Comcast moved from seventh to fourth place in SD-WAN market share, while the top three companies remained with their rankings in the latest SD-WAN market share report from Vertical Systems Group, known as the SD-WAN Services Leaderboard report.
With a 39% increase in customer sites, the category was unique in reporting good results during a difficult year. Growth in 2019 was 89%.
The Leaderboard includes companies with 2% or more of installed and billable carrier managed SD-WAN customer sites at the end of 2020. The top eight finishers in the Leaderboard were AT&T, Hughes, Verizon, Comcast, Windstream, Lumen, Aryaka and TPx.
There were four companies in the Challenger Tier, which are service providers with between 1% and 2% of sites. In alphabetical order, the companies were Fusion Connect, GTT, Meriplex and MetTel.
Other notable commentary in the Leaderboard SD-WAN market share report:
- Lumen (formerly CenturyLink) fell from fourth position in 2019 to six position in 2020. Aryaka dips from sixth to seventh position. TPx debuts in eighth position, moving up from the Challenge Tier.
- MetTel advances to Challenge Tier, up from the Market Player tier.
- The primary technology suppliers for the 2020 Leaderboard are VMware, Versa, Fortinet, and Cisco (vEdge/Viptela and selected Meraki MX models). Aryaka and Hughes utilize internally developed technologies.
- MEF 3.0 SD-WAN Service Certification was given to AT&T, Verizon, Comcast and Windstream.
VSG also acknowledges Market Players with less than 1% of sites. A non-exhaustive alphabetical list for 2020: AireSpring, American Telesis, Bigleaf, bSimplify, BT Global Services, Cincinnati Bell, Cogent, Colt, Consolidated Communications, Cox, Crown Castle Fiber, DQE Communications, FirstLight, Frontier, Intelsat, Masergy, NTT, Orange Business, PCCW Global, PS Lightwave, RCN Business, SDN Communications, Segra, SES, SingTel, Sparklight Business, Spectrum Enterprise, Syringa, T-Mobile, T-Systems, Tata, Telefonica, Telia, Telstra, Transtelco, Veracity Networks, Virgin Media Business, Vodafone, Wave Business and Zayo.
The sector did as well as it could during a difficult year, according to Vertical Systems Group Principal Rick Malone. “Businesses and enterprises accelerated the retirement of MPLS assets, and made purchase decisions for SD-WAN solutions that enable more flexible access options and dynamic connectivity,” he said in a press release about the SD-WAN market share report.
The 39% growth rate exceeded expectations that were recalibrated once the COVID-19 pandemic took hold. In June, VSG said that the segment would grow by 17% in 2020.
