Wie hilft einem der SD WAN Gartner „Magic Quadrant” bei der Auswahl des SD-WAN Anbieters?

Gartner "Magic Quadrant"

Companies with multiple locations that process large volumes of data and must move it from one site to another face the challenge of how to do so amid constantly growing demands. How do you interconnect the individual sites so that these data volumes can be processed? I explain below how Gartner's "Magic Quadrant" helps.

In the ideal case, you first know what you need and then build your network. Usually, however, reality looks different: an existing network reaches its limits due to ever-increasing requirements. Of course, you can have fiber-optic lines laid right across the globe if you have the budget for it. A far more cost-effective option is the software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN). Here, the sites are interconnected logically to get more out of the network's existing connections for the specific requirements. A software (as the name suggests) decides which data packet runs over which line and with which priority. SD-WAN thus ensures, for example, that a file download does not impair the quality of a video conference and that business-critical connections are maintained in accordance with precisely defined policies. The existing resources of your infrastructure are used optimally. But for that, you need to have the right SD-WAN properly set up.

Once you have decided to implement an SD-WAN solution in your network, two of the most decisive questions are: which software vendor should I choose? And who will implement it in my case? Several manufacturers have specialized in SD-WAN, while there are also vendors of other products that have now added SD-WAN to their portfolio. In other words: there are specialists, and there are those who "do everything". As a customer, you can easily lose track of who actually provides the best solution for your own network. The internationally active consulting firm Gartner offers assistance with the first of the two questions. Gartner tests other companies' IT products, including SD-WAN, and recommends them to its customers. Gartner's so-called "Magic Quadrant" provides a good overview of who delivers SD-WAN at what quality and categorizes the SD-WAN vendors into Visionaries, Niche Players, Leaders and Challengers. Leaders make no compromises on performance and extract the maximum from SD-WAN for their customers. Niche players, by contrast, can prove recommendable when something below the maximum is acceptable in the SD-WAN. When choosing an SD-WAN vendor, you should consider the following points:

Which applications with which requirements regarding latency, jitter and packet loss are used in the company? What internal corporate policies do you have on this? Are there confidential data that may only be transmitted encrypted? Which network providers do you already have? Is there traffic that absolutely must be prioritized?

Before you can make a decision for your company, you should first find out what is happening in your network and what is being demanded of your infrastructure. Different SD-WAN vendors have different strengths here. Of course, the market continues to evolve too. Requirements grow and technical possibilities expand. That is why Gartner updates its "Magic Quadrant" for SD-WAN annually. New SD-WAN vendors join, others drop out. Some catch up and others fall behind. So also make sure you have a current graphic in front of you.

Criteria: In the SD-WAN area, Gartner focuses on routing, security, WAN optimization and manageability. From a certain number of sites — which does not have to be very large — it is sensible, if not very important, to have a central management platform for all your SD-WAN routers. This brings an exponential saving of time in managing the devices. It is therefore very worthwhile for you as an SD-WAN customer to look at this "Magic Quadrant" to recognize who the top vendors are and to get a first impression for your SD-WAN decision.

To find the "right" SD-WAN manufacturer for YOUR network, there is no way around individual consulting. Whether you ultimately opt for Silver Peak, Peplink, Mushroom, Viprinet, HPE, Barracuda, Oracle… (not all of them are known to Gartner") depends on YOUR individual needs. We at Ascend work with several of these SD-WAN manufacturers and can support you in determining which solution might be the right one for YOU. Of course, we also have to ask questions like: What security standards do you have? Which applications do you use? Which connections do you already have? … After we have captured your requirements, we are happy to help you build your network. Either as a complete service covering the assessment of the current state, the requirements and the SD-WAN implementation, or purely in an advisory capacity.

SD-WAN is definitely an alternative worth considering, and one that pays off in comparison with other options as well.

This article was researched and written with AI assistance and reviewed prior to publication by Ascend's certified engineers.