VMware, Silver Peak Lead SD-WAN Pack; Cisco, Riverbed Lose Ground

The highly competitive SD-WAN market is still very much in flux and the latest Gartner Magic Quadrant WAN Edge Infrastructure report bears that out. While VMware and Silver Peak continued to lead the WAN market in 2019, according to the report, Cisco lost ground falling from a leader in 2018, to a “challenger” in this year’s report.“Challengers” in Garter’s report have demonstrated the ability to execute on customer needs and have long term viability in the market, but haven’t proven their ability to drive innovation. Unlike other industry reports, Gartner’s Magic Quadrant WAN edge report does not center on market share or revenues and instead attempts to provide something of a report card for the industry. It places vendors into four categories — niche players, visionaries, challengers, and leaders — based on the completeness of their vision and their ability to meet enterprise demands.