The 6 Hottest SD-WAN Vendors To Watch in 2019

The SD-WAN vendors on the scene today may all have a slightly different take on the emerging technology, but these channel-friendly players have made waves in the market, and solution providers should keep an eye on these six companies in 2019.

Leaders Of The Pack

The emerging SD-WAN market has taken the tech industry by storm. One of the most talked about networking technologies, SD-WAN is poised to reach $4.5 billion by 2022, according to market research firm IDC. That's because businesses are looking for a wide-area networking (WAN) optimization solution that's flexible, cost-effective, and will help solve their problems at the edge. As the market heats up, even traditional tech vendors are getting in the game and SD-WAN specialists are getting nabbed up and integrated.

CRN rounded up 6 of the hottest standalone SD-WAN players in the market today. These providers may have their own flavor of SD-WAN, but the one thing they have in common is their channel-friendly approach.

Here are six SD-WAN vendors that solution providers should keep an eye on this year.

Adaptiv Networks

SD-WAN provider TELoIP revealed at the end of January its new name: Adaptiv Networks. The company said that its new name is more inclusive of its ten years of R&D investments into the SD-WAN market. In fact, Adaptiv Networks is heads-down focused on making SD-WAN an option for more businesses, including smaller companies, though its ecosystem of channel partners.

Adaptiv Networks also named its new CEO, Bernard Breton, who has experience leading startups and has held leadership positions in large international companies, including Ericsson.

Aryaka

SD-WAN specialist Aryaka brings together its own private network with SD-WAN, optimization and acceleration techniques, connectivity to cloud platforms, and network visibility into one solution that is delivered as a service. The channel-friendly company has been expanding its SD-WAN for Multi-Cloud solution to more public cloud providers, including Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform, and most recently, Oracle Cloud.

At the beginning of 2019, San Mateo, Calif.-based Aryaka refreshed its C-suite. The company brought on Karen Freitag as chief revenue officer, Michelle Owczarzak as chief transformation officer, and Shashi Kiran as its new chief marketing officer.

Cato Networks

Founded in 2015, SD-WAN startup Cato Networks has been doubling down on its affordable cloud-native enterprise network with built-in security, WAN optimization, and SD-WAN.

In 2018, Cato Networks saw it bookings increase by 352 percent year-over-year, with its channel business increasing five-fold. Last month, Tel Aviv, Israel-based Cato Networks landed $55 million in new funding, which the company said would help it build out its global backbone and pursue larger enterprise customers.

Silver Peak

Longtime WAN optimization provider Silver Peak offers several flavors of SD-WAN through its SD-WAN platform, Unity EdgeConnect, including service provider SD-WAN, hybrid SD-WAN, and SD-WAN Cloud Connect for business customers.

In January, Google became the fourth public cloud provider to partner with the Santa Clara, Calif.-based SD-WAN player, alongside Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and Oracle Cloud.

Teridion

Teridion, a provider of application delivery and WAN solutions, offers a cloud-based SD-WAN service that can run on top of 25 different cloud provider platforms today, including AWS and Azure. The solution also works with third-party SD-WAN offerings from the likes of Cisco Meraki, Silver Peak, and VeloCloud.

San Francisco-based Teridion in November launched its first-ever channel program to help solution providers sell its cloud-based WAN service to enterprise customers.

Versa Networks

Versa Networks is differentiating itself by focusing on software-defined security. The SD-WAN specialist is also partnering with service providers like Comcast to pair high-speed connectivity with SD-WAN.

Versa Networks, based in Santa Clara, California, in 2017 rolled out an addition to its Versa Cloud IP platform that allows businesses to assess their voice and video sessions. The addition bundles Versa Secure SD-WAN with unified communications so businesses can set policies, gather performance data, and analyze the quality of their UC sessions.