SD-WAN, SASE outpace MPLS investments: survey

A new report from SASE vendor Aryaka highlights the increasing convergence of specific networking and security technologies as well as the trend among enterprise businesses to drive collaboration across network and security teams.

The vendor’s Secure Network Transformation report found that 70% of respondents see the benefits of combining SD-WAN with security services at the edge using secure access service edge (SASE) technologies. Advantages include more robust network operations and security (cited by 34%), less operational burden (24%), and vendor consolidation (19%). More than 90% of the 202 IT, network, and security directors polled said they believe that SD-WAN technology is either mature or somewhat mature, while 85% stated the same about SASE technologies. In addition, 84% of those surveyed plan to increase their investment and dependence on cloud services including SD-WAN and SASE.

“Our report shows that the IT and network security landscape is undergoing a major transformation driven by the rise of hybrid work models and the ever-increasing adoption of AI and cloud-based applications and services,” said Pete Harteveld, chief revenue officer at Aryaka, in a statement.

According to the Aryaka report, the top challenges faced by networking and security leaders in managing WANs and enterprise network connectivity are:

• Complexity of connecting different network domains (cloud, branch, wireless, etc.): 41%
• Cost: 26%
• Complexity of choosing the types of network technologies (MPLS, internet, SD-WAN, wireless, broadband, etc): 20%
• Expertise and knowledge: 10%
• Other: 3%

“The direction of integrating networks and security is clear cut. After all, networks carry the applications traffic, so that it makes sense that putting packet-level filtering and security functions into the network can improve the overall cybersecurity posture of the organizations,” the Aryaka report states. The survey revealed that 65% of respondents believe SASE will grow as a strategy to implement a more agile, pervasive security strategy. And 78% of those surveyed said they have hybrid plans for network and security either immediately or in the next six to 12 months.

Industry watchers have also pointed to SD-WAN and SASE as drivers for greater collaboration between networking and security teams, with multicloud environments also playing a significant role.

“SASE converges network and security solutions into an integrated architecture, so it makes sense that these groups would come together to implement and operationalize it. Multicloud adds significant complexity to networking and security at a time when both these groups are fighting to regain influence and control over cloud strategy,” wrote Shamus McGillicuddy, research director for the network management practice at Enterprise Management Associates, in a Network World article. “EMA believes that strong collaboration between the two groups can help both gain more credibility in the cloud.”

Aryaka’s report noted a move away from Multiprotocol Label Switching services, with 76% of those surveyed planning to eliminate MPLS within the next few years and 10% reporting that they have already eliminated MPLS completely. According to the survey, IT, network, and security leaders are not planning to continue investments in MPLS.

• Eliminate MPLS in 2-3 years: 40%
• Eliminate MPLS in a year: 36%
• No MPLS: 10%
• Use both MPLS and alternatives: 9%
• Invest more in MPLS: 5%

Other trends Aryaka identified include demand for new cloud services including AI, hybrid work and infrastructure, and zero-trust security approaches and application-level security.