It is clear for the main players in the world of telecommunications that SD-WAN is here to stay. Although, we are still in the early stages of market evolution, SD-WAN is maturing and gaining ground.
The first iterations of the SD-WAN technology focused only on traditional routing (IP) and redundancy at the Wan Link level. However, specialists are raising the bet, allowing organizations to route and manage at the application layer (sometimes called SD-WAN compatible with the application) or you are applying intelligence to the network in different ways.
The resulting metrics allow for smarter application decisions, based on the real user experience. In addition, new players in the market are combining SD-WAN capabilities with security features, local network functions and many other complementary extensions. Proving that SD-WAN is rapidly evolving technology that is only now beginning to fully explore its potential, and that promises to transform the way organizations look at data networks, but this time, without reliance on global provider of MPLS services.
Part of the reason why the acquisitions of Cisco and VMware were great news is that they served as validation of what could already be assumed: SD-WAN is breaking into traditional networks and infrastructure markets and is attracting attention of all kinds of companies and service providers