Different SD-WAN aims and strategies for large enterprises

A study conducted by Sapio Research, on behalf of specialist next-generation technology integrators Teneo, found that large multinational organisations have varying targets and approaches to deployment when it comes to software-designed wide area networks (SD-WAN).

The research polled 200 senior networking managers and IT professionals split evenly across the UK and America. Turnovers for the companies ranged between USD127 million and USD38 billion.

Still considered a relatively new technology in the field, which is perhaps the reason for the divided approaches and opinions, over a third (36 per cent of respondents) said they would be interested in SD-WAN due to the high complexity of the networks and its ability to better perform on tasks.

Although this comes following the opinion that the new technology would provide better management of network infrastructures, 50 per cent believed that its deployment would be incredibly time consuming, with its implementation accounting for as much as 36 per cent of their company-wide IT budgets.

Steve Evans, vice president of Teneo’s solutions engineering department, said: “Due to the immaturity of the SD-WAN space each vendor has come to the market with a different strategy. We are seeing this converge in some areas. However, there are still noticeable differences between the major players in the space. I would not say that the vendors do not know what to bring to market. I think it’s more that some vendors favour particular features over others.”

The cost benefits of using SD-WAN over MPLS is the key driving force behind many companies’ decision to use the technology. And while progress is being made in terms of gaining a basic understanding of the technology and expressing their end-goal requirements, many organisations are still in the dark and wish to get a better feel of the market before proceeding to adopt SD-WAN.

“Both groups need help understanding exactly how their requirements map to the available SD-WAN technologies,” concluded Evans.