and even SD-WANs can’t manage it so well alone. Their performance can be boosted b adding a WAN Acceleration overlay.
Government departments, such as the Ministry of Defence (MoD), could therefore benefit from integrating WAN Acceleration into their Government and Defence IT systems, particularly as this technology is about Zero Trust. With its inclusion in its armoury, it could support the MoD’s digital backbone, which aims to create a single, secure ecosystem connecting sensors, decision-makers and effectors across all the domains of Land, Sea, Air, Space and Cyber.
WAN Acceleration is Zero Trust
WAN Acceleration offers Zero Trust capabilities because it is data agnostic and can transmit encrypted data without human intervention or interference. It has the capability to allow for Big Data analysis in command-and-control situations for decision advantage, and to significantly accelerate the backing up and restoring of voluminous amounts of data over large distances by mitigating latency and packet loss – allowing data to be stored in at least 3 different global locations.
It also reinforces the concept of Zero Trust architecture, as it is much more secure than WAN Optimisation and enhances the performance of SD-WANs. Lastly, WAN Acceleration can support an allied air force or a ministry as much as it can any other kind of government and public sector organisation. With it they invest in their data, and they can gain advantage on the battlefield.
