Enterprise Management Associates (EMA™) released a new research report, titled WAN Transformation with SD-WAN: Establishing a Mature Foundation for SASE Success authored by Shamus McGillicuddy, VP of Research, covering network management at EMA.
Software-defined wide-area network (SD-WAN) technology transformed the networking industry nearly a decade ago by allowing IT organizations to replace or supplement their expensive and bandwidth-constrained private and managed WAN services (e.g., MPLS) with public internet connectivity. SD-WAN provides security, visibility, and centralized control over these new hybrid networks.
Now, a new wave of innovation has arrived with secure access service edge (SASE). Vendors and solution providers are integrating SD-WAN with multifunction cloud-based network security into unified platforms that provide connectivity and security for distributed, multi-cloud enterprises. While SASE holds promise, EMA heard anecdotally that many large enterprises struggle with their transition from pure SD-WAN to true SASE.
EMA believes that the industry's emphasis on SASE is trivializing the complexity of SD-WAN. Some enterprises make the mistake of designating SD-WAN as a just another SASE feature, a checklist item on an RFP that can be turned on with the click of a button.
"SD-WAN is a nontrivial technology that requires careful planning and rigorous attention to Day 2 operations to ensure ongoing performance and security," McGillicuddy said. "Many enterprises had suboptimal results with their first foray into SD-WAN and they've applied lessons learned from these early failures to their second-generation SD-WAN implementations. These organizations should approach SASE with the same critical scrutiny. The transition to SASE will require a battle-tested SD-WAN foundation."
EMA surveyed 313 IT professionals across North America and Europe who have responsibility for and/or influence over their company's WAN strategy to discover how their organization is building a SD-WAN foundation and taking the next step toward SASE.
Some of the key findings include:
■ Only 38% of IT professionals believe their SD-WAN implementations have been fully successful.
■ More than 30% of IT professionals believe it is difficult to advance from SD-WAN to a SASE solution. Only 11% believe it is very easy.
■ 66% of IT organizations prefer to consume SD-WAN as a managed service, but 58% prefer to share responsibility for Day 2 operations in a hybrid operating model.
■ 43% of companies have multiple SD-WAN vendors now, which adds complexity to a SASE transition.
■ 71% of IT organizations apply WAN acceleration to their networks, and nearly all of them leverage their SD-WAN vendors for this acceleration.
■ 86% of organizations are incorporating wireless services into their WANs, and most are using this connectivity as a primary connectivity option for at least some sites.
The Latest
Companies implementing observability benefit from increased operational efficiency, faster innovation, and better business outcomes overall, according to 2023 IT Trends Report: Lessons From Observability Leaders, a report from SolarWinds ...
Customer loyalty is changing as retailers get increasingly competitive. More than 75% of consumers say they would end business with a company after a single bad customer experience. This means that just one price discrepancy, inventory mishap or checkout issue in a physical or digital store, could have customers running out to the next store that can provide them with better service. Retailers must be able to predict business outages in advance, and act proactively before an incident occurs, impacting customer experience ...
Earlier this year, New Relic conducted a study on observability ... The 2023 Observability Forecast reveals observability's impact on the lives of technical professionals and businesses' bottom lines. Here are 10 key takeaways from the forecast ...
Only 33% of executives are "very confident" in their ability to operate in a public cloud environment, according to the 2023 State of CloudOps report from NetApp. This represents an increase from 2022 when only 21% reported feeling very confident ...
The majority of organizations across Australia and New Zealand (A/NZ) breached over the last year had personally identifiable information (PII) compromised, but most have not yet modified their data management policies, according to the Cybersecurity and PII Report from ManageEngine ...
A large majority of organizations employ more than one cloud automation solution, and this practice creates significant challenges that are resulting in delays and added costs for businesses, according to Why companies lose efficiency and compliance with cloud automation solutions from Broadcom ...
Companies have historically relied on tools that warn IT teams when their digital systems are experiencing glitches or attacks. But in an age where consumer loyalty is fickle and hybrid workers' Digital Employee Experience (DEX) is paramount for productivity, companies cannot afford to retroactively deal with IT failures that slow down employee productivity ...