INSIGHT Wayne Mason - Nuvias
“The channel must get up to speed, to be able to become the trusted-partner of choice for their customers and
offer guidance and advice on how to deploy and manage an SD-WAN service.”
Wayne Mason, Sales Director of Advanced Networking, Nuvias
SD-WAN for the masses
Wayne Mason, Sales Director of Advanced Networking at Nuvias, explains how SD-WAN delivered as a
managed service is opening up the benefi ts of this fast-growing network technology to SMEs and looks at the
role of the channel in this migration
SD-WAN has had its fair
share of hype over the
past decade, but it is now
established as a powerful
solution, replacing costly MPLS
networks for connecting large
enterprises such as branch o ces
and data centres over wide
geographical areas. By harnessing
all types of connectivity, from
xed broadband, Wi-Fi and
4G/5G to traditional leased
lines, to adjust dynamically to
tra c demands, SD-WAN not
only saves money but provides
a exible, agile and scalable
alternative.
Like many technologies that
start life in large enterprises, IT
managers in SMEs look at SDWAN
enterprise deployments
with envy but are wary of early
adoption due to potential cost,
complexity and lack of in-house
skills and resources.
But the steady ‘as-a-service’
revolution is changing this.
Many SD-WAN vendors such as
Versa, who o ered on-premise
solutions, have been migrating
to SME-friendly as-a-service
o erings, designed to be quick
to roll out, exible and simple to
maintain, giving IT managers
control of their infrastructure
management as well as a
scalability.
e intersection of cloud,
SD-WAN and SD-Security
among high growth solution
providers, gives great context to
the need for a cloud-managed
SD-WAN branch and security
service designed for marketmaker
VARs, managed service
providers and mid-market
end-client enterprises. e
entire legacy architecture of
what solution providers have
to implement in the branch
today needs to evolve to a
simpler methodology. A cloudmanaged
approach automates
the tools and abilities channel
partners need to simplify the
SMB network, scale WAN
deployments and ease customer
operations, and do so at a much
lower TCO and faster time to
market.
By using software
orchestration, which automates
key network processes to help
streamline and simplify delivery
and operations management,
service providers can make
SD-WAN appeal to smaller
organisations who don’t want,
or don’t have the resources to
manage the network themselves
and prefer to outsource.
Managed from the cloud,
SD-WAN as-a-service
simpli es both deployment
and management and provides
access to a wide range of other
networking optimisation and
security services, essentially
providing a tailored ‘a-la-carte’
managed solution.
The role of the channel
Because the SME market is
essentially a high-volume, lowervalue
business, the channel has
a vital role to play in reaching
out to the mid-market
and accelerating the roll
out of SD-WAN as-aservice.
But moving
to an MSP (Managed
Service Provider) model
for many traditional
resellers is a signi cant
challenge, requiring
new knowledge, skills,
support and resources.
is is where
distribution can help
bridge the gap between
the vendor and the
reseller or MSP.
Education is at the heart of
this migration and it is critical
that would-be MSPs get the
level of support needed across
every aspect of the business and
technology journey. e channel
must get up to speed, to be able
to become the trusted-partner of
choice for their customers and
o er guidance and advice on
how to deploy and manage an
SD-WAN service.
Distributors can also help
their partners navigate the SDWAN
selection mine eld. Like
any hyped market, new and
established players are quick to
jump onto the bandwagon and
claim to o er the SD-WAN
panacea. But not all SD-WANs
– and in particular as-a-service
SD-WANs – are equal and a
good distributor will have done
the technical leg work and
due diligence to o er the best
solutions for partners and their
customers.
Wayne Mason, Sales Director of
Advanced Networking at Nuvias
While more organisations and
businesses are moving to SDWANs,
the market is still at an
early stage. e retail industry
has been an early adopter, in its
e ort to minimise downtime
and reduce expenditure linked to
expensive MPLS lines to link up
stores, o ces and warehouses.
While this has been a key driver
for SD-WAN technology, the
bene ts go much further than
that.
SD-WAN services are
undoubtedly evolving quickly,
and analyst rm IDC predicts
that the SD-WAN infrastructure
market will see a 30.8%
compound annual growth rate
(CAGR) from 2018 to 2023 to
reach $5.25 billion1. It is clear
that SD-WAN is no longer
just for big business and that
its growth will be fuelled by
growing demand from SMEs
keen to feel the bene ts.
18 | Comms Business Magazine | December 2019 www.commsbusiness.co.uk
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