We are proud to announce that Gartner has again placed us in the Leaders Quadrant in its 2023 Magic Quadrant? report for SD-WAN. This is the fourth straight year we have been recognized as a Leader and the only Leader to be placed Highest on Ability to Execute for three consecutive years. We also scored 4.58/5 in the on-premises security (native) use case.

This recognition comes when organizations face growing complexity in their network architectures and operations, including cloud adoption and a hybrid workforce that now divides its time between on-premises and remote locations. This rapid expansion means that the network attack surface has also grown, and staffing constraints, overly complex network architectures, and legacy security and networking solutions have left organizations like yours struggling to keep up.

Today's Networks Need SD-WAN

Addressing modern complexity and threat exposure requires a strategy that simplifies operations, reduces complexity, and converges networking and security solutions. Top concerns for workers accessing widely distributed business applications and corporate resources include secure access and reliable connectivity combined with an optimal user experience. SD-WAN can address these issues, but many SD-WAN vendors fail to provide the combination of function, security, and support for a variety of use cases that organizations require.

You need an SD-WAN solution to support the seamless convergence of on-prem SD-WAN and security with cloud-delivered security to support your hybrid workforce. And because SD-WAN solutions must be deployed in a variety of environments-data centers, edge networks, branch offices, multi-cloud settings, and home offices-that solution must be built on a common OS that ensures consistent functionality and centralized control. And it ought to weave together advanced network connectivity and world-class security into a single solution, like integrated ZTNA, so it can effectively enable hybrid and multi-cloud connectivity to accelerate your digital-first journey.

Fortinet Secure SD-WAN Delivers

The Fortinet Secure SD-WAN solution is the first solution to address these challenges. In addition, because these advanced network and connectivity services are natively built into our powerful FortiGuard security platform, they can be deployed anywhere in any form factor, helping extend secure connectivity and networking functions to your the SD-Branch. And because it is integrated with our FortiSASE cloud-delivered security services, you organizations can also seamlessly transition to the Fortinet single-vendor SASE solution to provide consistent enterprise-grade security and a superior experience for users no matter where they are located.

This deep integration and flexible deployment enables security policies to seamlessly follow every transaction end-to-end, from remote workers to data center and campus networks to branch offices and cloud environments, rather than stopping at the network edge, as most SASE solutions require. This unique integrated approach accelerates deployment while simplifying your network architecture and management overhead.

But that's just the start. The Fortinet Secure SD-WAN solution is powerful enough to facilitate your the shift to 5G wireless WAN while maintaining reliable and secure connectivity, including full inspection of your audio and video transmissions, even when they are encrypted. In fact, the latest report from CyberRatings.org shows that the Fortinet Secure SD-WAN solution received top MOS scores for audio and video even when transmissions were subjected to a variety of impairments, including packet loss, congestion, and WAN link failover.

And because your an SD-WAN solution can exist in your an organization's larger network, it is designed to enhance both user and IT experience through advanced capabilities, such as AIOps and digital experience monitoring (DEM). These tools allow it to be seamlessly integrated into your existing networking and security environments rather than being deployed as a separate overlay solution. This functionality is highlighted in two of the Gartner Critical Capabilities for SD-WAN Use Cases, where we ranked#1: On-Premises security-sensitive WAN and WAN for small branches for three consecutive years. In these use cases, Fortinet scored the highest. 

SD-WAN Is Just the Start

Fortinet Secure SD-WAN, on its own, is a powerful solution for dynamically and securely interconnecting sites without the limitations, hassle, and overhead of static MPLS connections and deploying complex router and security solutions at every office. But because of our unique integrated approach, it is also foundational to your other organizational goals, such as rolling out SASE and SD-Branch. Rather than deploying a SASE or SD-Branch overlay solution, integrating them with Fortinet Secure SD-WAN allows you to tie everything together. Users and devices, regardless of location, can securely access any resource or application, with visibility and control across the entire transaction, end to end. It's something no one else can deliver, and it's designed to make your everyone's job so much easier.

For more information, download the full report: 2023 Gartner^?Magic Quadrant? for SD-WAN

Gartner, Critical Capabilities for SD-WAN, 29 September 2023, By Jonathan Forest Et Al.

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