Kyndryl tapped Palo Alto Networks for a new SD-WAN service that integrates network management with security components supporting secure access service edge (SASE) systems. It also further fleshes out Kyndryl’s expanding managed SD-WAN, security and SASE options.

The new integration moves Palo Alto Network’s Prisma SD-WAN platform under Kyndryl’s portfolio of offerings. Kyndryl offers the service as a managed offering to its customers, acting as a systems integrator based on the need of the customer.

Paul Savill, global network and edge practice leader at Kyndryl, explained to SDxCentral the Palo Alto Networks option “plays well” with enterprises, specifically noting the banking vertical. “That’s a big vertical for us and is one of our largest ones,” Savill said.

Savill noted the integration builds on Kyndryl’s external and own internal use of Palo Alto Networks’ systems.

“We've been working with Palo Alto pretty much since we split from IBM two years ago,” Savill said. “We have used the technology internally at Kyndryl and we are really happy with it. We just felt they were one of the leading partners that we wanted to roll out in terms of our networking capabilities.”

Palo Alto Networks’ SD-WAN positioning has garnered recent accolades.

Gartner placed the vendor in the “leaders” quadrant of its recent ranking of SD-WAN players, alongside rivals like Fortinet, VMware, Cisco, Hewlett Packard Enterprise-Aruba and Versa Networks.

The Palo Alto Networks integration also comes a few months after Kyndryl made a similar move with Fortinet. That agreement provides Kyndryl with a Fortinet-powered SASE option that can be offered through incremental management levels.

“They both have good use cases that they can serve in customer environments depending upon how customers are particularly situated,” Savill said diplomatically.

SASE and ZTNA add to the support

While the deal highlights Palo Alto Networks’ SD-WAN capabilities, Savill said it also taps into that vendor’s artificial intelligence (AI)-infused SASE systems and zero-trust network access (ZTNA) use.

“We like where they're at in their execution of the SASE architecture and we think they are a real innovator on the zero-trust security models and incorporating AI analytics into their products. We think that shows a lot of future promise,” Savill said. “We can see them as leaders in that technology area and we think that's got a lot of a runway.”

Forrester Research agrees on the ZTNA front, having recently named Palo Alto Networks as a leader in the ZTNA space.

Kyndryl sees SD-WAN market opportunities

Kyndryl’s Palo Alto Networks integration also comes at a time when the SD-WAN market is continuing to grow. The technology is a decade old, but Savill noted that enterprises are all over the map in terms of their SD-WAN journey and used Kyndryl as an example.

“When we separated from IBM we had not adopted the use of certain technologies in our own internal networks and so we really used that separation as kind of a catalyst,” Savill said. “We run a large multinational enterprise corporate network and we used this as the catalyst for practicing what we preached in implementing a truly next-gen, modern, global network based on SASE architectures.”

Gartner’s Jonathan Forest recently told SDxCental that, “SD-WAN is still growing, but it is maturing. The key is to understand driving requirements and align to the best vendor to address needs.”

The firm forecasts the SD-WAN market will generate a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 14.6% in end-user spending from 2022 through 2027. This is based on its 2023 market penetration of roughly 60%.

Savill also noted that ongoing SD-WAN opportunities will be based on enterprise buying cycles, which can stretch out to more than a decade.

“Enterprises make these investments, like with IP VPN and MPLS stuff, that they'll milk for five to 10 years,” Savill said. “But what's happening in terms of where they are on the cycle now is that it's getting to the point where for many of the customers that we see their vendors, including really tried and trusted vendors like Cisco, are saying they’re putting this stuff out to end of life and we're not going to support anymore. And that's really where it creates the forcing function for enterprises to pull the trigger to go through that transition.”