The Cloud WAN market is coming to a branch office near you, and it's going to shake up the way enterprise access gear and services is sold for many years to come.

That's the conclusion of Rayno Report's new premium research report, "The Future of Cloud WAN." Billions of dollars of revenue is at stake, and the Rayno Report estimates the new market for virtualized Cloud WAN services is close to $7.5B over the next five years.

The Cloud WAN is on the cusp of changing how businesses buy networking connectivity, especially to branch offices. Research shows that enterprises are tired of buying and configuring their own WAN connectivity gear, and a new crop of technology startups is introducing a model for delivery traditional WAN services, which include connectivity, WAN optimization, and secure Virtual Private Network (VPN) in a software model without cumbersome propretiary hardware and expensive private lines.

Some new startups, such as CloudGenix, Pertino, and VeloCloud, are designing cloud-based services that allow enterprises to create VPNs and secure networks through Web portals. Others, such as Aryaka, are have built Network as a Service (NAAS) offerings that allow companies to outsource their entire WAN operations. And at the same times, WAN technology incumbents such as Cisco and Riverbed are scrambling to virtualize their existing WAN functionality so that it can be delivered in the cloud in a Software as a Service (SAAS) model.

Some key findings of the report:

• The total opportunity for a variety of Cloud WAN services is $7.5B by the year 2020.
• $360M in venture capital has been invested in a variety of Cloud WAN startups.
• Detailed analysis of 17 startup and incumbent technology companies pursuing the Cloud WAN market.
• How Cloud WAN technology will virtualize existing enterprise WAN technology functions such as branch-office routers, Virtual Private Networks (VPNs), WAN Optimization, and Application Delivery Controller (ADC) technology and move this functionality into the cloud.
• Details about the Return on Investment (ROI) offered by a Cloud WAN model. Includes potential savings in areas such as management, hardware costs, maintenance, and energy.

Companies discussed in this report include: Akamai (Nasdaq: AKAM), Aryaka, Cisco Systems (Nasdaq: CSCO), CloudGenix, Distrix, Exinda, FatPipe, Glue Networks, Netsocket, Pertino, Riverbed Technology, Siaras, Silver Peak, Talari, VeloCloud, Versa Networks, Viptela.