Versa Networks Named a 2016 “Cool Vendor” in Communications Service Provider Infrastructure by Gartner

Report Says Software-Defined WAN (SD-WAN) is Emerging as a New Area for Communications Service Providers (CSPs) to Explore for Newer Services

Santa Clara, Calif., May 10, 2016

Versa Networks, a networking and security startup providing next-generation WAN and branch office solutions for service providers and enterprises, today announced that it has been named to the list of Cool Vendors in the Gartner “Cool Vendors in Communications Service Provider Infrastructure, 2016” report.

The report says software-defined WAN (SD-WAN) is emerging as an area for communications service providers (CSPs) to explore for new services. It recommends “CSP CIOs/CTOs and network planners should analyze solutions from these vendors when developing business models based on elastic, on-demand services leveraging SD-WAN, with holistic controls and service orchestration; and explore newer vCPE offerings with hybrid deployments, which offer improved resiliency, on-demand services and centralized manageability than legacy CPE.”

“CSPs are looking for an evolution away from siloed networking and security appliances toward fluid and dynamic solutions that support end-to-end control, along with dynamic pay-as-you-grow provision. The problems with the current technology are magnified in the WAN, because CSPs require resiliency, security and high performance with agile service delivery. The siloed solutions of the past with legacy manual provisioning are slow and prone to errors,” notes Gartner analyst Akshay Sharma.

Versa Networks’ business case for its NFV solution is clear – providers’ managed services are difficult to design and launch rapidly, as well as operate profitably. This is due to multiple factors, primarily the inflexibility, cost and complexity of branch customer premises equipment (CPE) and head-end devices. Virtualizing branch and head-end infrastructure via Versa solutions enables rapid-fire deployment of a wide range of managed network and security services, including the growing deployments of managed SD-WAN.

“We are humbled to be recognized by Gartner as a Cool Vendor in Communications Service Provider Infrastructure. We believe this recognition exemplifies the outstanding work our team has done – in partnership with our CSP customers – to transform how managed services like SD-WAN can be built and operated to achieve unprecedented agility and profitability,” said Kumar Mehta, CEO and co-founder of Versa Networks.

Gartner recognized four other companies in the report that was published on April 26, 2016 and was written by analysts Akshay K. Sharma, Sylvain Fabre, Mentor Cana, Peter Liu, Kosei Takiishi and Takeshi Ikeda.

Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

About Versa Networks

Versa Networks, the leader in SASE, combines extensive security, advanced networking, industry leading SD-WAN, genuine multitenancy, and sophisticated analytics via the cloud, on-premises, or as a blended combination of both to meet SASE requirements for small to extremely large enterprises and Service Providers, and via the simplified Versa Titan cloud service designed for Lean IT. Thousands of customers globally with hundreds of thousands of sites trust Versa with their networks, security, and clouds. Versa Networks is privately held and funded by Sequoia Capital, Mayfield, Artis Ventures, Verizon Ventures, Comcast Ventures, Liberty Global Ventures, Princeville Capital, RPS Ventures and Triangle Peak Partners. For more information, visit https://www.versa-networks.com or follow Versa Networks on Twitter @versanetworks.