Fortinet, Cisco, and Broadcom lead a sextet of top SD-WAN vendors in Gartner’s latest quad-box ranking of a mature market that is increasingly tapping into cybersecurity to generate platform differentiation.

Gartner’s latest SD-WAN ranking included 11 vendors, with Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), Versa Networks, and Palo Alto Networks also placed in the “leaders” quadrant. Huawei was the lone name in the “challengers” box; Juniper Networks was also solo in the “visionaries” box; with Ericsson/Cradlepoint, Peplink, and Barracuda residing in the “niche players” box.

Fortinet’s box dot stood notably prouder in the four square’s leadership position compared to last year, with the vendor lauded for its strong market share that is estimated at 40,000 enterprise customers and is bolstered by what Gartner stated were “robust channels and competitive pricing, which is appealing to many organizations.” The vendor was also draped with accolades for its product strategy and customer experience when compared to rivals.

Gartner did caution that some customers have questioned Fortinet’s ability to deal with “large complex enterprise WAN configurations, topologies, and architectures,” limited third-party secure service edge (SSE) integration when deploying a dual-vendor secure access service edge (SASE) architecture, and somewhat insular sales strategy.

Cisco’s dot had some vertical separation from the rest of the leaders’ pack with Gartner pointing to the vendor’s dual-path Catalyst and Meraki product lines serving approximately 55,000 enterprises. Gartner applauded that dual path, noting that the former platform was targeted at more advanced deployments and the latter at “customers that prioritize ease of use,” as was Cisco’s sales execution and market visibility.

Gartner did ding Cisco for “below-average customer service” and questioned its go-forward marketing strategy that could impact customer choice. The vendor did recently shift its operational focus away from its legacy networking platforms in favor of artificial intelligence (AI), cloud, and cybersecurity.

Broadcom this year took over the VMware brand on Gartner’s list, a change that also witnessed its placement dot droop below Cisco’s. Gartner did note that Broadcom’s VeloCloud SD-WAN platform was serving 21,000 enterprise customers, boosted by deep product capabilities, strong market share, and strong market understanding.

However, Gartner did caution on Broadcom’s customer experience, product roadmap that was more catchup than market leading, and concerns over Broadcom’s future SD-WAN plans tied to the VMware integration.

HPE’s Aruba and EdgeConnect SD-WAN platforms slipped slightly in the latest ranking but maintained a position in the leaders category. Gartner stated that HPE was serving 6,000 enterprise customers, which will be impacted should the vendor’s pending $14 billion acquisition of Juniper Networks close.

Versa Networks also has a bifurcated approach to the market, which combined are serving 20,000 enterprise customers. That approach does allow for each to better target a specific market, though Gartner did add that it also adds some market confusion.

Palo Alto Networks has a similar approach to the market where it’s serving 4,000 enterprise customers, as well as the same notes on potential market confusion over which path to choose.

“Customers must choose between a strong on-premises security offering with limited SD-WAN functionality and a strong SD-WAN offering with limited on-premises security functionality,” Gartner wrote on Palo Alto Networks’ offering.

That Palo Alto Networks’ observation also highlighted a changing SD-WAN market.

Gartner opened the report by stating the SD-WAN space is “mature,” but did lay out market growth expectations. This included forecasts that 65% of new SD-WAN purchases will be part of a single-vendor SASE offering by 2027.

Vendors have been pushing that single-vendor trajectory as a point of market differentiation. Gartner in a previous SASE ranking found client interest in single-vendor SASE has more than doubled since last year.

A separate Dell’Oro Group market report noted that single-vendor SASE products would account for more than 85% of the market by 2028, “driven by enterprises’ preference for integrated, one-stop solutions that simplify deployment and management.”

“As enterprises become increasingly cloud- and mobile-first, the demand for integrated security solutions is driving the rapid adoption of SSE,” Mauricio Sanchez, senior director of enterprise security and networking at Dell’Oro Group, wrote on the growing interest in cybersecurity integration. “Despite an expected slowdown in SD-WAN growth, the overall SASE market remains strong and poised for continued expansion.”