buchachon - Fotolia
Zen gains Cisco SD-WAN accreditation
Leading UK provider of comms and technology services awarded Cisco Powered SD-WAN Service SD-WAN status, which it says leaves it well set to prosper
Philosophically, Zen means the art of happiness, and the B Corp certified UK telecommunications and technology service provider has likely achieved that very state after being awarded Cisco Powered SD-WAN Service accreditation for its managed software-defined wide area networking (SD-WAN) solution.
Zen joins a small number of providers with this accreditation. The certification covers the entire SD-WAN customer lifecycle including design, deploy, in-life management, with the solution powered by Cisco, and the company believes the award can give it an an edge in a market that is of increasing importance and value.
“Many congratulations to Zen Internet for achieving the coveted ‘Cisco Powered SD-WAN Service’ award recognising their investment in people, skills and market leading solutions,” said David Goff, head of enterprise networks, UK & Ireland at Cisco.
“I’m excited by the many possibilities that our partnership will deliver as together we enable organisations to seamlessly connect their users to any application in any cloud from any location.”
SD-WAN continues to be one of the fastest-growing segments of the network infrastructure market, with Cisco reporting that SD-WAN traffic will be 29 % of business IP WAN traffic by 2022; up from 9% in 2017. In addition, Zen cited research from Markets and Markets, calculating that the SD-WAN market will grow at a 34.5% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) to reach $8.4bn by 2025.
The network service provider also believes that in the current remote business environment, the acceleration of digital transformation projects is expected to further fuel this growth alongside structural changes, mergers and acquisitions, with an unprecedented rise in cloud-based apps and collaboration tools to support fluid and flexible working environments.
In many cases SD-WAN has become business critical as a supporting solution for organisations to adjust to new ways of achieving operational excellence. To effectively tap into the benefits SD-WAN has to offer, Zen said businesses must work with a company that not only provides the solution but has the expertise to implement and run it effectively.
Read more about SD-WAN
- SD-WAN technology has its fair share of risk factors, some of which include cost reduction and management. Find out how your IT team can prepare for these challenges.
- Cloud-driven networking company Extreme Networks aims to enhance SD-WAN offer with Ipanema acquisition and announces intent to establish second technology centre of excellence in Europe.
- Manufacturer of so-called ‘miracle spray’ WD-40 eases network friction with SD-WAN, SASE, overhauling inflexible, decades-old MPLS infrastructure with managed networking and security.
Building on a 10-year relationship with Cisco, Zen said its managed service provides its customers with vital SD-WAN benefits which are proven to enhance the visibility, agility and control of business networks, and that the technology can deliver an application-centric network via the ability to assess the performance of connections in real time, dynamically choosing the best path for business-critical applications.
“SD-WAN is set to continue taking the world by storm over the next few years as the requirements to support fluid working arrangements alongside a growing need for flexible operational models become common place,” said James Albiges, general manager of network and communications at Zen Internet.
“Companies are pushing ahead with digital transformations and cloud adoption strategies, and SD-WAN is fast becoming a tool of choice to support such agility.”
