Masergy, Fortinet Target Work-From-Home SD-WAN

Masergy is teaming up with Fortinet to enable work-from-home SD-WAN solutions.

Masergy on Tuesday unveiled its SD-WAN Work From Anywhere portfolio. The portfolio includes a home SD-WAN solution and a SASE-based mobile solution.

The SD-WAN Secure Home offering utilizes a “lightweight” Fortinet Secure SD-WAN device. The solution gives employees a next-gen firewall and improved application performance while they use home internet.

Second, Masergy is launching a mobile-friendly solution called SD-WAN On the Go. The software client and VPN helps connects mobile users securely connect to corporate networks. The mobile offering will hit the market in November.

Partners can build their revenue streams by upselling existing SD-WAN clients, according to Jim Glackin, Masergy’s senior vice president of global channels. Glackin said the new portfolio allows partners to cross-sell into security and add managed services.

Masergy’s Jim Glackin

“With the continued trend of working from home, partners are in a position to act as a strategic guide for IT leaders currently shifting their priorities to ensure business continuity and secure remote access from anywhere,” Glackin said. “SD-WAN investments are on the rise in 2020, and Masergy’s new offerings give partners an added opportunity to engage with highly relevant innovations for businesses of any size.”

The two companies will meet secure access service edge (SASE) use cases by combining their networking and security capabilities, said John Maddison, Fortinet’s executive vice president of products and chief marketing officer.

“We believe SD-WAN should be able to be deployed anywhere, whether at home, branch, campus or multicloud, to enable today’s increasingly mobile workforce,” Maddison said.

Fortinet’s John Maddison

SD-WAN and Work-From-Home

Masergy’s Terry Traina

Terry Traina, Masergy’s chief technology officer, said the new solutions target multicloud companies that rely on remote workforces.

“Masergy’s Work From Anywhere solutions serve as just the latest example of how we are leveraging our cloud and network platform to serve businesses and employees regardless of their location,” Traina said.

Masergy cited a Nemertes Research study, which found that three in four (75%) businesses making a pandemic-related budget increase are investing in connectivity. And almost half (46%) of respondents in a ZK Research survey found that COVID-19 sped up their SD-WAN deployment timeline.

According to John Burke, Nemertes Research’s principal research analyst and chief information officer, 61% of businesses currently use SD-WAN.

“As many initially temporary work-from-home arrangements are made permanent, the shift to the cloud is broadening and accelerating,” Burke said. “Enterprises need scalable, distributed access from anywhere, to anywhere, with great performance. This new WAN backbone centers on SD-WAN and leverages its advantages everywhere.”

Masergy, the network services provider, revamped its SD-WAN portfolio this summer, improving its SLAs and catering more closely to SASE requirements. It also unveiled a new channel program, which increased incentives for UCaaS and SD-WAN deals.

Fortinet has launched numerous partnerships with vendors around SD-WAN this year. Fusion Connect and GTT Communications headline a list of service providers that teamed up with the Sunnyvale, California-based company.

Masergy last month honored its top partners.