The CF List: 20 Top SD-WAN Providers You Should Know
Did your company or one you work closely with make our list this year?
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Adaptiv Networks is a notable SD-WAN provider. It recently purchased Elfiq Networks, Martello Technologies Group’s SD-WAN subsidiary. Executives said the purchase improves Adaptiv’s SD-WAN portfolio with a “natural complement.”
TBI’s Bryan Reynolds cited Aryaka as a top provider. And Dell’Oro Group’s Shin Umeda said it’s one of only a handful of providers that develops its own SD-WAN solution. In addition, it’s ranked seventh on the latest Vertical Systems Group SD-WAN rankings for year-end 2020.
Reynolds cited AT&T as a top contender. It retained the top spot on the latest Vertical Systems Group SD-WAN rankings for year-end 2020.
AT&T uses VMware and most recently Cisco for its SD-WAN services.
“All the major U.S. network operators now have substantial SD-WAN sophistication,” Washburn said.
Bigleaf Networks, while already a pretty well-established name, has made great strides during the pandemic, being one of the first SD-WAN providers to focus on improving performance at the home in response to the pandemic and mass migration from the office, Reynolds said.
“They crafted specific packages based on the typical home environment complete with predefined application fingerprints to differentiate between enterprise/work traffic and general home use,” he said. “This is helping drive the narrative that SD-WAN is more than just load balancing between circuits. And the intelligence it employs in the network can help greatly improve congestion and application performance, even with a single WAN connection.”
Several companies, with many being the smaller and more nimble players, have made rapid pivots to target a different client demographic and/or grab market share amid the pandemic, Reynolds said.
“One good example of this is the pivot that Cato Networks made, establishing a dedicated product offering early on for SASE that focused on the remote workforce,” he said.
Reynolds said Cisco also belongs among top contenders.
A big challenge now is how to make SD-WAN applicable to work-from-home, Washburn said.
“Some vendors are experimenting with downscale SD-WAN CPE for the high-powered remote access user,” he said. “There’s a question whether there’s any appetite for corporate-liable 5G broadband that works in tandem with residential broadband, combined with some SD-WAN-like feature sets for high availability and performance. Right now it still seems a stretch.”
Reynolds cited CloudGenix/Palo Alto Networks among top competitors. Palo Alto Networks acquired CloudGenix a year ago.
“While many SD-WAN providers exist that have security as a focus … many others are filling the gap through acquisition, like Palo Alto Networks’ integration of CloudGenix as part of their Prisma portfolio, allowing them to realize a SASE model for their customers, he said.
Reynolds said Comcast Business belongs among top SD-WAN providers. It’s ranked fourth on the latest Vertical Systems Group SD-WAN rankings for year-end 2020.
Last month, Comcast added machine learning (ML) capabilities to its SD-WAN platform.
Reynolds cited Fortinet among top competitors and said it’s among providers with security as a focus. Fortinet’s Secure SD-Branch solution converges SD-WAN, LAN management and security functionality into a single device, enabling performance and advanced security.
Last fall, HPE completed its acquisition of Silver Peak, the SD-WAN company, for $925 million. HPE’s Aruba Networks has built more automation, visibility and security into the Silver Peak SD-WAN offering.
Umeda said Hughes Network Systems is among a handful of providers that develops its own SD-WAN solution. Hughes retained the No. 2 spot on the latest Vertical Systems Group SD-WAN rankings for year-end 2020.
Washburn said Juniper Networks is underappreciated in the sector. It’s smaller in terms of market share, but quite relevant, more so in a global context, not just in the United States.
Last fall, Juniper Networks acquired SD-WAN vendor 128 Technology for $450 million. It can now offer MSPs and enterprises the ability to create a secure fabric for WAN connectivity.
Lumen Technologies ranks sixth on the latest Vertical Systems Group SD-WAN rankings for year-end 2020. Last year, Lumen launched hyper WAN. It allows customers to go online to order SD-WAN and MPLS services at the same time with security and capacity, without going through Lumen’s sales team.
Umeda said Masergy is among a handful of service providers developing its own SD-WAN solution. Masergy says it’s the only SD-WAN and SASE provider with a fully integrated, AI-based network, security and application optimization solution.
Washburn cited Microsoft Azure and its Virtual WAN service, which supports a range of SD-WAN platforms.
“The SD-WAN market continued to consolidate around a small number of vendors in 2020,” Umeda said. “Our research shows that more than 80% of the SD-WAN market share was captured by less than 10 vendors. That said, the convergence of SD-WAN and network security is opening new opportunities for companies to differentiate themselves from the more established players.”
Washburn said Nuage Networks is among underappreciated SD-WAN providers in the sector. It’s smaller in terms of market share. However, it’s more relevant on a global scale.
China Mobile Cloud, the subsidiary of mobile telecom provider China Mobile, plans to leverage Nuage Networks’ end-to-end SDN solution for nationwide deployment of its public cloud service.
Verizon retained the No. 3 spot on the latest Vertical Systems Group SD-WAN rankings for year-end 2020. In February, Verizon Business expanded its strategic partnership with Cisco, with the addition of three new SD-WAN managed service offerings. This expansion provides enterprise businesses with an extensive global footprint, access to new solutions and capabilities, as well as a management and policy administration model to support business outcomes.
Versa Networks and Comcast expanded their partnership around SD-WAN to better serve remote workers. Versa provides the SD-WAN component of the Comcast Business ActiveCore SDN platform. They teamed up back in 2017.
VMware is a powerhouse among SD-WAN providers. AT&T, Windstream and other carriers use VMware as the core of their SD-WAN solution.
Later this year, Dell Technologies is spinning off its ownership of VMware.
Windstream Enterprise ranked fifth on the latest Vertical Systems Group SD-WAN rankings for year-end 2020. Last fall, Windstream upgraded its WE Connect Management Portal to give users more visibility across their SD-WAN networks. The WE Connect Insight Engine offers customers a set of visuals that show performance analysis and trends in their applications, network access and devices across all of their locations.
Windstream Enterprise ranked fifth on the latest Vertical Systems Group SD-WAN rankings for year-end 2020. Last fall, Windstream upgraded its WE Connect Management Portal to give users more visibility across their SD-WAN networks. The WE Connect Insight Engine offers customers a set of visuals that show performance analysis and trends in their applications, network access and devices across all of their locations.
The surge in remote work due to the COVID-19 pandemic has created both opportunities and challenges for SD-WAN providers.
Last May, our third “CP List” focused on SD-WAN with analysts, members of the Channel Futures Editorial Advisory Board and other industry experts. They shared their views on what it takes to succeed in SD-WAN. We’re back with an updated list on Channel Futures. It includes fresh perspectives on changes in this competitive technology during the past year.
Now a Mainstream Technology
Shin Umeda is vice president of Dell’Oro Group.
Dell’Oro Group’s Shin Umeda
“Because SD-WAN has matured into a mainstream technology, end users can make decisions about adoption based on their specific need and select their provider accordingly,” he said. “I think that this evolution is largely independent of the pandemic. But I also think SD-WAN adoption has accelerated as part of a larger trend toward more efficient IT spending.”
The surge in remote workers has created both opportunities and challenges, Umeda said.
“On one hand, the ability to offer VPN functionality on SD-WAN platforms has created some incremental demand and monetization,” he said. “But on the other hand, the typical SD-WAN offering is too expensive for the vast majority of remote workers. The pandemic has spurred the development of ‘SD-WAN lite’ solutions that are designed with the specific technology requirements and lower prices in line with the economics of supporting remote workers.”
Shifting Customer Demand for SD-WAN Providers
Bryan Reynolds is TBI‘s director of sales operations.
TBI’s Bryan Reynolds
“Across technologies there has certainly been a shift in customer demand, expectation of deliverable, and an acceleration of technology adoption that shifts what is considered ‘cutting-edge,’” he said. “Outside of improving [work-from-home] operations, security is top of mind, as it should be. And SD-WAN is playing a key role in the rise of secure access service edge (SASE) and the road to zero-trust network architecture.”
COVID-19 has prompted a massive increase in cybersecurity incidents, Reynolds said. That’s helping IT staff make the argument towards better security models and zero trust is starting to gain steam.
Many SD-WAN providers have security as a focus, he said. And those that don’t are gaining cybersecurity through acquisitions.
Everything Is Now SD-WAN
Brian Washburn, an analyst with Omdia, said the big trend we’re wrestling with is “everything is now SD-WAN.”
Omdia’s Brian Washburn
“Router vendors, SD-WAN,” he said. “Firewall vendors, SD-WAN. And once customer premises equipment (CPE) merges SD-WAN features into it, anyone doing managed CPE services also is in the SD-WAN business one way or another.”
If you’re an enterprise, the choices can get quite confusing, Washburn said.
“In the router world, you bought Cisco or something not-Cisco,” he said. “Routers have the same core features, and you can use them together and they do basically the same thing. Now it’s not just SD-WAN or not-SD-WAN choices, but whether to upgrade and what to upgrade, and how much SD-features enablement runs throughout the organization.”
Many service providers partner with multiple pure-play SD-WAN vendors. Service providers, including AT&T and Verizon, are using more than one SD-WAN vendor to cover all of the bases for their customers’ needs.
Based on feedback from analysts, experts and recent news reports, we’ve compiled a list, in alphabetical order, of 20 top SD-WAN providers that are making the most of the ongoing competitive landscape and charting success. The list offers a mix of well-known providers as well as lesser-known companies that are making big strides in SD-WAN.
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