Forget the uCPE, 2019 Will Usher in the uSD-WAN

We knew it was bound to happen — the universal SD-WAN (uSD-WAN). As SD-WAN vendors compete against each other, there are two possible architectural outcomes. One is that vendors will cluster around a few niches, and we’ll see a set of differentiated SD-WAN solutions with each niche serving specific market verticals or unique groups of users. The second is a universal SD-WAN solution with a more-or-less unified set of capabilities. We at AvidThink predict that the universal solution is most likely, although the market could yet evolve further. At least in the vendor pitches that I’ve seen — and I’ve now seen quite a lot — there is a pattern forming for the universal SD-WAN feature set. You Get an SD-WAN, and You Get an SD-WAN It looks like enterprises all want an SD-WAN. In survey after survey, everyone is on track to deploy or upgrade their WAN in the next few years. And the number of vendors who want to provide it continues to increase, as we flip security vendor after security vendor into SD-WAN vendors — Fortinet, Barracuda, now Watchguard, who’s next? At the same time, communication service providers (CSPs) and systems integrators (SIs) will continue to rollout SD-WAN as their preferred new value-add service.