2022 U.S. Carrier Managed SD-WAN LEADERBOARD

AT&T secures #1 rank; LEADERBOARD positions change as roster expands to nine; Competition from Challenge Tier and Market Players heightens

BOSTON, MA, MARCH 28, 2023 – Vertical Systems Group announced today that the following nine companies achieved a position on the year-end 2022 U.S. Carrier Managed SD-WAN Services LEADERBOARD (in rank order based on site share): AT&T, Comcast Business, Verizon, Hughes, Lumen, Windstream, TPx, Zayo and Aryaka. These service providers each have two percent (2%) or more of the installed and billable Carrier Managed SD-WAN customer sites in the U.S. as of December 31, 2022.

“The managed SD-WAN market broadened significantly in 2022, with businesses and enterprises of all sizes transitioning away from legacy services,” said Rick Malone, principal of Vertical Systems Group. “Increased competition led to market share gains for Challenge Tier and Market Player companies.”

Five companies attained a Challenge Tier citation for 2022 (in alphabetical order): Cox Business, Fusion Connect, MetTel, Spectrum Enterprise and T-Mobile. This tier includes service providers with between one percent (1%) and two percent (2%) share of U.S. Carrier Managed SD-WAN sites.

U.S. SD-WAN LEADERBOARD 2022

Research Highlights

  • Rank positions shift for three companies on Vertical Systems Group’s 2022 U.S. Carrier Managed SD-WAN LEADERBOARD based on latest site share results as compared to the previous year. Additionally, this benchmark roster of top SD-WAN providers increases from seven to nine companies.
  • AT&T ranks first for the fifth consecutive year. Comcast Business retains second position.
  • Verizon advances to third position from fourth in the previous year. Hughes moves into fourth position from third.
  • Lumen continues to rank fifth, and Windstream remains in sixth position.
  • TPx advances from the Challenge Tier to the seventh position.
  • Zayo debuts in eighth position with sites from its QOS Networks acquisition, moving up from the Market Player tier.
  • Aryaka drops into the ninth and final position from seventh.
  • The 2022 Challenge Tier increased from three to five companies as Cox Business, Spectrum Enterprise and T-Mobile moved up from the Market Player tier. Fusion Connect and MetTel retain their Challenge Tier citations.
  • Challenges for 2023 cited by SD-WAN service providers include managing security integration with evolving SASE and SSE solutions, helping enterprises best fit SD-WAN technology to requirements, and supply chain delays.
  • Five of the 2022 U.S. LEADERBOARD companies have attainted MEF 3.0 SD-WAN Service Certification: AT&T, Comcast Business, Verizon, Lumen and Windstream.

Market Players include providers selling Carrier Managed SD-WAN services in the U.S. with site share below one percent (1%), including global network providers that manage U.S. customer sites. For 2022, the Market Player tier includes the following companies (in alphabetical order): AireSpring, Alta Fiber, American Telesis, Arelion, Astound Business, Bigleaf, BT Global Services, C Spire Business, CentraCom, Cogent, Colt, Consolidated Communications, Crown Castle, DQE Communications, First Digital, FirstLight, Flo Networks, Frontier, Great Plains Communication, GTT, InfoStructure, Intelsat, Lightpath, Logix Fiber Networks, Meriplex, Momentum Telecom, NTT, Orange Business, PCCW Global, PS Lightwave, SDN Communications, Segra, SES, Shentel Business, SingTel, Sparklight Business, Syringa, T-Systems, Tata Communications, Telefonica, Telstra, Unite Private Networks, Uniti, Virgin Media Business, Vodafone, Ziply Fiber and others.

Vertical Systems Group’s Definition: Carrier Managed SD-WAN Service

Vertical Systems Group defines a Carrier Managed SD-WAN Service for segment analysis and share calculations as a carrier-grade offering for business customers that is managed by a network operator. Required components and functionality for these offerings include an SDN service architecture that provides dynamic optimization of traffic flows, a purpose-built SD-WAN appliance or CPE-hosted SD-WAN VNF at each customer edge site, support for multiple active underlay connectivity services, automated failover fast enough to maintain active sessions, and centralized network orchestration with traffic and application visibility end-to-end. Security is the most essential additional managed SD-WAN service capability that may be provided or integrated based on specific customer requirements.

@SD-WAN is available now exclusively by subscription to an ENS Research Program. Research data includes the market share detail that powers the U.S. and Global Provider Carrier Managed SD-WAN Services LEADERBOARD results. Contact us for more information and pricing.