# What is Branch Networking?

> Branch networking is the architecture and operation of network services at a facility outside an organization’s main campus or data center.

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## Content

It joins wired and wireless users, devices, voice, and edge services to the internet, a private wide area network (WAN), headquarters, data centers, cloud services, and other branches while enforcing routing, access, and security policies.

A branch may use broadband, cellular, Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS), or other access links, with routers, firewalls, wireless infrastructure, virtual private network (VPN) gateways, or software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN) edges on site. Traffic may travel through a central location or break out locally to web and cloud services. Designs should account for every path rather than assume traffic always passes through a headquarters security stack.

### Key points

- **Connectivity:** Plan link diversity, local service continuity, application performance, and failure behavior across private, internet, and cloud paths.
- **Local controls:** Address segmentation, secure onboarding, wireless coverage, Domain Name System (DNS), addressing, equipment protection, and access to management functions.
- **Operations:** Centralize policy and monitoring where practical, maintain remote recovery paths, and verify that controls remain consistent when traffic paths change.
- **Important limitation:** A branch is not automatically a trusted zone. Limited local staff, exposed equipment, intermittent connectivity, shared carrier infrastructure, direct internet paths, and unmanaged or operational devices can make branch controls harder to operate and verify.

### Related terms

[Wide area network (WAN)](<https://yellowcube.eu/glossary/wide-area-network/>) · [Software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN)](<https://yellowcube.eu/glossary/software-defined-wide-area-network/>) · [Wireless network](<https://yellowcube.eu/glossary/wireless-network/>) · [Virtual private network (VPN)](<https://yellowcube.eu/glossary/virtual-private-network/>) · [Network security](<https://yellowcube.eu/glossary/network-security/>)

### Sources

[NIST SP 800-215: Guide to a Secure Enterprise Network Landscape](https://csrc.nist.gov/pubs/sp/800/215/final) · [CISA TIC 3.0 Branch Office Use Case, Version 3.0](https://www.cisa.gov/sites/default/files/2025-07/CISA%20TIC%203.0%20Branch%20Office%20Use%20Case%20v3.0_2.pdf)

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