Riverbed Technologies today acquired Germany-based Ocedo to advance its software-defined wide-area network (SD-WAN) aspirations. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Riverbed wants to use SD-WAN to grab a share of the multibillion-dollar branch router market that is being disrupted through virtualization. According to recent Gartner analysis, “by the end of 2019, 30 percent of enterprises will use SD-WAN products in all their branch offices, up from less than 1 percent today.”

An SDxCentral survey of nearly 80 enterprise and service provider customers, found that management simplicity was a top reason to move toward an SD-WAN, according to our "2015 Virtual Edge Report." When asked to pick what they saw as the top two drivers for installing an SD-WAN, 46 percent of enterprises chose lowering their operational costs, followed by 36 percent who cited more flexible network management.

The acquisition of privately held Ocedo fuels Riverbed’s Project Tiger initiative, which hopes to use SD-WAN to eliminate the need for traditional branch routers.

Ocedo’s technology portfolio includes gateways, wireless access points and switches, and an integrated cloud management system that enables provisioning of network services and centralized control of remote devices.

Riverbed says it plans to launch an initial SD-WAN system this quarter.

This is the second SD-WAN deal to close in two weeks. Last week, SD-WAN vendor VeloCloud Networks closed $27 million in Series C financing, including participation from Cisco Investments.