Sifting Through the Forty SD-WAN Vendors
There are many SD-WAN vendor solutions available. Making the right choice for your business can be an overwhelming evaluation. Gartner lists 23 different SD-WAN vendors in the ‘Gartner Competitive Landscape WAN Edge report’. Gartner adds that the total vendor landscape includes more than 40 companies. Cisco, alone offers three SD-WAN type solutions in Viptela, Meraki, and IWAN/DMVPN.
Just about every one of the 40 vendors provides the SD-WAN basics, such as:
- Configurable policies for network path selection, by application
- Web-based administration portal
- Robust real time and historical network and application traffic reports
- Fully meshed VPN tunnels between locations
- QOS and prioritization
What differentiates one solution from another?
How do you choose the best solution for your business?
In my experience with our clients and many of the 40 plus SD-WAN vendors, several criteria have repeatedly come up as the most important in differentiating one solution from another. Examining these important criteria will quickly reduce the list of 40 to a manageable few. With this short list, you can then focus on best price, support, and partnership.
Evaluate SD-WAN Vendors
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Vendor Decision Criteria |
Explanation |
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1 |
“Hybrid” Requirements |
Are your objectives to replace MPLS completely or supplement MPLS with Internet for failover and/or additional Bandwidth? Hybrid SD-WAN solutions allow for MPLS connections in addition to Internet. This is usually the first criteria used to identify the viable options, Almost every SD-WAN vendor has positioned themselves as either Hybrid or Internet only. |
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2 |
Virtualization |
Can the SD-WAN software solution be deployed in an appliance, a VM, or both? If necessary, can the VM be deployed in a public cloud infrastructure such as AWS or Azure? Although an appliance is usually suitable for branch locations, your Data Center, Private Cloud, or Public Cloud instance may need a VM. |
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3 |
Router and |
Is your Router and/or Firewall gear due to be refreshed? Most SD-WAN appliances and VM’s can provide WAN-Edge functionality and replace routers as the primary edge gear. Some SD-WAN solutions can also provide stateful inspection firewall and security functionality that would be suitable for branch locations and therefore replace both the router and firewall. Replacing CPE is an important consideration and opportunity for significant cost savings. However if CPE replacement is not a consideration, most solutions are quite flexible fitting into your existing router and FW environment. |
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4 |
Enterprise |
Do you need advanced routing capabilities such as BGP and OSPF? Some SD-WAN solutions are designed as an alternative to running BGP on the Internet, others are designed to be flexible with Enterprise Class routing capabilities. |
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5 |
HA – High |
Will any of your Data Centers or key locations require High Availability? If so, you will want an SD-WAN vendor that has HA solutions in their product line. Make sure that you also have the internal routing and switching architecture to support an HA design. |
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6 |
Performance |
Is failover the primary requirement or do you need real-time path selection based on performance metrics such as packet-loss, latency, and jitter? Almost every SD-WAN solution provides configurable policies to designate by application a primary and failover network path, based on the up/down status of a circuit. However real-time network path selection based on application performance across any circuit could be a desirable feature that is only provided by some SD-WAN vendors. |
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7 |
Total |
What is the total aggregate bandwidth of the MPLS and/or Internet connections at each location? This is the key component used by vendors to size the appliance and software, and directly affects the cost. In addition be sure to account for the interface requirements and the capabilities of a specific appliance to support your needs for the appropriate types of copper and optical Ethernet interfaces. |
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Other |
International capabilities, WAN Optimization features, Locations of POPs and Internet Gateways – if used. |
About Crystal Technologies Group
Crystal Technologies Group has helped many clients navigate the SD-WAN decision-making process at no cost to the client. We have experience working with many of the available SD-WAN solutions including Versa Networks, Ecessa, CloudGenix, Aryaka, Bigleaf Networks, and others.
If you are interested in a no-cost SD-WAN evaluation for your firm please contact your Crystal team or place an inquiry to info@crystaltechnologies.com.
Crystal Technologies is the premier technology consulting firm specializing in connectivity, Cloud, and managed services in the greater Philadelphia area and beyond since 1996. Crystal Technologies’ competitive solutions have enabled businesses to successfully navigate the rapidly changing IT and telecom landscape.
About the Author: Rick Akey is the VP, Technology Services for Crystal Technologies Group, Inc. Rick has been leading technology initiatives for over 20 years as an engineer, network architect, and an executive with responsibilities for engineering, provisioning, repair, and professional and managed services. When not helping organizations utilize technology to improve their business, Rick cares for his rescue dogs, rides his Harley-Davidson, and participates competitively in CrossFit Masters Competitions.
