IDC Study: 47% of Businesses Have Migrated to SD-WAN

The migration from MPLS to SD-WAN is an inevitable proposition for most companies, one partner told Channel Futures.

IDC earlier this month unveiled a GTT Communications-commissioned white paper, “Realizing the Full Potential of SD-WAN.” The report, based off the survey of hundreds of IT decision-makers, points to widespread adoption of SD-WAN, shifting motivations for deploying the technology and increased popularity of the managed services consumption model.

IDC pointed to three broad drivers for SD-WAN adoption. First, customers view SD-WAN as an overlay that can centralize, automate and optimize a wide sprawl of networks, vendors and workloads. Second, it can save customers time and money and make life more simple.

Third, SD-WAN aids businesses in furthering their strategic technology objectives around areas like cloud and cybersecurity. For example, 39% of respondents said they highly prioritize establishing the secure access service edge (SASE).

SD-WAN Experts’ Steve Garson

Steve Garson, who leads the advisory firm and networking consultancy SD-WAN Experts, said migration will occur even for the companies that haven’t been diving into digital transformation. That stems mainly from the slow, yet oft-predicted retirement of MPLS networks that many enterprises face.

“While digital-first companies are leading adopters of SD-WAN, my experience is that nearly every company in an MPLS network will migrate to SD-WAN as that contract approaches expiration. It’s simply common sense today,” Garson said.

IDC surveyed 650 U.S. and European companies. Each operates in at least two countries. Moreover, each drives more than drove €200 million (US $206 million) in revenue annually.

Scroll through the seven images above to read more insights from the survey with commentary from Garson, C3 Technology Advisors lead consultant Matthew Toth and Advoda Technology Solutions CEO Hilary Fox.