Frost & Sullivan Recognizes AT&T with the 2021 North American Managed SD-WAN Services Market Leadership Award

SAN ANTONIO, Jan. 18, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Frost & Sullivan recently evaluated the North American managed SD-WAN services industry and, based on its findings, recognizes AT&T with the 2021 North American Managed SD-WAN Services Market Leadership Award. The company has the largest deployment of SD-WAN sites in North America and led the 2020 market in terms of revenue share. Based on the number of contracted sites yet to be deployed and deals closed in the first three quarters of 2021, the company is well-positioned.

2021 North American Managed SD-WAN Services Market Leadership Award

AT&T's managed SD-WAN solutions portfolio is among the most comprehensive in the industry. It recently added Aruba Networks (Silver Peak), Palo Alto Networks, and Fortinet to its mix of existing partner vendors, which include Cisco and VMware. Customers have access to network-based SD-WAN via an AT&T FlexWare^SM device, over-the-top (OTT) SD-WAN through vendor-specific appliances, or a hybrid of the two options.

According to Roopa Honnachari, VP of Research, Network & Edge, "Security and networking continue to converge and make way for secure SD-WAN or SASE services, enabling AT&T to build a robust portfolio of SASE solutions. The company currently offers SASE solutions from Fortinet, Palo Alto Networks and Cisco, with plans to add VMware to the mix in the future."

Most businesses deploying SD-WAN opt for managed service at all sites to enable consistent performance and address the challenges of lack of knowledge in-house and trouble with LAN discovery at branch sites. AT&T understands the level of complexity involved in designing global WANs as a long-time leader in the business network services industry. Some benefits of AT&T managed SD-WAN service include:

• The Expert Engineer, offering customers high-touch solution support and deep network design verification covering WAN, LAN, and applications.
• The Integrated Service Experience (ISE) team, acting as a single point of contact for managed services support across overlay, underlays, and security solutions, eliminating the complexity of deployment.
• Immediate customer response for any kind of incidents or outages.
• Network management tools and orchestration platform, enabling seamless service chaining, reducing uCPE price by over 50% in the last couple of years.
• Multiple key network functions in virtual formats (e.g., routing, WAN optimization, security, session border controllers), which reduces appliance sprawl, improves network scalability, and eases manageability.
• AT&T FlexWare devices eliminating the need for a separate CPE and allowing businesses to seamlessly integrate SD-WAN functionality into their WAN architectures, driving additional revenue growth and creating customer loyalty.

AT&T investments in software-defined networking (SDN) and network functions virtualization (NFV) position it strongly as businesses speed up their digital strategies. AT&T's hybrid networking solutions allow customers to grow at the pace of their WAN infrastructure. It enables customers to access a range of network service options (broadband, DIA, Ethernet, wireless, IP VPN, and MPLS) with SD-WAN, driving loyalty. With its focus on building and supporting managed SASE services, the company offers a simplified and future-proofed approach to security and SD-WAN services for businesses.

"This recognition from Frost & Sullivan is a testament to our approach to SD-WAN and commitment to caring for our customers as their businesses evolve," said Will Eborall, Assistant Vice President, Edge Solutions Product Marketing Management, AT&T Business. "From emerging SD-WAN technologies to existing solutions, AT&T's comprehensive portfolio, global reach and ability to scale operations is enabling customer digital transformation journeys with managed end-to-end SD-WAN services."

"AT&T is the leading communication service provider in US markets with a broad range of solutions and deep expertise in the network services market. Its brand strength has earned it the highest market share in 2020 and various recognition for its excellence," said Honnachari.

Each year, Frost & Sullivan presents this award to the company that has developed an innovative element in a product by leveraging leading-edge technologies. The award recognizes the value-added features/benefits of the product and the increased ROI it offers customers, which, in turn, raises customer acquisition and overall market penetration potential.

Frost & Sullivan Best Practices awards recognize companies in various regional and global markets for demonstrating outstanding achievement and superior performance in leadership, technological innovation, customer service, and strategic product development. Industry analysts compare market participants and measure performance through in-depth interviews, analyses, and extensive secondary research to identify best practices in the industry.

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