Is SD-WAN still relevant in today’s technology landscape?

Software-defined wide area networking (SD-WAN) emerged in 2014 as a way to help organizations embrace the cloud and quickly became a hot commodity. As years passed new technologies like secure access service edge (SASE) and generative artificial intelligence (genAI) burst onto the scene, and SD-WAN has fallen out of the industry limelight. This shift has spawned think pieces about the death of SD-WAN and has many asking: “Is SD-WAN still relevant today?”

At Fortinet, we’re here to tell you that SD-WAN is not only still relevant but more indispensable than ever before.

Why SD-WAN is still critical to the enterprise

SD-WAN connects users, applications, and data across locations within a hybrid environment. While SD-WAN is a maturing market, it’s an increasingly important component of any network. Here’s why:

• SD-WAN is a cornerstone of SASE

SASE, critical technology that secures and supports globally dispersed workforces, consists of two parts: SD-WAN and Secure Service Edge (SSE). Since SD-WAN is a key component of SASE, any discussion of SASE by default touches on SD-WAN. And organizations often use their existing SD-WAN solution as the foundation on which to build a SASE deployment, making it particularly important to get SD-WAN right. In fact, Gartner predicts “by 2027, 65% of new software-defined wide-area network (SD-WAN) purchases will be part of a single-vendor SASE offering, an increase from 20% in 2024.”

• Escalating network complexity puts SD-WAN to the test

Modern networks are expanding in size and complexity, from edge computing to multi-cloud strategies. As a result, SD-WAN deployments must also grow to keep business humming. To accommodate increased traffic, more edges, and dispersed users, modern SD-WAN solutions need to have top-of-the-line performance, resiliency, scalability, and autonomous architecture options. The increasing demand for SD-WAN and its continued evolution highlights its importance.

• Downtime hurts business operations

Downtime is no longer an option for digital-first organizations given the financial and reputational repercussions. A high-performing SD-WAN solution ensures all users and systems can connect to the applications they need to ensure efficient operations. This has become so important that organizations look for self-healing SD-WAN solutions. In fact, one of the most impactful genAI integrations is to enhance and simplify SD-WAN configuration and troubleshooting to increase uptime and availability. Specifically, genAI within SD-WAN enables organizations to quickly discover and understand where issues persist for quick resolution.

• Providing flexibility to meet evolving business needs

Modern business needs and operations evolve rapidly, and organizations are increasingly prioritizing SD-WAN solutions that provide deployment flexibility to cover many use cases, including cloud environments, on-premises users and devices, OT edges, microbranches, agentless devices, and the hybrid workforce. The demand for a flexible SD-WAN solution and its evolution to cover new demands proves its staying power.

Conclusion

Despite chatter that SD-WAN is no longer relevant, the technology remains a critical component of the modern enterprise. As a core pillar of SASE solutions, along with its ability to tackle network complexities, SD-WAN will only continue growing in importance.

Fortinet Secure SD-WAN enables resilient architecture and flexible deployments on-premises and in the cloud with digital experience monitoring, powerful genAI integrations, and FortiGuard AI-powered Security Services. Learn more about Fortinet Secure SD-WAN and how it can help transform your network.

Gartner®, Magic Quadrant™ for Single-Vendor SASE, Andrew Lerner, Neil MacDonald, Jonathan Forest, Charlie Winckless, 3 July 2024

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