Hughes picks VMware/VeloCloud to deliver SD-WAN for enterprises

VMware's VeloCloud SD-WAN technology chalked up a big customer win by being picked by Hughes Network Systems for deployments to distributed enterprises. VMware's VeloCloud SD-WAN technology chalked up a big customer win by being picked by Hughes Network Systems for deployments to distributed enterprises. Hughes is adding VMware/VeloCloud's SD-WAN platform to its HughesOn Managed SD-WAN product portfolio for enterprise customers. While Hughes didn't mention Cisco's Viptela SD-WAN offering, it did say in an email to FierceTelecom that it selected VMware/VeloCloud "based on a host of traits that showed it best fit our customer’s needs and our own in terms of our ability to integrate and deploy." Hughes currently has the VMware/VeloCloud SD-WAN flavor in two pilots, with discussions underway for additional pilots. With the addition of VMware/VeloCloud, the HughesOn portfolio now offers premise-based, cloud-based and hybrid SD-WAN services to its customers. "Hughes has one of the largest managed IP VPN deployments in North America," said Frost & Sullivan's Roopa Honnachari, industry director, information and communications technologies, in an email to FierceTelecom. "The company's HughesON managed SD-WAN solution does offer some features and functionalities that address the needs of small businesses, but Hughes needed a holistic SD-WAN platform to go after the large enterprises, and this partnership helps them do that. "Hughes partners with (Cisco) Meraki and Fortinet to offer additional SD-WAN solutions for customers that choose, or have already invested in, those platforms. With decades of experience in managed network services, Hughes offers customers a single point of contact for network design, integration, operations, security and management, including billing. The addition of VMware-VeloCloud will positively impact the company's ability to compete in the market." VMware/VeloCloud will give Hughes enterprise customers a platform option that includes support for MPLS, cloud on-ramp services, network flexibility, and VoIP optimization on both wired and wireless broadband networks. On-ramps to cloud providers, such as Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure, has been, along with security, one of the biggest trends this year in the SD-WAN sector, as it allows enterprises to access applications such as Office 365 from the cloud. After buying it two years ago, VMware has been integrating VeloCloud across its product portfolio. The VMware/VeloCloud platform supports next-generation firewalls and zero-trust security architectures across various vendors. Honnachari said VMware/VeloCloud has consistently been ranked first in terms of revenue market share in Frost & Sullivan's research. Based on second quarter revenue, IHS Markit had VMware/VeloCloud ranked first, followed by Cisco Viptela, Aryaka Networks, Fortinet and Silver Peak. By virtue of being deployed and under management at more than 30,000 worldwide locations, Hughes lays claim to being the leader in managed SD-WAN solutions. Prior to Cisco Meraki, Fortinet and VMware/VeloCloud, Hughes, which is a subsidiary of EchoStar, has had a proprietary SD-WAN offering available to enterprise customers for a little over four years that was originally an outgrowth of its own WAN optimization technology.