| | NOVEMBER - 2018ENTERPRISE SECURITY8By: David Hughes, Founder and CEO, Silver Peakor the past three years, the software-defined WAN or SD-WAN, has been one of the most talked about technology trends. By some estimations there are 60+ vendors, all marketing their products around the concept of SD-WAN, each vying to carve out a piece of this emerging multi-billion-dollar market. While all the discussion and hype around SD-WAN has helped shine the spotlight on the business value enterprises can realize by changing the way they build their wide area networks, it has also led to confusion and in some cases delays of adoption.That is why today's release of the first ever 2018 Gartner Magic Quadrant for WAN Edge Infrastructure is such an important milestone for us. Gartner has long been one of the most influential industry analyst firms in the world, providing highly credible perspectives on technology vendors and markets. By listening to thousands of enterprise customers, reviewing each vendor's solution in detail and analyzing their Ability to Execute and Completeness of Vision, they have published a comprehensive report to provide their view of the Leaders, Challengers, Niche Players and Visionaries in this rapidly changing market (to get a copy of the WAN Edge Magic Quadrant click here). This new Gartner Magic Quadrant recognizes 20 vendors based on their Ability to Execute and their Completeness of Vision.As the founder and CEO of one of only three companies listed as a Leader in the report, I am very pleased with Gartner's view of Silver Peak. But more important than being positioned as a Leader, is the focus Gartner is placing on the new WAN edge. We believe they are correctly calling attention to the need for WAN edge infrastructure to move beyond traditional branch routers and beyond basic SD-WAN products.I also believe Gartner has raised the bar in terms of the market definition and clarification of the WAN edge infrastructure enterprises required in today's cloud era. While SD-WAN is getting a lot of the hype, the demands of the enterprise over the past three-plus years have moved FIN MY OPINIONSilver Peak Named a Leader in2018 Gartner WAN Edge Infrastructure Magic QuadrantDavid Hughes
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