Cisco dominates Vertical Systems Group’s mid-2023 SD-WAN technology LEADERBOARD

This group of five SD-WAN vendors  has 5% or more of the total number of U.S. Carrier Managed SD-WAN customer sites installed and billable as of June 30, 2023. For this analysis, a site is counted once per supplier, regardless of the amount of SD-WAN equipment installed at the customer location.

These technology companies and others are suppliers of SD-WAN equipment deployed by the service providers ranked on Vertical Systems Group’s Mid-2023 U.S. Carrier Managed SD-WAN LEADERBOARD – AT&T, Comcast Business, Verizon, Hughes, Lumen, and Windstream – as well as to service providers cited in the Challenge and Market Player tiers.

“Our new benchmark measures market presence across the technology suppliers empowering enterprise-grade SD-WAN solutions in the U.S. Carrier Managed segment,” said Rosemary Cochran, Principal, Vertical Systems Group. “As the migration to managed SD-WAN solutions accelerates, technology suppliers are actively enhancing their products to keep pace while vying to integrate SASE and SSE capabilities.”

A market rising

SD-WAN is a market segment that’s on the rise.

Vertical forecast that the number of carrier-managed. According to the research group’s five-year projections, the number of U.S. SD-WAN sites is increasing annually at double-digit rates. Sites for this analysis include customer locations with billable managed SD-WAN installations from a carrier, including either a U.S. or global service provider.

A network operator manages these sites, uses an SDN architecture, enables dynamic optimization of site connectivity, and provides centralized network control with visibility end-to-end.

VSG noted that WAN Access connectivity is gaining momentum, as most managed SD-WAN networks in the U.S. utilize two or more connections per site. Connectivity choices include various media: Broadband (Cable Modem, PON, or DSL), Ethernet DIA (Dedicated Internet Access), MPLS, LTE/4G/5G, Satellite and other alternatives. 

Diverse approaches

Vendors that provide SD-WAN equipment to service providers often will offer SASE and SSE solutions.

In October 2022, MEF finalized a SASE Service Framework (MEF 117) in October 2022. However, there is no accepted industry standard for SSE.

Other service providers, including Hughes and Aryaka, deploy SD-WAN with their own internally developed SD-WAN platforms.

While SD-WAN services hold promise for service providers and vendors, security integration was cited as a top challenge in 2022 for Managed SD-WAN service providers offering two or more different SD-WAN platforms. Based on VSG’s mid-2023 research, this challenge is more technically and operationally problematic, with some providers now integrating security across as many as five or more different SD-WAN solutions.

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