E-Guide

COMPARE
THE LEADING
SD-WAN VENDORS
BEFORE YOU BUY

SearchSDN
 COMPARE THE LEADING SD-WAN VENDORS BEFORE YOU BUY

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Infographic:
Compare the leading
SD-WAN vendors
before you buy

B ecause of the growing number of vendors

in the SD-WAN market, choosing which
one to go with can be overwhelming. But
it doesnt have to be. This expert e-guide
compares the leading SD-WAN vendors, so you can ensure youre
picking the right one for your business.

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INFOGRAPHIC: COMPARE THE LEADING SD-WAN

VENDORS BEFORE YOU BUY
Jennifer English, Assistant Site Editor
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Infographic: Preparing for software-defined WAN deployment requires substantial re-

Compare the leading
SD-WAN vendors search to determine what organizations need from their WANs. But with a
before you buy
growing number of options in this market, choosing which SD-WAN vendor
to go with can be overwhelming. To help out, SearchSDN has compiled the
infographic below that compares leading SD-WAN vendors.
Our editors focused on enterprise SD-WAN and only included vendors that
directly offer an SD-WAN service to customers -- no middleware or resellers.
This chart does not include fully managed SD-WAN options offered by service
providers. In the chart below, you'll find a side-by-side comparison of 11 SD-
WAN vendors -- listed alphabetically -- that addresses a variety of important
features to consider, including security, WAN optimization, deployment op-
tions, public cloud connectivity and available pricing.

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SD-WAN requirements considered "givens" are not broken out in the table.
These include the following:

The SD-WAN platform should create an overlay that abstracts the exist-
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ing WAN.
Infographic:
Compare the leading
SD-WAN vendors  should enable dynamic bandwidth allocation for traffic efficiency.
It
before you buy

It should support transport-agnostic types of connectivity -- MPLS,

Ethernet, cellular and broadband, for example.

It's also important to ask what software-as-a-service partnerships the

vendor has in place.

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Infographic:
Compare the leading
SD-WAN vendors
before you buy

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ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS TO ASK ABOUT SD-WAN

When looking for the right SD-WAN option for your company, it's a good idea
to add the following questions to your list.

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 ow easy is deployment and provisioning? The majority of SD-WAN
H
Infographic: vendors say they offer zero-touch provisioning. But even with that, re-
Compare the leading
SD-WAN vendors member, configuration for any organization's deployment will still take
before you buy
some time. It's a question of how much and how easy. Some vendors may
require a few more steps before the SD-WAN connection is established --
compared with plugging cables into an SD-WAN device that automatically
begins provisioning.

 hat routing and other protocols do vendors support? Check with

W
each prospective SD-WAN vendor to determine which routing protocols
-- such as Border Gateway Protocol, Open Shortest Path First and static
routing -- its equipment supports. Also, factor in IPv6 support, if that is
an important consideration for your organization. Versa Networks, for
example, recently announced support for IPv6 addresses; Silver Peak also
supports IPv6 forwarding. CloudGenix uses an approach that eliminates

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the need for routing protocols, but offers backing for standard routing pro-
tocols during a customer transition.

 oes the SD-WAN platform require specialty edge devices? Are

D
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those devices available in both virtual and hardware options? Is the hard-
Infographic: ware proprietary, or can you use commodity hardware? Also, ask if the
Compare the leading
SD-WAN vendors vendor equipment integrates with existing routers and environments.
before you buy

 hat are the monitoring, management and reporting capabilities?

W
Some SD-WAN vendors include management and monitoring capabilities
with the SD-WAN platform; others work with third-party management
tools; and some offer additional, more comprehensive software to purchase.

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you access to industry experts, independent content and analy-
Infographic: sis and the Webs largest library of vendor-provided white pa-
Compare the leading pers, webcasts, podcasts, videos, virtual trade shows, research
SD-WAN vendors
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