With the software-defined wide area networking (SD-WAN) market continuing to evolve, Masergy spread more features into its homemade Go SD-WAN product targeted at enterprise hybrid deployments.

Updates include application routing and automatic path control as well as an embedded firewall and router. Paul Ruelas, director of network products at Masergy, said the updates bolster the product to handle enterprise needs while using a smaller device footprint to lower operating costs.

Masergy launched the Go product in May. It was built in-house as a complement to its Pro product that was built on a platform from Silver Peak.

Ruelas explained that Go allows customers to deploy the technology in just a single branch location or across many locations without the need for a typical telecom rack.

Companies using the product can tap into existing connections — MPLS, broadband, or 4G — to route data across the Internet and over Masergy's platform. That platform offers WAN optimization, centralized policy, and zero-touch provisioning. It can also connect to major public cloud services including Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and IBM’s BlueMix.

Ruelas said the company has found most of its Go customers were more interested in application routing support as opposed to more in-depth WAN optimization. He added that with the latest update, the Go product can serve the needs of a vast majority of its customers.

“Go is definitely moving more into the enterprise market and will fit the needs of most of our customers,” Ruelas explained. “There is still room for Pro, and we have Pro deployments with customers that have several hundred sites that need that higher level of control and analytics. But, Go will fit 70 percent to 80 percent of our market.”

While the Go updates improve its capabilities, Ruelas said there remains differentiation between its two products.

“I love both products and they do many of the same things,” Ruelas said. But differences revolve around the depth of control enterprises want to have over their SD-WAN deployments.

“Some of our bigger customers are global in size, have tons of applications, and are looking to support multiple transport paths for their applications and services,” Ruelas said. “While others are just looking for basic transport control, and that’s where Go fits in.”

IHS Markit reported that SD-WAN appliance and software revenues surged to $116 million during the third quarter. VeloCloud, Aryaka, and Silver Peak were the top three vendors in terms of revenues.

While the SD-WAN market has shown considerable growth, Ruelas said significant challenges remain. He cited a lack of standards that has stunted work around interoperability.

During the recent MEF17 event, MEF President Nan Chen said standardization and interoperability were core tenants to the organization's MEF 3.0 program.

“MEF is helping with standardization, but you still need to rip-and-replace with a lot of these deployments because there is no interoperability with legacy equipment,” Ruelas said. “You are pretty much stuck with whichever vendor’s name is on the box.”

Ruelas said he expects 2018 to be a transition year in terms of the SD-WAN market.

“SD-WAN has really been an application to this point, but I think it will begin to merge back into the network infrastructure,” he said. “With the acquisitions we have seen in the space, we will begin to see the network evolve more with SD-WAN being more a core part of the network.”