Barracuda Networks has highlighted key findings from its commissioned report titled Secure SD-WAN: The Launch Pad into the Cloud.
The research surveyed global IT decision-makers to capture their attitudes and opinions about Software-Defined Wide-Area Network (SD-WAN) adoption, along with data about acquisition preferences, variations by industry, and a variety of related issues.
It revealed that a fully-integrated, secure SD-WAN is the preferred technology solution for 90% of India respondents who have either already deployed software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN) to secure their public cloud or expect to do so within the next 12 months.
The survey, conducted by independent market researcher Vanson Bourne, includes responses from 750 executives, individual contributors, and team managers with responsibility for or knowledge of their organisation’s cloud infrastructure. They came from organisations of all sizes and across a broad range of sectors, in EMEA, APAC and the US.
The report specifies that nearly 62% of India organization have experienced an increase in their network flexibility, 51% achieved improved overall connectivity and 57% increased their network security after deploying SD-WAN. It also indicates that in using hybrid cloud, nearly 50% of India organisations are concerned about its security, 41% are concerned about securing the data in transit and 38% feel that it would be difficult in integrating cloud with legacy technology.
Speaking on the research results, Murali Urs, Country Manager, India of Barracuda Networks said, “As more organisations are shifting to public cloud, they are looking at achieving a smoother and securely-integrated network for cloud deployments. They fear to be subject to any cyberattacks and losing on sensitive and mission-critical data. SD-WAN technology is a critical part of securing these cloud deployments. By deploying an all-in-one, secure SD-WAN solution natively built into the public cloud network, organizations can reap the full benefits of public cloud.”
Organizations around the world, including India are consistent in their desire to acquire an SD-WAN solution from a cloud provider with 58% giving it a nod. In comparison, 18% prefer to get SD-WAN from an independent vendor, while 10% would opt for a telecommunications partner, and 14% would choose a value-added reseller. In India, simplicity and knowledge are the overall driving factors when it comes to acquisition. Organisations prefer Microsoft Azure the most for their public-cloud platform than Amazon AWS Web Services (AWS) and Google GCP Cloud Platform (GCP). Azure also gets the top scores when it comes to security and being user friendly as security is the biggest blocker for moving to the public cloud.
Overall, the study indicates that while adoption rates for public cloud continue to grow, improved flexibility and security of the network remain key roadblocks considering the volume and variety of threats organisations face today. SD-WAN solutions are being used to address connectivity and security concerns of their public cloud. IT professionals realize that a cloud provider’s native security solutions may not provide sufficient capabilities and they are looking for third-party providers to help overcome adoption barriers.
Some results from the report:
- 90% of India respondents have either already deployed software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN) to secure their public cloud or expect to do so within the next 12 months.
- More than half (62%) deploy SD-WAN to experience increase network flexibility, 51% for improved overall connectivity and 57% for increased network security
- 50% of India respondents concerned about the security of hybrid cloud, 41% worry about securing the data in transit while 38% expect difficulty in integrating cloud with legacy technology
- 58% of India respondents want to acquire an SD-WAN solution from a cloud provider
- Microsoft Azure is more preferred as a public-cloud platform than Amazon AWS and Google GCP