Even though managed SD-WAN offers a one-size-fits-all technology, it offers very specific nuances for solving the pain-points of individual industry verticals. One such vertical is the Retail sector, which faces considerable challenges in migrating from a very traditional brick and mortar sector to offering a fully digital customer experience. 

Adaptiv Networks recently published a forward-looking blog regarding a very true list of technology areas that retailers should be exploring and how its managed SD-WAN services can help support businesses make the transition. 

Adaptiv Network blog 'The Store of the Future: Is Your Network Ready?'

Analyst Quick-take:

• In the above blog Adaptiv Networks makes a compelling case for Augmented Reality, digitally transformed Points of Sales, and Pop-up stores. The company has a strong message for retailers that it has based on its reference clients and proven implementations for large national chain stores as well as smaller boutiques. 

We agree that retailers need to adopt multi-channel shopping experiences and be able to effectively management all the customer data touch points in order to succeed. Clavem Research identifies a further set of transformation objectives that managed SD-WAN services are very appropriate for solving: 

• Pop-up stores & intelligent kiosks
• Automation and integration of Point of Sale (POS), mobile POS, self-checkout, back-office support
• Effective management and response to customer behavioural data
• Supply-chain speed sand accuracy
• Logistics and supply-chain systems that are open to suppliers and partners
• Speed with order placement, order delivery (fulfilment)
• Visibility of stock in multi-warehouse and multi-supplier scenarios 
• Centralized management and integration of order deliveries and fulfillment
• Data-driven optimization and marketing
• Empowerment of staff leads to staff retention and motivation

For more in-depth analysis and insights into the above areas, please contact Clavem Research to gain access to our unique advisory services and actionable advice on how SDN/NFV is driving change across vertical specific industries. 

Cisco published a blog on its newly-expanded partnership with Google. The companies intend to integrate Cisco SD-WAN Cloud Hub and Google Cloud. 

Analyst Quick-take: 

• This announcement promises to have a major impact on the SD-WAN and cloud services market segment, because both Cisco and Google each have massive market traction globally, and are very influential in enterprise WAN connectivity and cloud.
• The partnership between Cisco and Google is going to produce positive benefits to the enterprise for addressing IT and network operations bridging the divide between WANs and clouds. ​Network operational overhead will be reduced and IT managers will get better control over meeting application Service Level Objectives (SLOs). 
• Whilst SD-WAN benefits enterprise connectivity across multiple areas, the growing adoption of cloud and SaaS (indeed 'XaaS') can cause new complexities and challenges, such as security and management control of apps across public and private clouds, and on the public Internet. Adding emerging enterprise requirements for mobility, edge compute resources, and IoT, can compound these issues. Cisco and Google are responding to this with a plausible joint-approach that takes advantage of each partner's unique market position and technology strengths.

The partners have stated that the Cisco SD-WAN and Google Cloud is scheduled for launch during H1 2021. 

What does Google bring to the table?

• A software-defined global fiber optic cable network that is augmented to last mile connectivity via interconnects with 3,000 ISP peering partners in more than 200 countries and territories. 
• A Google network fabric that supports YouTube, Search, Maps and Gmail, and more, is the same infrastructure that provides connectivity to Google Cloud customers and their users. 
• Google Anthos developers can develop cloud-native apps on containers that can then be deployed with smooth IT operational efficiency across Cisco SD-WAN and Google Cloud environment.

What does Cisco bring to the table?

• Cisco SD-WAN offers single pane of glass for network management, plus flexibility for WAN optimization and applying various layers of network and cloud security. 
• Cisco SD-WAN Cloud Hub will enable customers to extend intent and policy to enterprise applications running natively in Google Cloud.

SUMMARY 

April 15, 2020 – Nokia and Asavie entered a commercial and product partnership. Asavie’s mobile SD Edge technology will be integrated with Nokia Nuage Networks SD-WAN 2.0. 

Managed SD-WAN providers that offer Nuage SD-WAN will be able to offer business clients connectivity to enterprise applications and cloud and SaaS services with their mobile devices with exactly the same visibility, control and security policies, as for fixed network endpoints. Asavie SD Edge can also be extended to IoT endpoints providing they are SIM-based. 
Whilst bringing in remote mobile endpoints into the current SD-WAN gives benefits for a remote workforce during the Covid-19 crisis, Asavie SD Edge holds more strategic possibilities for a future way to cost effectively manage more and more workloads on mobile devices and SIM-based IoT device visibility and central orchestration and management. 

Managed SD-WAN service providers that do not have a matching Asavie SD Edge capability can offer mobile VPN clients or direct mobile and IoT device-generated traffic through a URL for filtering – but both these workarounds to the problem add overhead.
MARKET IMPACT

• SD Edge brings the mobile endpoints into the SD-WAN, thus existing firewall investments are preserved. SD-WAN and MSSP’s will want to respond to this either with integrating Asavie SD Edge into their portfolios, or developing similar capabilities based on their own in-house technologies. To do so requires considerable expertise and knowledge of mobile network traffic engineering. 
• This move will shake up the SD-WAN market, because current offerings do not extend to provide visibility and control for mobile and IoT endpoints very elegantly. 
• Current WAN deployments often fail to fully address security for mobile and IoT endpoints. SASE has entered the scene to give automated and software-defined capabilities for this, but despite giving decent security, once again the existing solution won’t protect all the existing SD-WAN investments – more layers need to be added. Asavie SD Edge is designed to leverage the existing SD-WAN investment. 

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR NOKIA-NUAGE? 

• This is a great response by Nokia-Nuage to entrenched SD-WAN vendors such as Cisco-Viptela, Versa Networks, and VMware-VeloCloud, because the mentioned competitors do not come from heavy mobile technology influenced backgrounds. Nokia is thus playing to a key strength. 
• Nokia is a leading provider of embedded 5G private network solutions with its ‘embedded 5G’ and ‘SD-WAN and 5G: better together’ slogans. It reports more than 150 private mobile network customers.
• Mobile SD Edge is clientless and can be used in a self-serve fashion to create on-demand private mobile network slices. This is the first solution of its kind that we have seen at Clavem Research. 

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR ASAVIE? 

• Asavie is also a recognized mobile transport innovator with a good list of existing clients, and joining forces gives both companies strengthened go-to-market clout and shared prospects.  
• For Asavie, having a commercial and product partnership with Nokia-Nuage is a powerful endorsement of the faith that a major global SD-WAN and 5G equipment vendor places in the Asavie SD Edge. 
• Nokia-Nuage Networks is a major route to market for Asavie, with several Tier 1 global services providers offering Nuage SD-WAN, such as BT, NTT, Telefonica, Etisalat, Telia Company, Globe and Telus. Nationwide providers Spectrum Enterprise, X by Orange, and Exponential-e also provide Nuage SD-WAN. 

WHAT SHOULD MANAGED SD-WAN SERVICE PROVIDERS DO?

• Managed service provider resellers of Nuage SD-WAN have an opportunity to revisit their go-to-market messages with a stronger and more modern emphasis on converged and integrated fixed and mobile managed SD-WAN services. 
• Bringing in visibility and control management of mobile and SIM-based IoT endpoints will allow service providers that offer Nuage SD-WAN to achieve differentiation against competitors that cannot offer a clientless on-demand software-defined mobile network slice (i.e., Asavie SD Edge). 
• Overall managed SD-WAN providers, including ones that do not sell Nuage SD-WAN, need to develop  better ways to offer convenience for mobile VPN customers and for managing IoT endpoints as part of the SD-WAN. 
• Existing technologies tend to be bulky and inefficient – demanding clients installed on the device, which is a pain, or directing all moving traffic to a URL or Web gateway, which introduces overheads and can cause bill shock. In response to this partnership, MSPs can consider adding Nuage SD-WAN into their range of SD-WAN proposals. This is fine. Many companies offer Cisco-Viptela because they have to, plus another SD-WAN. 

BUYER RECOMMENDATIONS

• Businesses that want to develop advanced mobile-first digital platforms can evaluate Nokia-Nuage’s capabilities in predictive maintenance, workforce efficiency and safety, asset optimisation, digital operations and hybrid cloud. With more than 150 private mobile networks deployed, Nokia has a lot of experience with supporting innovation, and its new partnership with Asavie is another arrow in the quiver. 
• For businesses, the Asavie SD Edge is an opportunity to think about bringing SD-WAN agility into the mobile realm. 

Link to the press release: 
Nokia’s Nuage Networks creates industry’s first SD-WAN solution for desktop, mobile and IoT devices, partnering with Asavie to meet increasing demands for remote working connectivity

Clavem Research together with Asavie published the following white paper: 'The Future is Mobile and Why SD-WAN is Flawed for Secure and Manageable Mobile and IoT Endpoints'

Adopting common terminology will drive SD-WAN growth and innovation, and strengthen individual provider sales messages 
by Joel Stradling

Summary
Four service providers have announced their SD-WAN products are now MEF 3.0 SD-WAN-certified: 

• Comcast Business
• PCCW Global
• Spectrum Enterprise
• Telia Company 

To gain certification the providers demonstrate conformance to SD-WAN service attributes and requirements as defined in MEF 70. Certification indicates that the four companies offer SD-WAN products that have been stringently tested for service attributes and requirements defined in MEF 70 and described in detail in MEF’s draft SD-WAN Certification Test Requirements (MEF 90) standard.

Market Impact 

• Gaining these certifications is a positive boost to the sales messages for each of the operators concerned. SD-WAN standardization is important as it helps the sector grow.
• More innovation is an additional benefit of growing momentum for MEF SD-WAN 3.0 certified providers, because developers can build new applications and solution features that will be able to leverage compatibility across SD-WAN products, including VNFs.
• This will positively drive networking innovation forward. As private enterprises look to create new SD-WAN RFPs, they can look to the MEF’s globally recognized SD-WAN specifications to help them build requests that potential suppliers can respond to with common language. Thus when choosing a supplier, prospects can conduct an apples-to-apples comparison to help them make the right choice, and importantly to understand what should be on the shopping list. 

Recommendations

• Each of the providers that have gained the certification can point out to prospective customers that an independent body has granted the qualification after independent testing, and that this is a major endorsement of a standard product - the customers know what they are getting with MEF SD-WAN 3.0 certified services. 
  
• Developers and VNF partners should be encouraged to develop new applications and features based on the standards, as these will be compatible across a mtuli-providers SD-WAN service implementation when interconnected. 
  
• Comcast Business, Spectrum Enterprise, PCCW Global, and Telia Company can begin to infuse standard terminologies into their SD-WAN product marketing and specification sheets to reinforce concepts and to help educate their target market. 
  
• Enterprises can begin to leverage common MEF SD-WAN 3.0 terminology and network architectures when creating RFPs - since matching up these common terms with bid responses will be simpler to understand and compare during the vendor selection phase.