Modern networks face a variety of performance challenges – from unpredictable internet routing and variable WAN link quality, to the overhead of encryption and inefficient legacy protocols. Technical leaders often must deploy multiple solutions to tackle these issues and ensure fast, reliable connectivity.

Below, we explore some of the best technologies addressing network performance problems, why they excel, and what unique aspects each brings to the table.

We’ll look at how Sitehop, Cloudflare, Cisco SD-WAN, Riverbed, and Aryaka each target a different performance pain point, and how together they can comprehensively improve network throughput and user experience.

Why network performance issues persist in modern networks

Even as bandwidth grows and 5G promises ultra-low latency, performance problems haven’t gone away – they’ve simply shifted. Modern networks face bottlenecks at multiple layers:

• Encryption overhead: CPU-bound IPsec gateways add significant latency, a problem amplified by post-quantum cryptography.
• Middle-mile congestion: The public Internet can route traffic inefficiently, causing jitter and packet loss between regions.
• Underlay variability: Broadband and 5G last-mile links fluctuate in quality, disrupting application performance.
• Legacy protocols: Many enterprise applications are still “chatty,” requiring excessive round-trips that collapse under WAN latency.
• Global scale: Cross-continental connectivity is inherently unpredictable without private or managed backbones.

These factors combine to make network performance a multi-dimensional challenge — one that no single technology fixes alone. Instead, it requires a layered approach where encryption offload, smart routing, SD-WAN, WAN optimisation, and private cores each address a different part of the problem.

How we compared the top solutions

Not all “performance fixes” are equal. To cut through vendor claims, we assessed each technology against objective criteria that matter in telecom environments:

• Latency and throughput – how fast packets move once encryption or optimisation is applied, especially at rates of up to 100Gbps
• Scalability – tunnel density, concurrent sessions, and ability to sustain performance under load.
• Standards support – compliance with RFCs 8784, 9242, and 9370, ensuring interoperability in PQC, and hybrid, key exchanges.
• Crypto-agility – the ability to adopt new PQC algorithms without forklift upgrades.
• Integration – how seamlessly the solution fits into existing routing, firewalls, and orchestration.
• QKD readiness – whether platforms can leverage quantum key distribution for long-lived secrets.

By comparing solutions against these benchmarks, we can see which vendors are truly future-proofing performance — and which ones risk trading speed for security or vice versa.

The Best Network Performance Solutions

Sitehop SAFEcore™ (Crypto Offload + PQC)

Encryption can quickly become a performance bottleneck in high-speed networks. SAFEcore™ solves this by offloading encryption into FPGA-based hardware, maintaining full throughput even with post-quantum cryptography enabled. Its crypto-agile design supports future PQC standards without hardware changes, making it a secure, long-term performance solution.

Solves: Encryption overhead

Key strengths:

• Deterministic PQC aggregation
• Crypto-agile updates
• Future-proof hardware

 

Cloudflare Anycast + Argo

Public internet routing often causes latency and packet loss between regions. Cloudflare’s Anycast and Argo services route traffic over a private backbone with 330+ global PoPs, automatically selecting the fastest paths. This approach improves reliability and typically reduces latency by around 30% compared to standard BGP routing.

Solves: Internet middle-mile unpredictability

Key strengths:

• Global backbone with 330+ PoPs
• 30% latency improvement vs. BGP routing

 

Cisco SD-WAN

Enterprises rely on many types of connections that vary in quality. Cisco SD-WAN continuously measures link performance and steers traffic to maintain application reliability. Built-in WAN optimisation improves throughput, creating a self-adjusting network that keeps branch and cloud applications running smoothly.

Solves: Underlay variability

Key strengths:

• App-aware routing
• Dynamic link steering
• Integrated WAN optimisation (TCP/DRE)

 

Riverbed Steelhead

Legacy applications often perform poorly over long-distance or high-latency links. Riverbed Steelhead accelerates data transfers by compressing and deduplicating traffic while reducing unnecessary round-trips. The result is faster, more efficient communication for applications that depend on frequent data exchanges.

Solves: Inefficient legacy/chatty protocols

Key strengths:

• Byte-level dedupe (60–95% WAN byte reduction)
• Protocol acceleration
• TCP streamlining

 

Aryaka SmartConnect<

Enterprises with global sites need consistent performance across continents. Aryaka SmartConnect provides a managed private backbone with over 40 PoPs and guaranteed SLAs. It delivers sub-30ms latency to most users worldwide, combining SD-WAN control with predictable, low-latency connectivity.

Solves: Unpredictable long-distance performance

Key strengths:

• SLA-backed private backbone (40+ PoPs)
• Sub-30 ms latency to 95% of users

 

Choosing the right solution for your network

No one technology solves all network performance problems. We’d recommend:

• Offload deterministic encryption to Sitehop SAFEcore
• Use SD-WAN for branch/underlay resilience
• Use Anycast routing (Cloudflare) for middle-mile acceleration
• Use WAN optimisation (Riverbed) for legacy protocols
• Use Private WAN cores (Aryaka/Nokia) for deterministic regional/global SLAs

 

 

Conclusion & next steps

Modern networks don’t fail for one reason; they slow down because of many small bottlenecks stacked together: unpredictable internet routing, unstable last-mile links, chatty legacy protocols, and long-haul latency. Each technology we’ve reviewed tackles a different piece of that puzzle.

What is often overlooked is that encryption itself has become one of the biggest performance challenges.

With the shift to post-quantum cryptography, traditional CPU-based VPNs and gateways will only add more delay and consume more resources. This is why Sitehop SAFEcore™ stands apart: it eliminates the crypto bottleneck with sub-microsecond IPsec and PQC-ready encryption, ensuring security upgrades don’t come at the cost of performance.

Next steps for technical leaders:

1. Identify bottlenecks – inventory where your performance problems stem from: encryption, underlay, middle-mile, legacy protocols, or global scale.
2. Prioritise encryption offload – ensure PQC adoption won’t slow down 5G backhaul or interconnects.
3. Combine complementary solutions – use SD-WAN, Anycast routing, WAN optimisation, and private backbones where they add the most value.
4. Plan for PQC migration – adopt hybrid approaches (RFC 8784/9242/9370), and evaluate QKD on long-lived, critical links.

FAQs

What are the main causes of persistent network performance issues in modern environments?

Performance issues usually stem from multiple layers of the network. Common causes include encryption overhead on CPUs, inefficient public internet routing, unstable underlay connections, and legacy application protocols. Even with higher bandwidth, these factors create bottlenecks that slow traffic and degrade user experience.

How does encryption overhead affect network speed and responsiveness?

Traditional CPU-based encryption gateways add latency as data volumes grow, particularly at 10–100Gbps speeds. Each packet must be processed, encrypted, and reassembled, which consumes valuable compute cycles. Hardware offload solutions like Sitehop SAFEcore™ eliminate this delay by performing encryption at line rate.

Why doesn’t higher bandwidth alone guarantee better application performance?

More bandwidth does not fix latency, packet loss, or inefficient routing. Applications that require frequent data exchanges still suffer delays if the network path is unstable or protocols are chatty. Optimisation and routing intelligence are needed alongside bandwidth to achieve real performance gains.

How do SD-WAN and smart routing technologies help mitigate performance variability?

SD-WAN continuously measures link health and routes traffic over the best available path. Smart routing platforms, such as Cloudflare Argo, take this further by using global private backbones to avoid congestion and improve consistency. Together, they reduce jitter and packet loss across diverse connections.

When should WAN optimisation be considered over other performance solutions?

WAN optimisation is most effective when legacy or chatty protocols slow applications across high-latency links. Technologies like Riverbed Steelhead reduce redundant data transfers and compress traffic, improving throughput. It complements SD-WAN and backbone acceleration rather than replacing them.

How can organisations prepare for post-quantum cryptography (PQC) while maintaining performance?

Preparing for PQC involves ensuring gateways and VPNs can handle larger key exchanges without impacting speed. Crypto-agile hardware, such as Sitehop SAFEcore™, supports PQC algorithms natively, allowing secure upgrades without performance loss. Early testing of hybrid key exchange standards like RFC 9370 helps future-proof networks.

Can multiple performance solutions be combined to address different bottlenecks?

Yes. Modern performance strategies use a layered approach: encryption offload for security efficiency, SD-WAN for link resilience, WAN optimisation for legacy protocols, and private backbones for predictable latency. Each technology addresses a specific issue, and together they create a more consistent user experience.

What role will quantum-safe technologies (like PQC and QKD) play in future network performance strategies?

Quantum-safe cryptography will become essential as quantum computing advances. PQC ensures data remains secure against future threats, while QKD can distribute encryption keys with near-perfect secrecy. Vendors already integrating these technologies are helping operators maintain both performance and long-term security.

 

The story of cybersecurity doesn’t have to be one of fear. It can be one of confidence, of businesses, governments, and individuals moving faster because they trust the systems they use. In an era when everything from financial transactions to energy depends on connected infrastructure, the attack surface, every point where systems can be compromised, has become one of the defining measures of digital resilience.

Rethinking the Modern Attack Surface

Today’s digital ecosystems are a vast web of distributed applications, cloud services, connected devices, and global networks all exchanging data across borders and time zones. It is the data in motion between endpoints that has become the most exposed. While data at rest often resides behind firewalls or within encrypted storage, data in motion travels through routers, gateways, and public infrastructure. Each transfer creates a point of vulnerability, an opportunity for interception, manipulation, or exploitation.

The real challenge lies in how data is handled as it moves. Most VPNs and network security systems still process customer data in software before handing it off to an ASIC to accelerate certain cryptographic functions. This approach exposes the data within the software stack, where most vulnerabilities exist. By contrast, processing customer data directly within hardware, such as an FPGA or ASIC, removes that exposure entirely. It allows encryption and protection to begin at the very first point of contact, before the data ever touches an operating system or software layer, closing one of the most significant gaps in today’s digital security model.

Common weak points include:

• Unsecured or misconfigured tunnels, where encryption isn’t applied end-to-end.
• Software-defined networks, where shared resources expose encryption keys to potential side-channel attacks.
• Edge and IoT devices, which transmit sensitive data without hardware protection.

Each of these represents not just a technical risk, but a business risk. When data in motion can be intercepted or altered, confidence in the entire digital supply chain erodes. The challenge isn’t simply to encrypt more, but to encrypt smarter, to build protection into the fabric of communication itself, without slowing the flow of data or business.

The Hidden Cost of Software Encryption

Software encryption has long been the default. It’s adaptable, deployable anywhere, and easily updated. But it also shares the same resources, the same memory, CPU, and operating environment, that attackers can exploit. Every software patch, every new algorithm, adds friction. The system slows down, the complexity grows, and the attack surface widens.

In the end, the protection becomes its own bottleneck. What began as a safeguard starts holding back performance, scalability, and trust.

Hardware Encryption: Security at the Speed of Life

Encryption must be part of the very fabric of technology, built into silicon, operating at line speed, invisible to users yet impenetrable to attackers. This is hardware encryption, and it represents a profound shift in how we think about both security and performance. By isolating cryptography within dedicated hardware, organisations can:

• Eliminate software vulnerabilities from the encryption path.
• Scale securely, maintaining performance as data volumes and key sizes grow.
• Protect keys absolutely, safeguarding against both cyber and physical compromise.

And the impact reaches beyond data centres or enterprise networks. When encryption happens seamlessly and instantly, it touches everyone. Reducing the attack surface doesn’t just protect systems, it protects experiences. It builds a world where trust is engineered, not assumed.

Beyond Today: Quantum Threats and Crypto Agility

The next wave of change is already on the horizon. Quantum computing promises unprecedented computational power, and with it, the potential to break today’s strongest encryption. The solution is crypto agility. Hardware-based designs make this agility possible. Algorithms can be upgraded without rewriting software or redesigning infrastructure. Security evolves in step with innovation, not in reaction to it.

The Strategic Payoff: Security as a Business Accelerator

For CIOs, CISOs, and network architects, encryption done right isn’t just a technical necessity, it’s a strategic advantage.

• Performance and protection align: systems stay secure without slowing down.
• Compliance becomes proactive: hardware simplifies certification and governance.
• Cost and complexity fall: fewer patches, fewer breaches, more uptime.
• Trust becomes measurable: secure-by-design enhances brand credibility.

How Sitehop Is Leading the Change

At Sitehop, that reality is here. Our hardware-accelerated, crypto-agile solutions deliver security at the speed of life, protecting data without compromise. Because when the attack surface shrinks, possibility expands.

 

To find out more, email info@sitehop.com

Or call us: +44 (0)114 478 2366

Sitehop.

Engineered for speed. Built for the future.