Top Observations Include Increased Coupling of Networking and Security Planning (SD-WAN and SASE) and Support for Hybrid Work Environments
Aryaka®, the leader in fully managed Cloud-First WAN solutions, today published its fifth annual 2021 State of the WAN report, the industry’s foremost survey into global SD-WAN and SASE planning.
Key trends identified in this year’s report include:
- Accelerating fusion of networking and security planning, with almost a third of enterprises stating that they are already deploying what they consider to be a secure access service edge (SASE) architecture
- A hybrid work environment that will persist after the pandemic recedes, with over 80% stating that they expect over a quarter of workers to remain remote, and over two-thirds desiring flexibility between on-premises and remote deployments
- Continued WAN and application growth, resulting in increased network complexity. The number of enterprises reporting they’re deploying over 500 distinct applications has grown to 46%. 37% of enterprises identify complexity as their number one network
43% of enterprises identify application performance as an underlying driver for WAN transformation. However, WAN transformations have slowed this year due to the pandemic
- Over 70% of enterprises intend to move to managed services versus just 18% who prefer the autonomy of a do-it-yourself WAN solution.
“Every year I look forward to Aryaka’s high-quality State of the WAN report for information on industry trends,” said Scott Raynovich, Founder and Chief Analyst at Futuriom. “This year, the report reflects many of the same trends we are seeing at Futuriom, which include the ongoing integration of cloud-based networking services and security — otherwise known as Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) — as well as strong demand for virtualized networking solutions targeted at Work from Anywhere (WFA) and hybrid work environments.”
The Fifth Annual Global Aryaka 2021 State of the WAN study surveyed over 1350 global IT and network practitioners at enterprises spanning all verticals, headquartered in NA, APAC and EMEA. The survey asked respondents about their networking and performance challenges, priorities and their plans for 2021 and beyond.
About Aryaka
Aryaka, the Cloud-First WAN company, brings agility, simplicity, and a great experience to consuming the WAN-as-a-service for network and security. The company provides an optimized global network and innovative technology stack, delivering the industry’s #1 managed SD-WAN service and setting the gold standard for application performance. Aryaka’s SmartServices platform offers connectivity, application acceleration, security, cloud networking, and insights that leverage global orchestration and provisioning. The company’s customers include hundreds of global enterprises, including several in the Fortune 100.