Top 10 SD-WAN Providers to Consider in 2023

Published on
27/10/2023 11:16 AM
top SD-WAN providers

As we enter the cloud era, more and more organisations are moving away from legacy technologies like branch routers in favour of Software-defined wide area networking (SD-WAN). 

SD-WAN transforms the way businesses connect their remote and branch offices to the cloud, providing access to a flexible virtual network architecture built to improve network performance for cloud-based resources. It also helps manage the distribution of data over a wide network.

Learn more about why SD-WAN is the future of network management.

Choosing an SD-WAN provider

With the SD-WAN market growing rapidly, there are now multiple vendors to choose from. Choosing the best SD-WAN provider for your business is crucial to leveraging the benefits this technology can offer. 

choosing a top SD-WAN provider

When choosing an SD-WAN provider, it’s important to consider your specific needs and network requirements. Some of the factors to consider include:

  • Features and functionality. What features and functionality are important to you? Make a list of your requirements and compare different SD-WAN vendors to see which ones meet your needs.
  • Pricing. SD-WAN solutions can vary in price depending on the features and functionality that you need. Be sure to get quotes from multiple vendors before making a decision.
  • Support. Make sure to choose an SD-WAN provider that offers good customer support. This is especially important if you are new to SD-WAN or if you have complex requirements.

Top SD-WAN providers

In this top 10, we’re delving deep into ten of the best SD-WAN providers today, exploring their key features, pricing, and support offerings.

Forcepoint 

The Forecepoint FlexEdge secure SD-WAN is a one-stop solution 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 Secure SD-WAN takes SD-WAN 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 is 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-Network 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.

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 expert in 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. You’ll have everything you need to unlock the power of SD-WAN and discover all the benefits of an SASE architecture too.

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 takes a unique approach to SD-WAN technology, with 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 2023Fortinet has emerged as one of the most popular and secure providers of SD-WAN on the market today. 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 services 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.