Community Safety within the SD-WAN Market

SD-WAN and the Safe Service Edge (SSE)

Safety has emerged as a selected use case for SD-WAN and a method for suppliers to tell apart themselves in a crowded market. Many suppliers are working to extra seamlessly combine SD-WAN and safety companies right into a single product often called ‘Safe Entry Service Edge,’ SASE, or ‘Safety Service Edge’ SSE when not built-in with SD-WAN immediately. Enterprise curiosity in SASE companies is excessive, as we element within the determine beneath. In 2025, 53% of WMS respondents had already carried out some SASE parts into their community. That’s up from 8% in 2019 (after we requested particularly about Zero Belief Safety). An extra 23% had been within the processing of adopting some parts of SASE whereas solely 7% had no plans to undertake the safety framework.

SD-WAN safety approaches

SD-WAN distributors and MSPs have taken just a few approaches to integrating these security measures into their service portfolios. A majority have adopted a ‘better of breed’ method, working with quite a few safety suppliers based mostly on their background and strengths. Interoperability could be a concern right here although. Others have opted for a single vendor SASE method, selecting to focus extra on seamless integration slightly than maybe the strongest provider of every service.

In 2025, for SD-WAN distributors, Zscaler, Palo Alto Networks, Test Level, Netskope, and Microsoft had been the highest 5 cited safety service companions. It’s price noting that among the most acquainted names within the safety house, reminiscent of Cisco and Fortinet, don’t fall on this record. These corporations have leveraged their in-house safety experience and built-in it into their very own SD-WAN service. They’ve tended to companion with carriers and managed SD-WAN service suppliers, slightly than different SD-WAN distributors, to assist them with their safety portfolios. You’ll be able to see this within the high safety companions cited by MSPs – Fortinet, Palo Alto Networks, Zscaler, and Cisco.

There was a protracted tail of safety distributors cited as a companion by only one SD-WAN vendor or MSP. We’ve got included them within the ‘different’ column.

SD-WAN safety function availability

Fundamental security measures can be found from nearly all SD-WAN distributors and MSPs. Actually, all of our profiled SD-WAN distributors and MSPs provided superior community monitoring. Equally, 21 of twenty-two distributors and 66 of 82 MSPs included safe entry options for distant employees. The main focus for SD-WAN suppliers although, is in incorporating security measures related to SASE or SSE. Wanting on the determine beneath, you may see that companies included within the SASE structure have drastically elevated in availability, however are nonetheless not provided by each SD-WAN supplier.

• Subsequent-generation Firewall-as-a-Service (NGFWaaS) NGFWaaS is the SASE or SSE service {that a} majority of enterprise WAN managers (82%) we surveyed indicated that they had already adopted. In 2025, this standard service was extensively out there with 15 SD-WAN distributors and all of our profiled MSPs indicating they provided the service.
• Safe net gateway (SWG). SWG is positioned between enterprise customers and the online to implement firm safety and blocking insurance policies and guarantee secure net looking. For distributors this was essentially the most extensively out there SASE function (16 suppliers). In 2025, 58 MSPs additionally provided this service.
• Cloud entry safety dealer (CASB). CASB is positioned between enterprise cloud customers and the cloud suppliers and permits organizations to implement inside safety insurance policies and compliance laws. In 2025, 16 distributors and 77 MSPs indicated they might present the service.
• Zero belief community entry (ZTNA). “Zero Belief” safety focuses on verifying customers, validating units, limiting entry and privileges, and utilizing analytics to adapt insurance policies. ZTNA successfully replaces legacy IPsec VPN applied sciences to permit safe tunneling over public infrastructure. This was the second most generally adopted SASE service by our WMS respondents, and in 2025 15 distributors and 66 MSPs included this coverage into their service.

SD-WAN safety service pricing

Whereas a few of these standard safety companies are included in the price of an SD-WAN overlay (suppose conventional and next-generation firewalls, community monitoring, and deep packet inspection), others aren’t. Overwhelmingly, SD-WAN suppliers indicated that a number of core options of a SASE stack fell outdoors of those current safety packages and would incur additional prices for patrons. Zero belief community entry (ZTNA), cloud entry safety dealer (CASB), and safe net gateways (SWG) had been essentially the most generally talked about companies on this class. Most SD-WAN suppliers and MSPs cost for these companies on a per person foundation and several other have created ‘SASE or SSE bundles’ that embrace all three. For choose distributors coming from a background in safety, these options had been already baked into their NRC prices and didn’t signify a further value to the shopper.

So how a lot do these further safety companies value on high of the price of an SD-WAN overlay?

Within the following evaluation we assume {that a} SSE bundle consists of ZTNA, CASB, SWG, DLP, and MFA. NGFWaaS prices had been included for these suppliers who indicated it was not baked into their primary SD-WAN overlay worth. In 2025, the median worth per person for a SSE bundle throughout distributors for a small to medium sized enterprise (at nighttime blue columns within the determine beneath) was $7.21 per thirty days, or $87 per yr. Particular person vendor bundle costs ranged from $4 to $14 per person, per thirty days. Sourcing a SSE bundle from a managed service supplier or provider was costlier, with a median per person worth of $18.13 per thirty days or $218 per yr. Particular person MSP costs ranged from $5 to $60 per person per thirty days.

Wanting on the determine beneath, you may see that some SD-WAN distributors and MSPs provide quantity reductions, discounting safety bundle costs for giant enterprise prospects. In 2025, the median SSE bundle worth for a big enterprise from MSPs was $15.57 per person per thirty days. That’s 14% lower than the median worth for a small to medium enterprise. And whereas the median SSE worth ($7.21) is identical for SD-WAN distributors no matter firm measurement, a a lot bigger variety of SD-WAN distributors reported quantity reductions for safety companies than MSPs. For distributors, reductions for bigger prospects ranged from 17% to 40%.

• In 2025, the median variety of workers throughout our WAN Supervisor Survey respondents’ corporations was 46,891. For this many customers (depicted within the column on the left) the median annual worth for a SSE bundle could be $4,057,009 from an SD-WAN vendor and $10,201,606 from an MSP. Not an insignificant value when you add all of it up.
• However not each firm must safe units for each worker. In an business reminiscent of Auto & Vans, the place various workers may fit in factories or in dealerships and never want safe units, maybe solely 20% of customers have to be secured. The second column in our determine makes this assumption and takes 20% of our median WAN Supervisor Survey worker rely (so 9,379 workers). On this situation, safety prices are a lot decrease, a median worth of $811,471 per yr. That’s 80% lower than our baseline worker rely. The median annual worth from an MSP was $2,040,495, roughly 2.5 occasions costlier than sourcing from an SD-WAN vendor.
• On the opposite finish of the spectrum, an business reminiscent of Enterprise Companies could must safe a bigger portion of its workforce, say 80%. That is the situation we’ve modeled within the final column. Right here the annual value of the SASE bundle could be $3,245,607 from an SD-WAN vendor and $8,161,285 from a MSP.

SD-WAN  market outlook

SD-WAN is a vital part of the fashionable hybrid WAN. However with a shift in buyer focus from site-to-site connectivity to cloud and information heart interconnects, questions have arisen about whether or not the service is as related because it as soon as was. Significantly as these companies usually include inbuilt safety over dependable web connections.

Consequently, SD-WAN suppliers look to tell apart themselves with distinctive service options. Integrating safety companies (significantly these included within the SASE stack) into their platforms and forming partnerships with CSPs to supply seamless and safe entry to enterprise functions have been two areas of focus. Managed service suppliers present choices for patrons seeking to benefit from the advantages of SD-WAN, however outsource the administration of each the overlay and underlay. These suppliers provide quite a lot of service tiers to accommodate prospects preferences and community necessities.

SD-WAN vendor pricing has clearly turn into extra aggressive because the service matures and pricing schemes evolve. Whereas there may be nonetheless a wide variety of costs reported available in the market, median worth factors proceed to say no because the market consolidates round a small group of established distributors and suppliers refine their pricing fashions to reposition themselves in a aggressive market. Total, the price of an SD-WAN overlay contains a small portion of the overall value of the WAN, making it a worthwhile funding for patrons in areas the place web entry is much less dependable, with on premise information facilities, or these nonetheless seeking to modernize their WAN. Consequently, SD-WAN revenues proceed to develop, significantly as DIA utilization surges and enterprise port pace necessities proceed to extend.