Software-defined networking (SDWAN) underwent some fairly interesting changes in 2020. HPE acquired SD-WAN market leader Silver Peak, CloudGenix was bought by Palo Alto Networks, Juniper Networks bought 128 Technology, VMware acquired Nyansa, and Ericsson trundled off with Cradlepoint. Secure access service edge ( SASE) technology continued down its own evolutionary path, a development that has bolstered the potential and capability of SD-WAN significantly. The two combine to create a far more agile and secure solution to the business that’s juggling remote working and an increasingly globalised workforce. In fact, a recent Forrester analysis pointed out that SD-WAN is the remote office in a box, but only if the investment into the technology is not a plug and play affair. Rather, it should be a long-term focus on skills, process, metrics and procedures that leverages automation and orchestrated service-chaining.

The Forrester analysis highlights the fact that many SD-WAN solutions are just a repackaging and repurposing of ‘routing and some WAN opt capabilities’ and not a true reinvention of networking in a software-defined world. This could perhaps be why, in the recent Brainstorm 2020 CIO Survey, only 21% of CIOs believe that network infrastructure and SD-WAN are worthy of a budget-increasing tech investment – a significant drop from the 67% in 2019. It’s a drop that indicates a lack of SD-WAN prioritisation for tech decision-makers in a market that’s defined by remote working and the growing need for robust remote office solutions – of which SD-WAN is most definitely one.