Frost & Sullivan 2020 North American Managed SD-WAN Services Market

The North American managed software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN) services market is in the growth phase of the product life cycle. Across industries, businesses are embracing these services as an integral part of their WAN transformation strategy, largely to gain cost and operational efficiencies. Market revenues for 2019 exceeded $1.7 billion, with more than 160,000 SD-WAN sites operational today.

•However, as SD-WAN deployments have increased in the last 3 years, businesses realize that installing and managing multiple SD-WAN sites is complex. The process can be daunting when it involves multiple transport and access providers from across the globe. A managed service provider with the expertise and technology needed to integrate disparate operations and management systems from various access providers can help address the complexity. Hence, fully managed SD-WAN services continue to gain traction.

•Multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) and Ethernet WAN services are deeply embedded in business WAN networks, and SD-WAN is challenging the status quo of these technologies. While some customers have chosen to create hybrid SD-WAN networks by adding broadband links to MPLS or Ethernet WANs, others have chosen to disconnect private networks and instead utilize a combination of broadband, dedicated Internet access (DIA), and wireless links.

•Managed SD-WAN provider interviews indicate that a majority of the SD-WAN sites in operation today use DIA, broadband, and wireless links. The pressure on network managers to optimize networks as businesses adapt to the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic will increase the attractiveness of broadband and wireless services with SD-WAN.