Secure software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN) global demand increases as organizations strive to meet security concerns and improve the employee experience. Frost & Sullivan’s recent analysis finds that the global secure SD-WAN solutions market is expected to reach $6.52 billion by 2026 from $1.67 billion in 2021 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 31.3%
As an effective solution, secure SD-WAN natively integrates the networking and security functions with simplified deployment and management. A wide area network allows devices to communicate and share information with other locations around the world. SD technology turns the control plane of these networks into software that can be managed from a centralized location. Secure SD-WAN includes a next-generation firewall; however, customers can use the broader security capabilities offered under these solutions.
“Organizations’ IT environments are becoming more complex with the expanding network traffic across on-premises, public cloud, and branch locations,” said Vivien Pua, Security Senior Industry Analyst at Frost & Sullivan. “In such instances, secure SD-WAN offers organizations an efficient and cost-effective approach to manage their networks across multiple locations while retaining the security functionality.”
Pua added: “Due to the rising adoption of new technologies such as 5G networks, cloud services and the Internet of Things (IoT), organizations need to transform their networks to offer employees and customers a reliable network performance and security protection, especially when it comes to distributed organizations with multiple branches. This trend will increase the adoption of secure SD-WAN and continue to rise over the next 1-2 years.”
Organizations’ increasing demand for embedded security in SD-WAN solutions presents massive growth opportunities for market participants, such as:
- Providing integrated security and analytics functionalities on top of SD-WAN solutions to help gain a competitive edge over pure SD-WAN vendors and service providers.
- Increased security features integrated into the solution to maintain a secure environment.
- Platforms that can centrally manage deployments, configurations, and ongoing operations with complete visibility, analytics, and reporting across the entire network should be provided to customers.
