Our shortlist comparison tool compares the latest SD WAN managed services and SASE/SSE Cybersecurity options with features which include optimization, bonding, management tools, SASE security, reporting and more. IT teams are challenged to understand how their specific Enterprise requirements map to the vendor and service provider managed services and solutions market. Use the Netify assessment to save your IT team time.
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The following details the different options which exist for IT teams considering managed services.
Service Providers offer traditional managed service options which incudes both the underlay (connectivity - DIA or MPLS) and overlay (vendor technology) together with other options across cloud and voice.
The majority of SD WAN vendors do not sell directly to end clients preferring to use distributers and partners. There are a select few vendors that offer direct fully managed services which differ from the traditional service provider market.
SD WAN Partners are perhaps the hardest solutions to evaluate which is in part due the numerous companies and solutions which are saturating the market. Leading vendors such as Cisco offer global partners which span thousands of options.
IT teams should consider the following components when comparing SD WAN services.
SD WAN AI is beginning to become available across certain product offerings. Security is one area where false positives are being reduced and threats detected as AI recognizes patterns and reacts quickly to implement on the fly policies. SD WAN AI means quicker decisions on how applications can use alternative circuits or reduce their bandwidth usage where required.
CNaC (Cloud Native Architecture) across managed services blurs the lines between DIY, Co-Managed and Fully Managed options. There are only certain vendors offering this type of approach to support - at a high level services are offered with the ability to self manage or co-manage via the Cloud across all service levels. If fully managed elements are required, IT teams request the vendor to implement as needed. Monitoring and reporting are shared between the vendor and Enterprise.
AWS, Azure and Google Cloud are integrated into the majority of managed SD WAN solutions. The ability to order additional services, monitor usage or co-manage Cloud services will vary across service providers and vendors. In addition to Cloud vendors, organizations may also require access to Cloud Voice and other off-the-shelf Cloud applications from CRM to fully featured services from Oracle and Citrix.
SD WAN agility is determined by aspects such as ZTP (Zero Touch Deployment) and ZTNA (Zero Trust Network Access) which offer the ability to quickly deploy secure connectivity for branch-offices and remote users. In-life agility is supported by application aware traffic routing, dynamic bandwidth allocation and security which are often out-of-the-box policies with QoS (Quality of Service) classification.
The options for SD WAN architecture span end to end DIA (Direct Internet Access) VPN, Public Gateways (which connect to numerous ISP's) and vendors with private backbone access. The network performance of each option is largely dependent on the location of branch-offices and remote users. Each option offers varying benefits to both security and application performance outcomes.
Software WAN services are designed to respond when outages and network degradation occurs. Analytics and reporting over time offers insights into network traffic performance which is the enabler to making architecture improvements across the WAN. Packet loss, excess latency and jitter can often cause detrimental impact to application performance.
One component of managed networks is testing which offers an assurance plan for the organization buying the solution. The typical test plan will include rapid networking link failover tests, application path assurances, traffic segregation, real time connectivity performance, WAN edge and Virtualised load testing and general handover work to ensure reporting and analytics are all working as requested.
Outsourcing your WAN allows your business to focus on core competencies. Support is provided on an international 24/7 365 days a year basis with full real time monitoring and troubleshooting as required. Uptime and change requests are often covered by a comprehensive SLA which defines response and fix times to ensure your business is fully supported and managed by the vendor, provider or partner.
Account Management offers a single managed point of contact to discuss your services and escalate issues where required. Comparing and evaluating account management remains a difficult task with some managed providers experiencing high staff turnover resulting in a varied experience for their customers. Sector experience is another comparison area which should be considered, e.g. financial services, retail or manufacturing.
Netify views SLA's (Service Level Agreements) as commercial documents rather than a component of engineering. The typical SLA covers uptime, adds, moves and changes, mean time to repair, network performance (latency and jitter) and delivery. Comparing SLA documents across solutions requires some legal knowledge (larger Enterprise businesses often use internal teams) and an understanding that most figures are monthly averages.
Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) is a framework defined by Gartner to outline the security elements businesses must consider. SD WAN is actually a component of SASE which demonstrates that network security is now the number 1 concern for medium to large Enterprise organizations. Managed threat prevention, web filtering (SWG), sandboxing, DNS security, Cloud security (CASB), credential theft prevention, data loss prevention and next-generation firewall are all critical areas to consider.
DIY SD WAN offers complete control of your solution with every aspect managed by your IT team. The typical organization will already understand and posses accreditations with staff to ensure in-country and global coverage. Responsibilities include deployment, configuration, change requests, monitoring and support.
Managed SD WAN provides an as-a-service capability with out of the box configuration based on your specific needs. Managed services include deployment, setup, 24*7 monitoring and support with optional service management throughout contract.
In both respects, it is critical to understand your requirements today but also into the near future as selecting the wrong capability could be detrimental to your Enterprise.
Companies which opt to outsource their WAN typically lack the resources within IT to configure, deploy, maintain and monitor services. The capability to manage their network infrastructure is not viable or of core interest to the business.
Where requirements are simple and changes do not occur on a regular basis, managed services are an ideal way for businesses to concentrate on their day to day value without worrying about the service and security of their WAN.
DIY SD WAN is often adopted by small businesses where the infrastructure does not warrant paying additional costs for management or large global Enterprise organizations with complex requirements.
With the right IT team, accreditations and training, DIY SD WAN is the most agile option to quickly react to changes and deal with bespoke and complex requirements.
The best deployment option for your business is dependent on analysis of needs. Netify recommends understanding:
Managed SASE Security is also one of the critical areas your business should consider. The management of SD WAN is only one component of an overall security strategy to ensure services such as Advanced Threat Protection, Secure Web Gateway, Cloud Access Security Broker, Next Generation Firewall, Zero Trust Network Access and more are considered.
The majority of managed service providers also offer management of security as a core component of their SD WAN offering. By 2025, as a result of digital business projects, 75% of enterprise-generated data will be created and processed outside the traditional, centralized data center or cloud.
Consider the items below when creating your vendor shortlist.
(measured in billions USD)