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The software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN) infrastructure market continues to expand at a global level, driven by changing customer requirements and increased spending.
According to IDC, this market segment - housed within the enterprise networking space - will grow at a 30.8 per cent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) from 2018 to 2023 to reach $5.25 billion.
“SD-WAN continues to be one of the fastest-growing segments of the network infrastructure market, driven by a variety of factors,” said Rohit Mehra, vice president of Network Infrastructure, IDC. “First, traditional enterprise WANs are increasingly not meeting the needs of today's modern digital businesses, especially as it relates to supporting SaaS apps and multi- and hybrid-cloud usage.
“Second, enterprises are interested in easier management of multiple connection types across their WAN to improve application performance and end-user experience.”
From a vendor perspective, Mehra said Cisco holds the largest share of the SD-WAN infrastructure market, fuelled by its “extensive routing portfolio” that is used in SD-WAN deployments.
The technology giant is also heavily relying on its Meraki portfolio to capture market share, in addition to its SD-WAN management platform powered by technology it acquired from Viptela in August 2017.
VMware, with its SD-WAN service powered by VeloCloud - acquired in December 2017 - holds the second largest market share, followed by Silver Peak, Nokia-Nuage, and Riverbed.
“Combined with the rapid embrace of SD-WAN by leading communications service providers globally, these trends continue to drive deployments of SD-WAN, providing enterprises with dynamic management of hybrid WAN connections and the ability to guarantee high levels of quality of service on a per-application basis,” Mehra added.
In looking ahead, the SD-WAN infrastructure market continues to be "highly competitive" with sales increasing 64.9 per cent in 2018 to $1.37 billion.
Mehra said incumbent networking vendors have leveraged their technological strengths and installed bases in routing and WAN optimisation sales to lead the market, while "numerous start-ups remain active".
