Study: SD-WAN integral to enterprises cloud transformation

A new study by IDC showed that more than 95% of enterprises have either already deployed SD-WAN systems or are preparing to deploy within the next two years, SDxCentral reports. Businesses are increasingly seeking networks support for their move to a cloud-native, hybrid work model due to challenges posed by political, economic and social disruptions, and are finding that support in SD-WAN, said IDC, which predicted enterprises will spend 21% more on managed SD-WAN services per year, making it an over $15 billion market in 2026. At the same time, early solutions need a refresh, IDC said, to address increasingly complexity as the SD-WAN deployments increase in scale and are being relied on to support ever-increasing numbers of companies critical networks and applications. IDC also noted that though current geopolitical uncertainties alongside the migration to cloud- and internet-first have created severe security challenges, 42% of respondents in its study reported not having security integrated with SD-WAN or having no specific SD-WAN security entirely. Meanwhile, seven out of 10 said they expect to adopt integrated security within the next 12 months.