The impact of SD-WAN for securing public cloud adoption

While adoption rates for public cloud continue to grow, security is still the number one roadblock, which is understandable considering the volume and variety of threats organizations face today, according to a Barracuda survey.

The survey, conducted by Vanson Bourne, includes responses from 750 executives, individual contributors, and team managers with responsibility for or knowledge of their organization’s cloud infrastructure. They came from organizations of all sizes and across a broad range of sectors, in EMEA, APAC and the US.

Secure SD-WAN fully integrated into public cloud is the solution of choice

• 23% of respondents have already deployed SD-WAN, with another 51% either in the process of deploying or expecting to deploy within the next 12 months.
• SD-WAN is being used by more than half of those who have added security to their public cloud.

SD-WAN deployments vary greatly by industry

• The financial services industry has the most SD-WAN adoption, with 35% of respondents saying it is already in use. Another 41% are in the process of deploying SD-WAN or expect to do so in the next 12 months.
• The public sector has the lowest amount of SD-WAN deployment. Only 7% currently have SD-WAN deployed, and another 36% are in the process of deploying SD-WAN or expect to do so in the next 12 months.

Acquiring SD-WAN via a cloud provider is the overwhelming preference

• 52% of respondents want to acquire an SD-WAN solution through a cloud provider.
• In comparison, 16% prefer to get SD-WAN from an independent vendor, while 15% would opt for a telecommunications partner, and 12% would choose a value-added reseller. 6% had no preference.

Microsoft Azure is the preferred public-cloud platform

• Microsoft Azure is 50% more preferred than Amazon AWS and 125% more preferred than Google GCP.
• Responses indicate that Azure is perceived to be more secure and more user friendly than AWS and GCP.

“As more organizations move to public cloud, SD-WAN technology is a critical part of securing these cloud deployments,” said Klaus Gheri, VP, Network Security, Barracuda. “By deploying an all-in-one, secure SD-WAN solution natively built into the public cloud network, organizations can reap the full benefits of public cloud.”