Enea, Intel and flexiWAN to Present Open Source SD-WAN PoC in the Hague Next Week

SD-WAN Vendor Lock-in Walls to Come Tumbling Down with Enea, Intel and flexiWAN with Open Source SD-WAN PoC

Analyst Quick Take

Disruption in the SD-WAN segment is just around the corner. Next week in the Hague at the SDN NFV World Congress, three partners Enea, flexiWAN and Intel will unveil the first SD-WAN Open Source PoC to the industry. The solution is based on the following components:

• flexiWAN’s open source SD-WAN VNF with integration points for third party logic, and that features a central management console
• ‘pfSense’: an open source firewall and network security VNF
• Enea NFV Access: a uCPE virtualization platform, optimized for SD-WAN and vCPE use cases
• Enea uCPE Manager: centralized uCPE management with automation, lifecycle management VIM, and VNF management
• Intel Atom processors for low-cost and low-power networking at the edge

This move promises to lead the SD-WAN segment to the next level of flexible programming and high throughput for purpose-built SD-WAN applications. Enterprises are averse to the vendor lock-in that certain SD-WAN solution approaches demand – and the disruption that the Enea-flexiWAN-Intel will bring is a welcome move to shake things up.

Why Open Source?
The hardware segment of networking and data centre has broken down the model for proprietary equipment. The SD-WAN market has caught on to this movement as we have seen with more and more managed service provider announcements concerning whitebox uCPE initiatives that will support from 4 to 6 VNFs (typically) to run a variety of VNFs via the support of service chaining.
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Click on the below links to see the following blogs:

‘GTT Adds uCPE to SD-WAN’ – July 30, 2019

‘Colt Launches New uCPE with ADVA to Revolutionize the Network Edge’ – July 19, 2019

Opportunities for Differentiation

• flexiWAN and Enea are scoring compelling early-mover and pioneering innovation points with this PoC.  The market is ready for more open SD-WAN services that provide more flexibility for BYO VNFs.
• flexiWAN is poised to disrupt the traditional SD-WAN segment with its open architecture open source SD-WAN concepts, which include a vRouter, central management, SDN orchestration and network automation. baseline functionality. The company aims to target both service providers and private enterprise clients with the messages of low cost and secure SD-WAN solution minus any vendor lock-in rules.
• Enea NFV Access brings optimized vCPE use cases while its NFV SD-WAN ecosystem supports service chaining of multiple VNF developer solutions, including Fortinet, Nuage Networks, 128 Technology and Clavister.
• The development of Open Source SD-Wan is sure to spur ISVs to develop unique software applications and VNFs to all areas of industry. The ability to flexibly run such apps and integrate them Open Source SD-WAN will result in considerable innovation for enterprise networks

Limitations

• It is hard to break the mold: IT managers are a risk averse bunch (and for good reason), and so persuading businesses to try out the new Open Source SD-WAN will be met with caution and resistance.
• Very large vendors will do all they can to install fear uncertainty and doubt in the minds of prospective customers about choosing relatively untried and untested at scale solutions. Enea and flexiWAN will need to present powerful reference customers and use cases beyond the PoC to begin to build any market traction.

Recommendations

• Enea and flexiWAN can encourage developer communities among ISVs that are ready to develop Open Source code for real use cases in the industry and demonstrate VNFs service chained on an SD-WAN platform to solve practical industry use cases.
• The market needs education and programs to push home new possibilities. Open Source SD-WAN allows fresh innovation for VNF vendors and enterprises building their own applications. The technology is disruptive and gives control of the code base over to the end-users, de-coupled from software developer planned releases.