VMware takes over the top spot from Cisco on VSG’s SD-WAN technology LEADERBOARD

VSG said this benchmark quantifies U.S. market presence across the technology suppliers empowering Carrier Managed SD-WAN solutions.

The SD-WAN solutions currently offered by the 2023 U.S. SD-WAN Technology LEADERBOARD suppliers include VMware by Broadcom, which offers VeloCloud SD-WAN; Cisco offers Meraki and Catalyst SD-WAN; Fortinet offers Secure SD-WAN; HPE Aruba offers EdgeConnect SD-WAN; and Versa Networks' solution is Versa Secure SD-WAN.

Each of these Technology Suppliers has 5% or more of the total number of U.S. Carrier Managed SD-WAN customer sites installed and billable as of December 31, 2023. The research firm counts a site once per supplier, regardless of the amount of SD-WAN equipment installed at the customer location.

VMware by Broadcom, Cisco, Fortinet, and Versa Networks attained MEF 3.0 SD-WAN Technology Certification.

“Significant changes in site shares for the leading SD-WAN Technology companies resulted in a shakeup in the year-end 2023 rankings,” said Rosemary Cochran, Principal, Vertical Systems Group. “Many enterprise customers are refreshing their Carrier-Managed SD-WAN networks with new orchestration capabilities, dynamic underlay connectivity, and SSE security.”

Carrier Managed SD-WAN uptick

According to Vertical Systems Group's latest research, the U.S. base of Carrier-Managed SD-WAN sites expanded 24% in 2023.

Sites for this analysis are U.S. customer locations with billable managed SD-WAN installations from a carrier, including both U.S. and Global service providers.

AT&T, Comcast Business, Verizon, Hughes, Lumen, Windstream, and Zayo were the seven providers that qualified for the 2023 U.S. Carrier Managed SD-WAN Services LEADERBOARD position.

As of December 31, 2023, each service provider had four percent (4%) or more of the billable Carrier Managed SD-WAN customer sites installed in the U.S.

Opportunities and challenges

Customer interest is escalating in SD-WAN + SSE solutions integrating the best-of-breed technologies from different suppliers.

Leveraging these solution sets, SD-WAN providers are expanding their rosters of SSE partners. The most widely used SSE suppliers are Palo Alto Networks, Zscaler, and Netscope.

Business customers also can leverage Market Players’ solutions. All other companies with site shares below five percent (5%) of total U.S. carrier managed SD-WAN customer sites are included in this U.S. SD-WAN Technology segment.

For 2023, the Market Player tier includes the following companies (in alphabetical order): Adaptiv Networks, Arista, Aryaka, Barracuda, Cradlepoint, Extreme Networks, FatPipe, Forcepoint, GFI Software, Huawei, Juniper Networks, Lavelle Networks, Mushroom Networks, Nuage Networks from Nokia, Oracle, Palo Alto Networks, Riverbed, Sophos, Teldat and others.

A 2024 business challenge for both technology suppliers and service providers will be managing the repercussions of the acquisitions of some SD-WAN, SSE, and SASE partners.

In its U.S. Carrier Managed SD-WAN LEADERBOARD, VSG said service providers cited delayed purchase decisions due to economic uncertainties and shifts to work from home (WFH) or anywhere else impacting network site requirements.

Also, the research firm cited the continuing challenge of integrating multiple SD-WAN and SASE/SSE solutions for marketing, sales, and technology teams.