NSS Labs Takes SD-WAN Solutions to Task

Gartner (News - Alert) expects the SD-WAN space to reach a valuation of $1.3 billion by 2020, with growing adoption rates to back up the hype. This transformational technology is turning heads, but not all SD-WAN is created equal. So in this age of digital transformation, it is critical for digital-first firms to do due diligence and find the best fit in an SD-WAN vendor.

NSS Labs announced the results of the Software Defined-Wide Area Network (SD-WAN) Group Test. This industry exploration is the first of its kind, delving into nine of the top SD-WAN solutions on the market today.

The Group Test extensively evaluated each of the following solutions:

• Barracuda NextGen Firewall F-Series F80 v7.1.1
• Citrix Systems (News - Alert) Inc. NetScaler SD-WAN 10.0.0.207
• Cradlepoint AER2200-600M v6.5.0
• FatPipe Networks MPVPN/SD-WAN v9.1.2
• Forcepoint NGFW 1101 vSMC 6.3.6, engine 6.3.6.19302
• Fortinet FortiGate 61E v6.0.1 GA build 5068
• Talari Networks (News - Alert) Adaptive Private Networking (APN) Software vAPN 7.1
• Versa Networks FlexVNF v120
• VMware NSX SD-WAN by VeloCloud vEdge version 3.2

NSS Labs covered the following capabilities in its testing:

• Remote Initial Configuration
• WAN Impairment and Link Failover
• Dynamic Path Selection with SLA Measurements
• Path Conditioning and Application-Aware (News - Alert) Steering
• Link Saturation and Congestion
• Application-Aware Traffic Steering
• Performance by Application Flows
• Raw Packet Processing Performance – UDP (News - Alert) Throughput and UDP Latency
• Maximum Capacity
• HTTP Capacity and limits
• Application-Aware Response Time
• Security Effectiveness

The report noted a number of key takeaways. First, over the course of its research, NSS discovered minimal flaws, insisting SD-WAN is ready for the mainstream. Additionally, market pricing varies greatly from vendor, with the primary areas of differentiation being in Quality of Experience (QoE) for video, QoE for VoIP and network performance. SD-WAN and security is in the midst of an evolution that over time will grow in importance within the WAN Edge architecture.

“The SD-WAN market holds strong potential and there are several impressive technologies available today for companies seeking to enhance or replace traditional WAN deployments,” explained Jason Brvenik, Chief Technology Officer at NSS Labs. “The NSS Labs 2018 SD-WAN Group Test is the industry’s first baseline assessment of these technologies. Our testing validates that this is a technology that is ready for prime time. We encourage enterprises to examine our findings for insights regarding the capabilities, performance, and cost of solutions as they continue to evolve their WAN architectures.”

NSS Labs expects nearly 90 percent of American enterprises to adopt SD-WAN over the next 12 months, with an international market pegged for a CAGR of 69 percent steering the space to an $8 billion valuation by 2021.

What’s in your WAN?

Curious to learn more about SD-WAN? SD-WAN Expo 2019 will be here before you know it to introduce attendees to the market leaders, what lies ahead and most importantly, what this up-and-coming technology can offer.

Already an SD-WAN expert? Interested in speaking at SD-WAN Expo 2019? Shoot me an email at [email protected].