SD-WAN Adoption Is Rapidly Increasing in the SD-WAN Market

Software-defined wide area networking (SD-WAN) is the application of software-defined networking (SDN) technology to WAN connections, which are used to connect enterprise networks—such as branch offices and data centers—over large geographic distances.

SD-WAN Adoption SD-WAN Market

Source: Juniper Networks

SD-WAN Market Factors

IDC attributes much of the growth in SD-WAN adoption to companies looking for ways to decrease the number of physical devices required to support applications as well as reduce the cost of maintaining technology deployed in remote locations. Big factors in this evolution of the SD-WAN market include digital transformation (including the cloud, network virtualization, big data, and mobility), the continuing rise of cloud-based software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications, and the broader acceptance of SDN.

“SD-WAN is not a solution in search of a problem,” said Rohit Mehra, vice president, Network Infrastructure at IDC. “Traditional WANs were not architected for the cloud and are also poorly suited to the security requirements associated with distributed and cloud-based applications. And, while hybrid WAN emerged to meet some of these next-generation connectivity challenges, SD-WAN builds on hybrid WAN to offer a complete solution.”

SD-WAN Adoption Rate

Experts expect significant growth in the SD-WAN market over the next several years. In late 2015, Gartner predicted that 30 percent of enterprises will have deployed SD-WAN technology in their branches by the end of 2019, and that number should grow to 50 percent in the next few years. Gartner notes that “the market is evolving quickly with multiple vendors entering the market, including large networking vendors, focused WAN specialists and startups.”

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