Heavy Networking 432: Analyzing SD-WAN So Far and So Future
Three SD-WAN analysts walk into a podcast. Greg Bryan of TeleGeography, Steve Garson of SD-WAN Experts and me, on the business drivers, hype versus real deployments, whether you can ditch MPLS for DIA, and how to build a vendor shortlist.
1 March 2019 · 1 min read
Packet Pushers Heavy Networking, Episode 432. Published 1 March 2019. Hosts: Ethan Banks and Greg Ferro. Guests: Greg Bryan of TeleGeography, Steve Garson of SD-WAN Experts, and me.
Ethan opened with "three SD-WAN analysts walk into a podcast" and promised it was not the start of a joke. Greg Bryan tracks the WAN market from the research side, Steve Garson consults on SD-WAN selection, and I was running a managed SD-WAN business, so between us we had the buyer, the seller and the scorekeeper in one conversation.
What we covered
The business drivers behind SD-WAN adoption and how the market hype compared with what was actually being deployed in early 2019. The recurring debate about ditching MPLS for direct internet access, which all three of us had opinions on and none of us thought was a simple yes. The operational challenges and cost considerations that surprise people after the purchase order. Deployment strategies, advice for building a vendor shortlist out of a field of sixty-odd claimants, and the idea of SD-WAN as a multi-sided market where carriers, vendors and managed providers all sell the same thing to the same customer from different angles. A commenter linked Ivan Pepelnjak's piece on SD-WAN security being underwhelming under the hood, which was a fair addition.
