Businesses big and small have become increasingly reliant on technology to operate. Many have offices scattered across cities, countries, and even continents, and employees need constant access to critical applications and data seamlessly – regardless of their location.
Connecting these offices and applications has become incredibly complex. It often involves expensive, inflexible, and unreliable private networks that aren’t suitable for the modern hybrid-multi-cloud era.
These networks struggle to handle the demands of these new work styles and applications, leading to performance issues, security risks, and increased IT overhead.
SD-WAN providers have emerged as a cost-effective solution to help organizations connect cloud applications and remote workforces, enabling businesses to build more flexible, cost-effective, and reliable networks that can adapt to the ever-changing demands of the digital world.
What is SD-WAN?
Software-Defined Wide Area Network (SD-WAN) is an approach to managing and optimizing enterprise networks that leverages software-based control and virtualization to dynamically route traffic across multiple network connections.
Instead of relying solely on MPLS, like traditional networks, SD-WAN allows you to use a combination of internet connections, like broadband, LTE, and even MPLS if you have it.
All of these connections can be managed by a central software controller, which automatically decides the best path for data to travel based on factors like network congestion, application priority, and cost. SD-WAN can also intelligently route traffic based on application requirements.
For example, critical applications like video conferencing might get priority over less important ones, allowing organizations to prioritise crucial applications to maximize performance at a reduced cost.
This software-defined infrastructure gives businesses more control, flexibility, and cost-effectiveness since can manage their entire network from a single point. It also makes it easier to configure, monitor, and troubleshoot networks so administrators can manage them effectively.
How does SD-WAN work?
SD-WAN uses multiple internet connections (broadband, LTE, MPLS, etc.) at each branch location to provide redundancy and improve performance. These connections are controlled through the SD-WAN controller, which intelligently directs traffic across the available connections, prioritizing critical applications and optimizing performance.
The SD-WAN orchestrator then analyzes traffic patterns and application requirements to determine the best path for data transmission to ensure optimal performance for critical applications across the network. Network configurations and policies are managed centrally, simplifying administration and reducing errors.
This allows SD-WAN to create a virtual overlay network on top of the underlying physical network. This allows for flexible routing and traffic management with network configurations and policies managed centrally to simplify administration. reduce errors and improve security
Benefits of SD-WAN
1. Cost Reduction
Opting for an SD-WAN provider enables organizations to use broadband internet, LTE, or a combination of both. By intelligently routing traffic based on application priorities, SD-WAN ensures efficient use of bandwidth, preventing overprovisioning and associated costs SD-WAN's centralized management platform also reduces the need for on-site IT personnel at branch locations, leading to labor cost savings.
2. Improved Performance
SD-WAN analyzes traffic patterns and application requirements to determine the optimal path for data transmission. This ensures that critical applications like VoIP or video conferencing are prioritized and routed over the most suitable connection. SD-WAN also constantly monitors network conditions and adjusts traffic routing in real-time to optimize performance and avoid congestion.
3. Increased Agility
SD-WAN edge devices can be deployed rapidly at branch locations, often within hours, compared to days or weeks for traditional WAN setups. As your business grows, adding new sites or increasing bandwidth is relatively straightforward with SD-WAN, accommodating changes in network demands efficiently.
4. More reliable networks
SD-WAN allows for the use of multiple internet connections (like broadband, LTE, and MPLS) simultaneously. This creates redundancy, meaning if one connection fails, traffic can be seamlessly rerouted over another. SD-WAN also constantly monitors the performance of each connection and dynamically reroutes traffic to the best available link, optimizing performance and minimizing disruptions.
5. Simplified Management
With SD-WAN, network administrators can oversee and configure the entire WAN infrastructure from a single, central location. They can also apply policies and configurations across all branches, reducing inconsistencies and errors. SD-WAN can include advanced security features like encryption and firewall protection too, making it easier for administrators to manage security teams and respond to threats.
Best SD-WAN Providers
There are a range of SD-WAN providers available today with different features, strengths, and pricing models for managing network connectivity.
We’re counting down ten of the best SD-WAN providers today, ranking each provider based on their features, reviews, and popularity with users.
Forcepoint
The Forecepoint FlexEdge secure SD-WAN is a one-stop SD-WAN provider to improving application performance, simplifying network management, and increasing security. Designed from the ground up for high availability and scalability, the SD-WAN’s powerful anti-evasion technologies decode and normalise network traffic before inspection and expose and block the most advanced attack methods across all protocol layers. Its unified software core is able to handle multiple security roles, from firewall/VPN to IPS to layer 2 firewall, in dynamic business environments, and can be deployed in a variety of ways – including physical, virtual, and cloud appliances – all managed from a single console.
Forcepoint tailors access control and deep inspection to each connection to provide high performance and security, combining granular application control, intrusion prevention system (IPS) defences, built-in VPN control, and mission-critical application proxies in an efficient, and highly scalable design. It goes beyond typical network security to prevent attempted ex-filtration of sensitive data from endpoints via unauthorized programs, web applications, users, and communications channels.
Barracuda Networks
Barracuda's Secure SD-WAN takes network connectivity to the next level by combining the best connectivity features of stand-alone SD-WAN products and the security functionality of next-generation firewalls in a single solution. The SD-WAN provider make it easy to deploy and manage in a fraction of the time, going beyond traditional VPN security by adding the concept of link redundancy and active quality monitoring of the VPN transports between sites. Meanwhile, application steering automatically chooses the most suitable physical path to minimize latency or maximize bandwidth based on current network conditions.
Barracuda’s Secure SD-WAN ensures that users of SaaS applications like Office 365, Salesforce, Google, Slack, and others get the low-latency performance they need to be productive. Its WAN optimisation features, such as its network traffic compression, advanced data caching, and network link pooling also ensure the best quality of service, prioritising traffic to ensure there is always enough bandwidth for all of your business applications.
Masergy
Combining a high-quality network and scale with an innovative, solutions-oriented approach, the Masergy SD-WAN solution provides a full suite of solutions tailored to your specific business needs. Its fully-managed SD-WAN services pair Masergy’s secure, edge network with three NOCs and SOCs on three continents and a team of highly skilled engineers, you can be confident your network is monitored 24/7. And with a pure software-defined network backed by industry-leading SLAs, you can be certain your SD-WAN solutions will deliver the reliability that’s vital to your business continuity.
With Masergy, security features and services are embedded into every SD-WAN solution, meeting the key tenets of the SASE model. Three-tiered options include next-gen firewalls for superior perimeter protection and 24/7 SOC services that cover all your monitoring and threat response needs. Plus you can enforce a consistent security policy across all SD-WAN devices and get security alert metrics within the SD-WAN management portal. This places Masergy among some of the best SD-WAN providers available in 2024.
Palo Alto Networks
Formerly known as CloudGenix, Palo Alto Networks’ Prisma is a cloud service implementing app-defined, autonomous SD-WAN to help your business stay secure and connected without increasing cost and complexity. The AppFabric connects your branch offices, data centres, and large campus sites securely with application awareness and gives you the freedom to use any WAN and any cloud to keep your networks secure.
Prisma SD-WAN allows you to deliver flexible connectivity, with zero routing complexity and features controller-based architecture that seamlessly builds, manages and updates the network while ensuring edge resiliency to preserve WAN capacity. You can also enable direct-to-app access, with application-aware traffic engineering based on app SLAs designed to ensure great user experience for all SaaS, cloud and business-critical/private applications.
Versa Networks
Versa Networks is an industry-leading SD-WAN provider offering both SD-WAN and SASE solutions, depending on the extent of your networking needs. The secure SD-WAN environment offers industry-leading performance with an extensive list of features, such as sub-second packet sneering, packet loss reduction, and poor-performing link avoidance.
As an extra benefit, Versa also enhances your SD-WAN ecosystem with extra security components, as well as a full mesh topology, and a DNS proxy environment complete with SD-WAN custom traffic steering. This gives you everything you need to unlock the power of SD-WAN and discover all the benefits of an SASE architecture too, making Versa a great choice for all your networking needs.
VMware
The SD-WAN technology offered by VMWare is now available as part of the comprehensive Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) ecosystem from the brand. The cloud-first package combines all the power of SD-WAN with cloud-based gateways for simplified operations, assured application performance, and intrinsic added security measures.
VMWare users can choose from a range of security features to enhance their connections, including VNFs, stateful firewalls, and unique business policies designed to control how traffic moves through the cloud and the data centre. It’s a complete solution for companies hoping to access more in-built security services alongside their SD-WAN investment.
Aryaka Networks
Aryaka Networks takes a unique approach to SD-WAN technology through all-in-one managed services capable of transforming standard SD-WAN connectivity into next-level Secure Access Service Edge technology. Aryaka’s solution has achieved the highest review from customers globally in the Voice of the Customer review by Gartner for 3 years in a row.
With a customisable approach to your connectivity needs, Aryaka will give you a complete toolkit of solutions for SD-WAN implementation and growth. Companies can access benefits like zero-touch provisioning, in-built security features, and state-of-the-art centralized control.
Cato Networks
Part of a border SASE platform, Cato Networks’ cloud-native SD-WAN covers network and security in a single centrally managed cloud. Providing a holistic solution to support your business needs, Cato avoids proprietary hardware and converges all enterprise functions into a multitenant, cloud-native, software stack. it runs all functions – including global routing, security, and network management in the cloud – creating a thin edge architecture and minimising edge-compute requirements
Cato’s SD-WAN reducing network costs. It combines traditional SD-WAN with a global private backbone, full network security stack, and seamless support for cloud and mobile, providing a holistic solution that suits all your network needs Cato eliminates the need for multiple point products, as well as the cost, complexity and risk associated with maintaining them.
Fortinet
A leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for WAN Edge infrastructure for 2023, Fortinet has emerged as one of the most popular and best SD-WAN providers on the market in 2024. Through secure solutions like “FortiGate”, Fortinet can provide business leaders with secure and reliable SD-WAN connectivity, specially designed for the era of the cloud.
Fortinet’s technology delivers superior quality of experience at scale, with access to a host of advanced features like next-generation firewall protection and automated security policies. You can even access state-of-the-art self-healing functionality, deep analytics, and advanced routing with Fortinet’s constantly updating technology.
Cisco
Renowned for its incredible IT security solutions, Cisco also provides one of the best SD-WAN providers the industry has to offer. Cisco’s Catalyst SD-WAN makes managing your WAN a breeze – offering built-in automation, multi-cloud capabilities, analytics, predictivity and security that let you focus on your business. You also gain access to multi-tenancy and multi-region fabric support and flexibility in on-premises or cloud-delivered deployments, meaning your WAN will handle the growth of your network with ease.
Cisco provides all the tools to help you deploy your WAN over any type of connection – whether it's the internet, broadband, Multi-protocol Label Switching (MPLS), 5G/LTE or satellite – and make the network will be more resilient and efficient, and your users will have a better experience. This makes it easy to adapt to changing needs with secure access to physical or virtual platforms for branches, colocation and cloud environments, allowing you to securely connect your people, wherever they are, while you build your path to SASE.
