Key Trends and Benefits for deploying SD-WAN and SASE Managed Services

For a good decade now, one of the buzzword phrases has been ‘data is the new oil.’ As an industry, the tech industry has shown a ferocious appetite to create new buzzwords and phrases at a relentless pace. And discard or distort the meaning of terms and phrases. Yet, data is the new oil has shown remarkable relevance – until it didn’t: especially if unstructured and simply too much data is issued to make sense of it. Data analysis can lead to paralysis, and as we all know, time is money. Getting insightful data and analysis to help inform timely decisions is of immense value to individuals and enterprise buying centers alike. So is having information about what peers think and consider for their next steps.

Futuriom’s cloud market trends reports provide such peer insights and helpful information, as is the case again with its most recent SD-WAN/SASE Managed Services Survey 2022. Aryaka is a proud sponsor of Futuriom’s reports, and you can grab a free copy of the survey report here. The report covers the top trends, feature needs, and integration trends in the software-defined wide-area network (SD-WAN) and secure access service edge (SASE) managed services market.

Futuriom surveyed enterprise IT director-level professionals to assess their goals and needs for adopting SD-WAN and SASE managed services technology:

• Key trends in SD-WAN and SASE managed services
• SASE benefits for hybrid work and security integration
• Service models and differentiation
• Recent partnership and launch announcements
• Leading SD-WAN/SASE Managed Services Partnerships

I will highlight a couple of key findings in this blog and look at examples of how Aryaka addresses the stated goals and needs.

SASE, coined by Gartner in the fall of 2019 as a buzzword, has taken our industry by storm and shed additional light on SD-WAN. So, it is no surprise that almost three-quarters of surveyed enterprises are aware of both offerings, and around 4% state they are not aware of either. AS Futuriom states, SASE technologies represent an outgrowth of the SD-WAN market by integrating a wide variety of cybersecurity functions, many of them cloud-based. As networking managers realized they could more quickly deploy network services with a software-defined, cloud-oriented model, security specialists also wanted to use the same deployment model, often in conjunction with deploying SD-WAN. There is a natural need to simultaneously integrate the two approaches – delivering SD-WAN and SASE security services.

A Quick Primer: What is SD-WAN and SASE?

What has been less clear is how to implement SD-WAN and SASE, and many networking and security vendors and managed service providers offer their take on what SASE and SD-WAN are and how to implement a solution for your needs. For a primer, especially if you are part of 4%, check out Aryaka’s SD-WAN and SASE Academy.

How does Aryaka help with WAN and Security transformation?

No matter where you are as an enterprise in your digital transformation journey to modernize your WAN and Security, our take at Aryaka is to meet you where you at and go at your pace.

We know that this does not happen overnight, and it is not easy to get this right with all the legacy investments that have been made over several decades. Aryaka makes it easy for enterprises and your partner ecosystem to work with a very flexible architecture – based on Aryaka FlexCore – and workflows designed to intersect no matter where you are in your journey.

We like to call this the power of an “AND” approach versus an “Either/Or” approach.

SASE Benefits for Hybrid Work and Security Integration

Another critical trend and area driving the growing awareness of SASE technology is its broad application in network security. SASE platforms can include many security features and services, making them attractive to networking and IT departments looking to consolidate their security tools and improve their security posture. Eighty-five percent of the survey respondents said they believe the use of SASE technology will grow as part of their organization’s strategy to implement a more agile, pervasive cybersecurity strategy. Only 7% think it will not, and the remaining 8% replied that they didn’t know.

Aryaka offers flexibility for enterprises again, and our customers can choose how to deploy security for their hybrid workforce. For example, our Private Access solution is seamlessly integrated into our cloud-first architecture and can be part of an SD-WAN or a SASE deployment to secure and protect remote and mobile users while providing connectivity and access to the same high-performance global backbone as users have in branch or factory sites.

“Aryaka’s Cloud-First WAN keeps our team more productive and better connected than ever,” said Richard Delisser, SVP of Land Technology & Global Infrastructure at World Fuel Services. “We’re confident our global teams are experiencing secure and reliable application performance no matter where they are, what device they’re using, or how they access our technology services.”

Key Features of SD-WAN/SASE Managed Services

As the demand for new cloud-oriented security tools rises, driven in part by the remote-work boom, service providers have a new opportunity to offer value-added security services coupled with SD-WAN and SASE managed services. Even though cybersecurity needs dominate the demand for SASE services, other features such as management capabilities and multi-cloud connectivity will drive the adoption of SD-WAN and SASE managed services. In Futuriom’s 2021 Secure Edge and SASE Report, the analyst firm established that SD-WAN technology has become a platform for orchestrating and managing various security services linked to the network. In addition, its 2021 Multi-cloud Networking Report established that end users are finding challenges connecting traditional networks to secure networks in the cloud. (See the library of Futuriom’s reports on their website). When asked about this broader set of features and benefits, end-users replied (note that respondents were allowed to choose more than one). The top need with 79% was managed security services, followed by co-management and self-service portals, at 51%. The next most popular features included multi-cloud connectivity to cloud PoPs (47%), AIOps (38%), and multiple connectivity options, including wireless (36%). See the below table for a complete overview of all replies.

Aryaka’s approach is an integrated approach of a global dual-layer core backbone, network optimization technology, security features and capabilities, multi-cloud connectivity, secure remote user access, and last-mile connectivity. All tightly integrated with tools and processes for observability, control, provisioning, management, and orchestration as a cloud-first delivered co-managed and fully managed service. One essential strategic need for enterprises is Observability – the need to have complete visibility and control, end-to-end into the state of the network, and application behavior and performance. Aryaka AppAssure is fully integrated with our cloud-first architecture to deliver on that strategic need. Check out the video on what it is and how it works.

Download Your Copy of the Report

I encourage you to get a copy of Futuriom’s report with its additional findings. It gives you a good overview of the many elements of a SASE architecture and its benefits while offering insights into the role SD-WAN and Managed Services play. In addition, the report provides a summary of the latest news and addition of vendors and service providers and their respective approaches and strengths. It saves you time to make an informed decision.

Book a Demo with an Aryaka Expert

Aryaka offers a suite of managed and co-managed services powered by our Cloud-First architecture. With us, there are no products to buy or inventory to maintain. No configurations, deployments, or patches to worry about. We take care of the small and large details for SD-WAN and SASE deployments today so that you can focus on critical and big business initiatives of tomorrow.

To learn more about Aryaka’s Managed Solutions, check out our page and schedule a demo with an Aryaka Expert.

About the author

Klaus Schwegler

Klaus is a Director of Marketing in Aryaka’s Product and Solution Marketing team. He has over 25 years of experience in the networking, data center, and semiconductor industries with positions held in product and solutions marketing, integrated programs marketing, customer service, and business development. Previous roles included with Equinix, Cisco, Philips Lumileds, Infineon, and Mitsubishi Electronics. He holds a B.SC degree from HfWU Nuertingen-Geislingen in Business Administration - Automotive & Management.