Verizon expands managed SD-WAN features with Cisco

19 Feb Verizon expands managed SD-WAN features with Cisco

Verizon Business is adding three new SD-WAN managed service offerings to its portfolio via its ongoing strategic partnership with Cisco.

The new solutions include two offerings associated with Viptela, the SD-WAN innovator that Cisco acquired in 2017. The first – Co-managed Cisco SD-WAN powered by Viptela – gives enterprise customers the ability to self-manage SD-WAN security and application policies. This means that while IT staffs can leave much of the daily SD-WAN fault, performance and configuration management to Verizon, they can still take the wheel themselves when necessary to make policy and configuration changes.
This new feature, available now, feeds a growing need among SD-WAN customers for control capabilities, as self-management was high on the list of desired SD-WAN service features in a recent Futuriom survey.

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The second offering is Managed SD-WAN powered by Viptela for the Cisco ISR1100 Series platform. It is aimed at extending secure SD-WAN services to smaller branch office locations through Cisco’s long-standing, low-cost integrated services router for branch office environments.
Verizon also announced new managed service tiers for Cisco SD-WAN powered by Meraki, the cloud platform start-up Cisco acquired in 2012. The companies said in a statement that this offering enhances Verizon’s Cisco Meraki cloud-first platform managed services “with seamless, secure connectivity, as well as global deployment support, including mainland China.” Verizon also is offering a new feature for managing the Cisco Meraki MV smart cameras to help enable faster deployment, management and troubleshooting.
RELATED: Cisco acquired Viptela in 2017
“Global enterprises are taking a hard look at their digital transformation agendas to find ways to win coming off one of the more challenging years in recent history,” said Aamir Hussain, SVP of business products at Verizon Business in a statement. “Working with Cisco, we continue to provide innovative solutions that can give customers the choice and tools they need to enhance efficiencies and grow. These new services reflect the significant ongoing joint Cisco and Verizon research and development investments which aim to help customers accelerate change.”  
Verizon has been working with Cisco on SD-WAN offerings since at least 2015, and prior to the vendor giant’s Viptela acquisition also worked separately with Viptela on managed SD-WAN. While the SD-WAN market appears to be surging, TeleGeography recently said SD-WAN in 2020 still represented only just over 2% of the $75.9 billion WAN market.

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