Verizon Business has added another arrow to its SD-WAN quiver with a new Silver Peak-based managed service. Verizon is now using Silver Peak's Unity EdgeConnect Platform to provide its enterprise customers more options as they transition to integrated WAN optimization for their managed business applications.
With more applications and services moving to the cloud, which accelerated during the Covid-19 pandemic, enterprises are taking a "cloud first" approach. Verizon integrated Silver Peak into its SD-WAN portfolio to offer WAN optimization and SD-WAN across Silver Peak's Unity EdgeConnect devices as part of its software-as-a-service (SaaS) delivery model.
Verizon had an existing relationship with Silver Peak that included resale and professional service engagement, according to a Verizon spokesperson.
Unity EdgeConnect enables cloud-first enterprises to scale, automate and extend SD-WAN deployments across multiple fabrics and cloud instances, while maintaining centralized control and operability of the WAN.
Verizon is using its SD-WAN portfolio to help its enterprise customers accelerate their network transformations with advanced cloud control and central orchestration as part of a turnkey solution that includes automated service assurance.
With Silver Peak, Verizon is offering a new flavor of SD-WAN as a managed service, which means customers have full visibility and insight into the policies and configurations driving their networks. Customers can also monitor and obtain reporting via the Verizon VEC (Verizon Enterprise Center) portal. Currently, customer requested changes (MACD) are submitted and processed by Verizon thru Verizon VEC.
Verizon first offered an SD-WAN service five years ago by deploying Cisco's IWAN solution. A year later, Verizon expanded its SD-WAN portfolio by adding Viptela's SD-WAN platform to its service offering. Verizon has also deployed SD-WAN from Versa Networks and it blended in WAN optimization with Hitachi last year.
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"Most providers are going with a multi-vendor approach for SD-WAN," said Frost & Sullivan's Roopa Honnachari, industry director, information and communications technologies, in an email to FierceTelecom. "Clearly, some solutions are better suited for certain application needs than others just because of the integrated functionality.
"Silver Peak's strength is in integrated WAN optimization, which honestly, the need for has not gone away. The COVID-19 pandemic has further highlighted the need to optimize broadband links for connectivity. So this seems like a good addition to Verizon's portfolio."
With the addition of Silver Peak, Verizon continues to support SD-WAN capabilities across the Cisco/Viptela and Versa Networks solutions. Verizon is also continuing to use Hitachi for WAN optimization, but the addition of Silver Peak blended SD-WAN and WAN optimization into the same device.
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Last week, Dell'Oro Group ranked Silver Peak fifth in Q3 market share behind, respectively, VMware, Cisco, Fortinet and Versa Networks.
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In July, HPE announced it was buying Silver Peak for $925 million. Silver Peak will be blended into HPE's Aruba business unit, which makes wireless local area network (WLAN) gear, once the deal closes in the fourth quarter of HPE's 2020 fiscal year.