Eager to capitalize on growing demand for SD-WAN services, AVANT Communications has expanded its roster of partnerships with leading providers.
VARs, systems integrators, and agents that partner with the Chicago, Ill.-based distributor of cloud computing, data center, and connectivity services now have access to SD-WAN solutions from CloudGenix Inc., Masergy Communications Inc., and Talari Networks, as well as a jointly delivered offering from Verizon and Viptela unveiled last February and a similar service from Windstream Communications and VeloCloud officially announced last week.
The alliances newly revealed today join previously disclosed agreements with Aryaka Networks Inc., Cisco Systems Inc., and Silver Peak Inc., among others, and bring the total number of providers in AVANT’s SD-WAN portfolio to over a dozen.
“We’ve really gone out and cornered the market in the SD-WAN marketplace,” says AVANT president and co-founder Drew Lydecker.
All that deal-making reflects AVANT’s conviction that increased adoption of cloud-based solutions and an associated need for fast, flexible, cost-effective connectivity options are set to turn SD-WAN into a major new opportunity. Indeed, analysts at IDC expect global spending on SD-WAN technology and services to grow at a 90 percent CAGR through 2020 to $6 billion.
“We’ve rarely seen this in our business where something has gotten this big this quickly,” says Lydekcer, adding that AVANT’s SD-WAN revenue will soon match what it makes on other, more established solutions.
“We expect it to be equal to our connectivity sales by next year,” he states.
Assembling a large stable of SD-WAN partnerships is essential from AVANT’s point of view because the market’s leading vendors have wide ranging capabilities. AVANT’s experience with all of them helps channel partners find the right provider for their needs, Lydecker contends.
In addition, he continues, AVANT offers partners an extensive array of webinars, “battle cards,” and other education resources aimed at helping them sell SD-WAN solutions more successfully. That’s in keeping with what the company views as its core expertise and competitive differentiator.
“Instead of being a distribution company that does sales enablement we’re a sales enablement company that does distribution,” said chief strategy officer Alex Danyluk in a December interview with ChannelPro. Danyluk further asserted during that conversation that the future of cloud and communications distribution belongs to companies that help partners close more business.
“The ones that really figure out how to focus on helping their channels to sell are the ones that are going to succeed more than the legacy license and [operations] companies,” he said.
As ChannelPro reported last month, companies with numerous branch offices, like retail, healthcare, and real estate chains, are the most avid consumers of SD-WAN services, but any company with remote sites is a potential user.
