Study: SD-WAN is the Solution of Choice for Securing Public Cloud Deployments

When it comes to maintaining security within the public cloud, SD-WAN is emerging as the most popular option. That’s according to a recent market research report released by Barracuda Networks, a cloud security company based in Campbell, California.

The report entitled, “Secure SD-WAN: The Launch Pad into Cloud,” indicates that while adoption rates for public cloud continue to grow, security is still the number one roadblock.

The report says that 23% of respondents have already deployed SD-WAN, with another 51% either in the process of deploying or expecting to deploy within the next 12 months.

SD-WAN is being used by more than half of those who have added security to their public cloud. The financial services industry has the most SD-WAN adoption, with 35% of respondents saying it is already in use. Another 41% are in the process of deploying SD-WAN or expect to do so in the next 12 months. The public sector has the lowest amount of SD-WAN deployment. Only 7% currently have SD-WAN deployed, and another 36% are in the process of deploying SD-WAN or expect to do so in the next 12 months. More than half (52%) of respondents want to acquire an SD-WAN solution through a cloud provider. In comparison, 16% prefer to get SD-WAN from an independent vendor, while 15% would opt for a telecommunications partner, and 12% would choose a value-added reseller. Microsoft Azure is 50% more preferred than Amazon AWS and 125% more preferred than Google GCP. Responses indicate that Azure is perceived to be more secure and more user friendly than AWS and GCP.

“As more organizations move to public cloud, SD-WAN technology is a critical part of securing these cloud deployments,” said Klaus Gheri, VP, Network Security at Barracuda. “By deploying an all-in-one, secure SD-WAN solution natively built into the public cloud network, organizations can reap the full benefits of public cloud.”

The survey, which was conducted by an independent market researcher included responses from 750 executives, individual contributors, and team managers with responsibility for or knowledge of their organization’s cloud infrastructure. They came from organizations of all sizes and across a broad range of sectors, in EMEA, APAC and the US.

Channel Impact^®
The data demonstrate the uptake of SD-WAN, which is viewed in some circles as a replacement for MPLS, which nonetheless continues to post solid numbers at the cores of large enterprise networks.