Future of the Enterprise WAN: Too Complex to Ignore?

Transcription

1 The Future of the Enterprise WAN: Too Complex to Ignore? Global Industry Report March 2018

2 Contents About the Survey... 3 Executive Summary... 3 Simplification: The SD-WAN Story of Network Simplification Reduce Costs While Improving Network Agility... 9 Detailed Survey Results Future of the Enterprise WAN: Too Complex to Ignore? 2

3 Executive Summary In this year s networking survey, we wanted to delve into what factors drive, support, or inhibit WAN transformation projects. Essential to that goal was understanding the role simplification plays in enterprise networks. Many IT leaders engaged by Cato point to the rising complexity of their networks. It s not just that IT managers are expected to reduce costs by migrating from costly MPLS services to inexpensive and unsecure Internet connectivity. Alone that would be challenging, often necessitating a rethinking of network security architectures. But simultaneously, IT professionals are being tasked with expanding the scope of the WAN to include cloud datacenters, cloud applications, and mobile users. Existing management and connectivity tools are often discrete, leading to redundancies, knowledge gaps, and process inefficiencies all of which undermine IT s goal of being more efficient and agile. To those ends, we explored how cloud, mobility, and security impact MPLS buyers transitioning to the new stage of SD-WAN, SD-WAN 3.0. With SD-WAN 1.0, solutions provided basic link bonding for aggregating and improving last-mile availability and obtaining more bandwidth. SD-WAN 2.0 introduced application-aware, policy-based routing for improved application performance. But both versions of SD-WAN were focussed on networking, connecting offices across the Internet or MPLS. SD-WAN 3.0 goes a step further, converging advanced security with SD-WAN and expanding SD-WAN's scope to include all applications for the entire enterprise. Global, low-cost backbones allow enterprises to migrate entirely off of MPLS. Native cloud connectivity simplifies the integration of cloud datacenters and cloud applications. SD-WAN tunnel overlays extend to endpoints, bringing mobile devices not just locations into the WAN. More broadly, the shift from branch-focused SD-WAN point solutions to a holistic SD-WAN architecture enables faster, simpler WAN design and delivery. About the Survey A total of 1606 respondents took Future of the Enterprise WAN: Too Complex to Ignore? survey between January 8, 2018 and January 22, This report focussed on those organizations with MPLS as their backbone, a total of 712 respondents. The respondents represent a cross section of the IT market. Nearly a third (28%) of the respondents were from organizations with less than 11 locations q11, 57% indicate their organization had 2-4 physical datacenters. Most companies were headquartered in the US (68%) or Europe (22%) q7. Respondents came from across the industry with "telecommunications" (18%), "computers & electronics" (18%), and "manufacturing" (12%) being the most popular sectors q41. Future of the Enterprise WAN: Too Complex to Ignore? 3

4 Simplification The SD-WAN Story of 2018 The complexity of today s network, and the push for a simpler one, expresses itself in many ways. At times, IT professionals explicitly point to complexity as a challenge. In other instances, complexity is implicit, such as when they express interest in network automation or point to concerns around selecting, integrating, and managing multiple tools and platforms. WAN Simplification: Critical for 2018 Specific findings from our research pointing to the importance of simplification include: Most Popular Use Case for 2018 Primary Networking Challenges for 2018 Simplify network or security cited as the most popular (50% of respondents) use case for 2018 Q3 39% ranked "equipment maintenance and updates" as the number two challenge Q4 35% ranked "managing the network" as the number four challenge Q4 Primary Security Challenges for 2018 Simplicity is still a challenge for SD-WAN solutions 39% 34% 32% 25% Cost of buying and maintaining security appliances and software Enforcing corporate security policy on mobile users Q5 see SD-WAN appliances as too complex Q29 see SD-WAN services as too complex Q30 If SD-WAN is to develop fully in 2018 and allow enterprise to truly transform their networks, the complete secure networking experience, not just connectivity, must become simpler, more seamless. It s no longer sufficient that SD-WAN only simplifies transport selection between offices. SD-WAN solutions must simplify the complete life cycle for all network elements, converging deployment, maintenance, and management end-to-end into one seamless experience. This includes physical and cloud resources for office and mobile users. With one network infrastructure, IT organizations can and do realize tremendous gains in efficiencies and cost saving, enabling them to reallocate resources to more critical projects. The majority (81%) of those respondents actively planning an SD-WAN deployment in the next 12 months identify protecting locations and the site-to-site connections from malware and other threats as a Critical or Very Important priority in their SD-WAN decision making. Future of the Enterprise WAN: Too Complex to Ignore? 4

5 SD-WAN services predominate but must embrace cloud attributes Given the attention placed on simplification, increased adoption of SD- WAN services should come as no surprise. After all, a primary selling point of infrastructure services has always been that the provider assumes the complexity of deploying, managing, and maintaining the infrastructure. Respondents identified their SD-WAN supplier as a service provider or carrier Last year, 30% of respondents identified their SD-WAN supplier as a service provider or carrier. This year that number has grown to nearly half of respondents (49%) Q27. But carrier-managed SD-WAN services remain fundamentally limited. Managed services are built on integrating and repackaging third-party networking and security appliances. As such, co-management is either impossible, limited to one domain, or still requires learning and managing two environments. What's more the hardware costs, required integration effort, and ongoing maintenance all combine to elevate the price of the service and adversely impact speed and agility. 30% % 2018 In short, carrier-managed SD-WAN services fail to capitalize on the unique qualities of the cloud elasticity, scalability, multi tenancy, and more. By taking advantage of these attributes, an SD-WAN service built for the cloud SD-WAN as a service (SDWaaS) can provide an end-to-end service far more affordably than one based on appliances duct taped with a managed service layer. Cloud datacenters and applications disrupt today s WAN In large part, the push for simplification stems from our networks expanding to include the cloud. More than half (65% of respondents) indicated their organizations had at least one cloud datacenter with nearly half (45%) respondents indicating two or more datacenters Q35. As for cloud applications, Microsoft Office 365 was the most popular (75% of respondents) followed by Salesforce.com (30% of respondents). With cloud datacenters and cloud applications, the traditional MPLS approach of backhauling traffic to a central Internet access point is no longer effective. It adds too much latency to cloud sessions and consumes expensive MPLS bandwidth. Organizations need to rethink their network architectures to accommodate the cloud. 65% of organizations have at least one cloud datacenter Q35 Cloud datacenter-wan integration was the third most popular primary use case for the next 12 months Q3 Future of the Enterprise WAN: Too Complex to Ignore? 5

6 SD-WAN should be a natural onramp to the cloud. Overall, improving cloud or Internet performance was ranked by 78% as a critical or very important SD-WAN priority. Q19 But traditional SD-WAN solutions are two-sided architectures, requiring an SD-WAN appliance on either end of the connection. Placing such appliances within cloud datacenters is either very complicated, expensive or, in the case of cloud applications, often impossible. An alternative approach is needed, one that brings traffic right to the cloud without any special setup. Incidentally, the dominance of Amazon and Google when it comes to everything Internet makes it easy to forget about a small startup in Redmond called Microsoft. If our numbers indicate anything, though, enterprises certainly haven t forgotten their computing roots. Microsoft showed up repeatedly in our survey when investigating cloud services. It was the most popular provider of cloud datacenter services among enterprises (70% of respondents) followed by Amazon AWS (53%). The big two aren t the only options for cloud datacenter services. More than 10% of respondents indicated adoption of Google Cloud and 1% indicated use of Alibaba Cloud Compute Services Q36. critical 78% ranked improving cloud or Internet performance as a critical or very important SD-WAN priority Most popular provider of cloud datacenter services among enterprises 70% 53% Firewalls and mobile device security converge in the cloud More enterprises will secure their branches, cloud datacenters, and mobile users through firewall as a service (FWaaS) and cloud access security brokers (CASBs) in 2018 SD-WAN isn t the only networking technology going the way of services. With inadequacies of appliances and the shift to cloud datacenters and applications, more enterprises will secure their branches, cloud datacenters, and mobile users through firewall as a service (FWaaS) and cloud access security brokers (CASBs) in Securing cloud datacenters has introduced a range of challenges for enterprises. Built-in cloud firewalls require a separate management interface and offer only basic security features. Virtual firewalls placed in cloud datacenters are expensive, and complex to maintain and configure. Lastly, backhauling all cloud traffic through a single datacenter firewall chokepoint is adding too much latency for out-of-theway fixed and mobile users. Future of the Enterprise WAN: Too Complex to Ignore? 6

7 As such, current best practices call for enterprises to build regional hubs and connect them with high-speed, dedicated connections to cloud datacenter services. Dedicated connection services AWS Direct Connect, Microsoft ExpressRoute, and Google Cloud Dedicated Interconnect were deployed by the organizations of 31% of respondents with the number expected to grow to about half of respondents (47%) within 12 months Q37. Dedicated connection services deployment But building out regional hubs is expensive and often unfeasible for many organizations. Firewall as a service (FWaaS) offers a way forward. Instead of the enterprises building a regional hub, the FWaaS provider builds regional point-of-presence (PoP) interconnected by a private backbone. Optimized routing to the cloud provider s premium transport peering point allows FWaaS to significantly improve network performance. FWaaS showed the greatest potential of growth of any cloud security solution with 60% expecting to adopt the technology in 12 months Q38. 31% Current 47% Q37 Within 12 months At the same time, cloud application adoption causes IT to lose visibility into and control over user traffic, particularly mobile users. Frustrated by the poor performance of secure mobile access solutions, mobile users often end up accessing cloud applications directly, bypassing organizational management and security controls. Enforcing corporate security policies on mobile users was challenging for many respondents (34%) Q5. Overall, most respondents (78%) indicated some problem when accessing cloud applications with security being the most frequently cited issue (40%) Q33. Increasingly, organizations will address those issues by going to the cloud. Of the various approaches for securing access to cloud applications, CASB shows the greatest promise growing from 21% of respondents today to 79% within the next 12 months Q34. 78% of respondents indicated problems when accessing cloud applications. Security is the most frequently cited issue. 34% of respondents define enforcing corporate security policies on mobile users challenging Q5 Future of the Enterprise WAN: Too Complex to Ignore? 7

8 MPLS persists as companies search for affordable alternative Last year we predicted that MPLS services will persist despite SD-WAN adoption. The inherent unpredictability of the Internet, particularly for global connectivity, makes it a poor replacement for MPLS services. And once again, indications point to MPLS' staying power. More than half (57%) of respondents with SD-WAN implementations expect MPLS investments to increase or remain the same Q15. The persistence of MPLS stems from the underlying problem of relying on the public Internet as an enterprise backbone. Whereas Internet connectivity has improved and is often sufficient for regional connectivity, the Internet continues to be too erratic, too unpredictable for the consistent, end-to-end connectivity required by loss- or latency- sensitive applications, such as voice. 43% Decreased SD-WAN impact on MPLS investments MPLS investments 35% Increased 22% No impact 57% of respondents with SD-WAN implementations expect MPLS investments to increase or remain the same As such, enterprises often retain an SLA-backed backbone along with the deployment of SD-WANs. MPLS, of course, is the SLA-backed backbone that s known to enterprises, but MPLS is hardly the only choice. In fact, nearly a third (32%) of respondent ranked finding an affordable and suitable MPLS alternative a primary use case for 2018 Q3. SD-WAN: Cost savings and more Cost reductions have been a common refrain for why companies adopt SD-WAN. And while excessive WAN-related costs is a primary motivation for SD-WAN, it s not the biggest driver. Most respondents point to a general WAN modernization effort (38%) Q20 as the reason for moving to SD-WAN. Yes, MPLS is out of step with the cost structures of today s companies, but it s limitations are far more than just costs. Deployment times are far too long. Management is handled solely by providers at a time when respondents prefer co-managing their infrastructure Q25. In short, MPLS is a WAN for a past era. Respondents echoed this broader view of SD-WAN s benefits in their objectives for SD-WAN. Increased agility Q23 was the most widely achieved priority by those who implemented SD-WAN, pointing to SD-WAN s ability to address the deployment and provisioning challenges of MPLS. SD-WAN did lead to reduced MPLS costs (42%), but since finding an affordable MPLS alternative continues to be a primary objective for many respondents, organizations should not expect to replace MPLS with an Internet-only backbone. SD-WAN Increased agility cited by 51% to address the deployment and provisioning challenges of MPLS Future of the Enterprise WAN: Too Complex to Ignore? 8

9 Network Simplification: Reduce Costs While Improving Network Agility Reducing costs and improving agility have seemed mutually exclusive for far too long. And while SD-WAN 2.0 certainly helped bridge that gap, IT managers are still left with purchasing, supporting, and integrating multiple backbones, and networking and security products. Separate management and connectivity tools for fixed and mobile users are still needed, as are complex configurations to connect cloud resources to the SD- WAN. All of which fragments data, hindering efficient visibility and control over the enterprise network. SD-WAN 3.0 offers a better approach, converging security and networking into a seamless cloud service. One service for mobile and fixed users. The same service connecting private datacenters, cloud datacenters, and cloud applications. With a simpler network, SD-WAN 3.0 solutions like Cato Cloud make network simplification, cost reduction, and better security possible. One Network Global SLA-backed backbone that carries Internet and WAN traffic, and can augment or replace MPLS. One Security A full suite of cloud-based network security services built directly into the network and protecting all traffic. Cato Cloud One Policy Cato enforces a unified policy for all traffic and across all users, locations, and applications. HQ Branch Cloud Datacenter Mobile user Future of the Enterprise WAN: Too Complex to Ignore? 9

10 Detailed Survey Results Future of the Enterprise WAN: Too Complex to Ignore? 10

11 Q1 Over the next months, what do you anticipate will happen to your networking budget? Q2 Over the next months, what do you anticipate will happen to your security budget? 5% Uncertain 4% Decrease 3% Uncertain 36% Stay the same 11% Decrease Network Budget 48% Increase 20% Stay the same 73% Increase Security Budget Q3 Which of the following use cases will be a primary focus for your company over the next 12 months? (select no more than three) 50% 46% 36% 32% Simplify network or security architectures Provide secure, Internet access from any location Integrate cloud datacenter(s) into the WAN Replace MPLS with a more affordable alternative with suitable performance 31% 16% 14% 7% Improve visibility into and control over mobile access to cloud applications, such as Office 365 Decrease the time users wait to access remote servers or transfer files Eliminate appliances from branch offices Other Future of the Enterprise WAN: Too Complex to Ignore? 11

12 Q4 Identify the primary networking challenges facing your IT organization. (no more than three) 42% Bandwidth costs Q5 Identify the primary security challenges facing your IT organization. (no more than three) 59% Defending against emerging threats like ransomware 39% Equipment maintenance and updates 40% Complying with government and industry regulations 38% Performance between locations 39% Cost of buying and managing security appliances and software 35% Managing the network 34% Enforcing corporate security policy on mobile users 25% Performance to the cloud 32% Integrating and securing cloud and physical datacenters 23% Providing and managing secure mobile/remote access 24% Hiring and retaining skilled staff 21% Last-mile availability 19% Providing secure direct internet access for branch locations 19% Finding and retaining skilled networking personnel 17% Time to deploy new locations Q7 Where is your company headquartered? 68% North America 22% Europe 6% Asia 1% Australia 1% South America 1% Middle East 1% Africa Q8 Where does your company have remote sites? (Select all that apply) 81% North America 51% Europe 45% Asia 29% South America 25% Australia 24% Middle East 16% Africa Future of the Enterprise WAN: Too Complex to Ignore? 12

13 Q9 How many full-time employees are in your company? 27% 2,500-10,000 employees 20% 1,000-2,499 employees 30% employees 20% 10,000+ employees 4% 1-99 employees Q10 How many mobile users access your network? 18% 1,000-2,499 employees 16% 1-99 employees 39% employees 17% 2,500-10,000 employees 10% 10,000+ employees Q11 How many locations are in your network? Q12 How many physical datacenters are in your organization? 28% % % % % % % 5+ 14% 1 3% 0 11% Future of the Enterprise WAN: Too Complex to Ignore? 13

14 Q14 How familiar would you say you are with SD-WAN as a technology? 56% Somewhat familiar 28% Unfamiliar 16% Very familiar Q15 To what degree has SD-WAN impacted or do you anticipate will impact your investment in the following technologies? 6% 26% 5% 13% 11% 28% 27% 37% 28% 35% 59% 75% 58% 59% 54% 47% Internet services MPLS services Network security appliances Routers WAN optimization appliances Decreased No impact Increased Q16 Q17 Do you have or are you planning to deploy SD-WAN? 13% Have SD-WAN 14% SD-WAN in 12 months 30% Considering SD-WAN When considering an SD-WAN, which of the following factors would you consider to be the biggest barriers to investment? 49% Maturity of existing SD-WAN offerings 47% Cost of new equipment/services 21% No plans 22% I don t know 41% Internet performance characteristics (latency, packet loss etc.) 29% Security gaps created in the network 21% Additional complexity 2% Other Future of the Enterprise WAN: Too Complex to Ignore? 14

15 Q18 You're looking for an SD-WAN and must choose between functionality and ease of use. Please move the slider to best reflect your preference. Easy to use GUI with SD-WAN features to meet all basic network requirements 50.46% Cisco IOS-like CLI with the SD-WAN features to meet all basic and advanced networking requierments Q19 Please rank the importance of the following SD-WAN priorities in your decision making process. 55% 47% 30% 30% 29% 34% 40% 55% 50% 49% Secure delivery of data across the WAN/Internet Protecting locations and the site-to-site connection from malware and other threats Improved application performance Reduced operational costs Improved cloud or internet performance 35% 20% 23% 24% 20% 42% 56% 50% 49% 48% Predictable delivery of high-quality voice Flexibility to rapidly increase bandwidth Improved last-mile availability Reduced deployment and reconfiguration times Increased choice of last-mile services (MPLS, xdsl, 3G/4G etc.) Critical Very important Somewhat important Not important Future of the Enterprise WAN: Too Complex to Ignore? 15

16 Q20 What was the primary motivation for considering SD-WAN? Q21 Has your SD-WAN deployment lived up to expectations? 15% To address an initiative from the business 19% Excessive site deployment/ reconfiguration times 38% General WAN modernization effort 15% Yes 6% No 79% Too soon to tell 28% Excessive WAN-related costs Q22 Q23 How long ago did your company complete the bulk of its SD-WAN deployment? Which priorities did you achieve after your SD-WAN deployment? (check all that apply) 51% Increased network flexibility and agility 76% Still in process 9% 1 year or more 6% 6-12 months 6% 3-6 months 3% 3 months 42% Reduced cost of MPLS service 27% Other (please specify) 26% Improved Internet or cloud performance 26% Increased network security Future of the Enterprise WAN: Too Complex to Ignore? 16

17 Q24 How has your SD-WAN failed to live up to expectations? (check all that apply) Q25 Which of the following is your preferred SD-WAN management architecture? 20% SD-WAN met our expectations 20% Did not significantly reduce costs 18% Fully managed 49% Co-managed 17% Did not reduce network complexity 16% Difficult to deploy 11% Did not improve performance/latency 33% Self-managed 10% Hard to maintain 9% Increased security risks Q26 How has SD-WAN most positively impacted your organization? (check all that apply) 39% Increased network flexibility 36% Improved connectivity 30% Reduced costs 25% Reduced physical infrastructure 18% Improved security 13% Increased network security Q27 How would you best describe your SD-WAN provider? 36% Global service provider 32% Equipment vendor 19% ISP 12% Carrier Future of the Enterprise WAN: Too Complex to Ignore? 17

18 Q28 How would you rate your overall experience with your SD-WAN supplier? 100 (Best) Q29 What are your biggest complaints with your SD-WAN vendor? (Select no more than three responses) 32% Too complex % Application performance problems 18% Cloud datacenter deployment difficulties 14% Poor service and support 12% Lacks security 0 (Worst) Vendor Provider Q30 What are your biggest complaints with your SD-WAN provider? (Select no more than three responses) Q31 What is the primary reason your organization has not yet or will not deploy an SD-WAN? 25% Too complex 20% Poor service and support 19% Unpredictable application 16% Cloud datacenters are difficult to deploy 13% Slow application performance 7% Lacks security 43% Don t know enough about it 28% No real need 13% Still under service provider contract 6% The products are too new or immature 6% The products' security has not been full vetted 4% The products are too expensive 2% Need a service with predictable loss/latency Future of the Enterprise WAN: Too Complex to Ignore? 18

19 Q32 Which cloud applications does your company officially support? 75% 30% 75% 25% 12% 8% Other None Q33 What are three biggest problems with your company's current approach to cloud application access? 40 40% Security Q34 Which of the following approaches best describes how your company secures access to SaaS and the public cloud today and in the next 12 months? Remote access VPN services 78% 22% Mobile VPN product 67% 33% Direct 34% Cost 33% 33% 63% 37% Cloud access security broker (CASB) Visibility and control Performance 21% 79% 30 Today Within 12 Months Future of the Enterprise WAN: Too Complex to Ignore? 19

20 Q35 Indicate the number of cloud datacenters in your organization. 10% 5+ 20% 1 10% Don t know 35% % 0 Q36 Indicate the cloud platforms on which your organization runs those cloud datacenters 70% 53% 75% 25% 12% 1% Other Q37 Does your company currently pay for dedicated connection services (such as AWS Direct Connect, Microsoft ExpressRoute, Google Cloud Dedicated Interconnect)? 15% Uncertain 38% No 31% Yes 16% Not currently, but planned for within the next 12 months Future of the Enterprise WAN: Too Complex to Ignore? 20

21 Q38 What architecture does your organization use to secure its cloud datacenter(s)? Premise-based firewall appliance only 84% 16% Q39 Which of the following best describes your users' experience accessing cloud-based datacenters? 9% 16% Cloud firewall bundled with the service 71% 29% Third-party virtual firewalls running in the cloud 54% 46% Regional hubs with direct connection services 65% 35% Firewall as a Service (FWaaS) 40% 60% Mobile User 4% Fixed User 75% 25% 70% Today Within 12 Months Excellent Acceptabale Problematic Q40 Which category best describes your title or role? 37% Network Administrator/Analyst/ Architect/Engineer/Manager 19% IT Director 17% IT Staff 11% Security Analyst/Architect/ Engineer/Manager 8% CIO/VP IT 4% Consultant (Technical) 4% Other non-it staff Q41 Which industry best describes your organization? 18% Telecommunications 18% Computers & Electronics 12% Manufacturing 6% Business Services 5% Heathcare 4% Insurance 6% Retail 4% Finance 4% Construction 3% Chemicals 3% Utilities 2% Transportation 2% Education 2% Legal & Law Enforcement 2% Other Future of the Enterprise WAN: Too Complex to Ignore? 21

22 Cato Networks provides organizations with a cloud-based and secure global SD-WAN. Cato delivers an integrated networking and security platform that securely connects all enterprise locations, people, and data. Cato Cloud cuts MPLS costs, improves performance between global locations and to cloud applications, eliminates branch appliances, provides secure Internet access everywhere, and seamlessly integrates mobile users and cloud datacenters into the WAN. For more information: Based in Tel Aviv, Israel, Cato Networks was founded in 2015 by cybersecurity luminary Shlomo Kramer, co-founder of Check Point Software Technologies and Imperva, and Gur Shatz, co-founder of Incapsula. Where do you want to start? SECURE CLOUD-BASED SD-WAN AFFORDABLE MPLS ALTERNATIVE BRANCH APPLIANCE ELIMINATION CLOUD DATACENTER INTEGRATION MOBILE ACCESS OPTIMIZATION SIMPLE NETWORK AUTOMATION Global Backbone. Cloud-Based SD-WAN. Firewall as a Service. All in One THE The Future Future of SD-WAN. of SD-WAN. Today. Today. Future Future of the of Enterprise the Enterprise WAN: WAN: Too Complex Too Complex to Ignore? to Ignore? 22 22