SD-WAN Roundup: Riverbed Scales up with Versa Networks, Fortinet Launches SD-Branch

Riverbed will lure enterprise customers by partnering with SD-WAN provider Versa Networks.

The companies signed an original equipment manufacturing (OEM) agreement that adds Versa’s Secure Cloud IP software platform to the Riverbed portfolio and creates a new enterprise offering.

Riverbed already offers the SteelConnect SD-WAN solution that more than 1,000 customers use, but SDxCentral reported that SteelConnect is tailored to midmarket customers. Riverbed will target larger companies with Versa’s offering, taking advantage of its advanced routing and security capabilities.

Riverbed‘s Paul Mountford

Riverbed CEO Paul Mountford said his company already serves “the vast majority” of the Fortune 2000 but now has an additional SD-WAN option.

“The agreement with Versa Networks allows Riverbed to provide our customers with a broader set of choices and address the modern networking needs of organizations of all types and sizes – large, medium and small, cloud-first, hybrid and traditional – across the globe,” Paul Mountford said. “Versa’s enterprise-class technology complements Riverbed’s leading SD-WAN, application acceleration and digital experience management solutions nicely, and will be backed by Riverbed’s leading support and professional services that customers rely on.”

Versa CEO Kelly Ahuja credited Riverbed for its reputation of providing a digital performance platform and WAN optimization.

Versa’s Kelly Ajuha

“Our partnership will provide customers with a complete family of next-generation networking and security solutions for today’s digital world with multicloud, multitransport networks,” Ahuja said. “Versa is teaming up with Riverbed to leverage the organization’s global reach into large enterprise, industry-leading support and services, and expertise and leadership in digital performance, which will drive greater opportunities for Versa and a strong offering for enterprise customers.”

Matthew Toth, president of C3 Technology Advisors, said Versa is seeking to catch up with VeloCloud in number of technology partners. Versa works with prominent companies such as Comcast, Verizon and CenturyLink, but dozens of prominent service providers have signed with VeloCloud in the past three years.

Riverbed needed to make a decisive move to shore up its place in the SD-WAN market, according to Toth.

C3’s Matthew Toth

“In the conversations with our customers, Riverbed has not garnered the mindshare that other vendors have like VMWare/Velocloud, Cisco/Viptela, and Silver Peak,” Toth told Channel Partners. “I think they’re seeing that the market is evolving quickly and customers are picking their SD-WAN dance partners, and they stand to lose out if they don’t make a move. Versa makes sense because Versa is, at its roots, a wholesale provider of SD-WAN.”

Riverbed customers will be able to buy the enterprise offering sometime later this year. Versa tallied $12.2 million in the fourth quarter of 2018 for a year-over-year growth of 89 percent, according to IHS Markit.

Riverbed last month announced its new SaaS Accelerator, which is built to boost application performance and support some of the most popular cloud-based apps.

Fortinet

The Sunnyvale, California-based cybersecurity company announced a software-defined branch (SD-Branch) solution that “extends the Fortinet Security Fabric and the benefits of SD-WAN to network access.”

Peter Newton, Fortinet’s senior director of products and solutions, told Channel Futures that the company combines SD-WAN with security, switching and wireless into a single console.

“We’re staking our name around this new SD-Branch solution as the way for companies to secure and manage the branch office,” Newton said.

Cato

The Israel-based vendor added two points of presence in Canada: Calgary and Toronto. Those cities join Vancouver and Montreal. The Cato cloud backbone now has 45 PoPs, as shown below.

Source: Cato Networks

Check out the recent Cato WAN study that we covered.

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