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Silver Peak vs Fortinet SD-WAN

11/08/2021
Silver Peak vs Fortinet

A Comparison of Silver Peak and Fortinet SD-WAN

Any ‘latest and  greatest’ digital product that is sold single handedly brings a revolution to the market. There are numerous such products in the field of information technology, which is rapidly evolving. But SD–WAN is the one that has brought about a surprising revolution in terms of its highest adoption rate by businesses of all sizes. Such a high adoption rate was not even expected before it skyrocketed in 2019. In the field of network infrastructures, SD–WAN is a new entrant in comparison to its existing counterparts. But it is being adopted by all kinds of businesses at such an amazing rate. An increase in its adoption rate of nearly 65% was observed in just one year in 2019.

But when it comes to its customer market, only a handful of vendors are holding the total share of the SD–WAN market. Cisco, VMware, Silver Peak, Fortinet and Versa Networks are major SD–WAN vendors and service providers occupying almost 60% of the market share. That is why competition for market superiority is very high among all these SD–WAN service providers, who are doing their utmost to occupy maximum market share by reaching the maximum number of customers. All these big giants of software defined WAN are trying their best to provide an SD–WAN solution that best meets the business requirements of almost all the enterprises with maximum customer satisfaction. If one is good regarding its product capabilities, the other one might be good regarding customer experience. One might be offering ease of deployment in its SD–WAN solution, the other one will be seen offering outstanding security services and support. It cannot be inferred from Gartner’s overall peer rating which SD–WAN vendor is best suited to your business needs. In fact, it is important to compare the services and capabilities of each one’s SD–WAN solution.  Then, depending upon your business model, you can choose among the SD–WAN service providers the one that best fits to your organisational structure.

VMware SD-WAN as a Service

Going ahead in this series of comparisons among different SD–WAN vendors, we are comparing Silver Peak’s Unity EdgeConnect with Fortinet’s FortiGate SD-WAN. By the end of this blog, we will be in a better position to decide which model best suits your requirements. Silver Peak and Fortinet are two major companies in this regard providing SD–WAN services and solutions. Silver Peak has recently achieved a Channel Influencer Award along with a five star rating by CRN. After testing eight SD–WAN vendors,  NSS Labs, in its annual SD–WAN group test analysis, has declared Fortinet as the most economical solution providing company on a per Mbps basis.

Silver Peak Unity EdgeConnect SD–WAN

Silver Peak is a California based company that is best considered for its fully customised wide area networking capabilities. Silver Peak’s EdgeConnect WAN solution is highly customisable, which makes it an industry leader in the optimisation of WAN. For the complex topologies of private networks, Silver Peak SD–WAN could be a good choice. Silver Peak, on its website, claims high agility with no compromise on the reliability of the signal. To enhance overall control, its WAN strategy is based on maximising the multiplier effect. Its SD–WAN solution is also highly flexible in terms of its provision of vast libraries for the configuration of different types of traffic. Silver Peak offers a highly integrated capability for WAN optimisation, which makes it easy to integrate it with various security ecosystems. It provides highly scalable architecture for deployment-at-site and in-the-cloud models, offering both physical as well as virtual SD–WAN devices.

Like VMware’s VeloCloud, Silver Peak’s Unity EdgeConnect also includes in its package a built-in firewall at a basic level. This makes it a highly secure solution, more feasible for those companies looking for advanced protection with advanced next generation firewall systems.

Silver Peak EdgeConnect

Fortinet FortiGate SD–WAN

Fortinet’s FortiGate SD–WAN is well-known for its advanced security solutions as it provides an advanced threat detection system using artificial intelligence. Fortinet is unique in its threat detection feature, which makes its SD–WAN solution ultra-secure after its incorporation with wide area networking. Fortinet provides a highly portable SD–WAN solution for a distributed workforce. It offers an all-in-one bundle in its SD–WAN package with router, SD–WAN connectivity and firewall, which makes it very convenient for a distributed workforce. This all-in-one Fortinet bundle is very economical for those companies requiring an advanced firewall, when compared to Silver Peak and VeloCloud.

Although not very much different to Silver Peak and VeloCloud, Fortinet is a very good choice for those companies looking for a low-cost solution with high performance and security without any compromise on quality. FortiAnalyzer is also very helpful in managing network traffic. It helps to gain a better understanding of what has been going on in the network. With a next generation firewall (NGFW), optimisation of WAN and advanced routing, Fortinet’s FortiGate is offering  WAN edge transformation that is highly security driven, while its virtual domains feature is also very valuable and reliable.

FortiGate 30E

The following table provides an insightful comparison of the differences between Silver Peak Unity EdgeConnect SD–WAN and Fortinet FortiGate SD–WAN.

Silver Peak Unity EdgeConnect SD–WAN Fortinet FortiGate SD–WAN
For those organisations looking for a full-featured SD–WAN solution. For organisations of all sizes.
It provides limited true zero-touch provisioning. True zero-touch provisioning enabled.
It does not provide advanced routing protocols. It provides advanced routing protocols.
WAN optimisation is supported. WAN optimisation is supported.
RapidScale identity as a service: No RapidScale identity as a service: Yes
ARIA SDS packet intelligence: No ARIA SDS packet intelligence: Yes
SaaS platform support: Yes SaaS platform support: Yes
Multi-cloud management Multi-cloud management
Dynamic path selection: Yes Dynamic path selection: Yes
Threat intelligence: No Threat intelligence: Yes
Centralised orchestration Centralised orchestration
Aruba cloud monitoring: No Aruba cloud monitoring: Yes
HPE consumption analytics: No HPE consumption analytics: Yes

Conclusion

Detailed analysis of Silver Peak Unity EdgeConnect SD-WAN and Fortinet FortiGate SD-WAN shows both their strengths.  Depending upon their operability and their suitability for your current organizational structure, you can choose the one that best fits your business model, because the choice of a suitable vendor is subject to your business requirements (in terms of security and efficiency) and the existing IT structure of the company. That is why, first, all the vendors in the market must be examined to gain a proper understanding of the solution they are offering. Then you need to choose from the options available the one that suits you best.

Silver Peak vs Fortinet

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If you still require more information about all of the different SD-WAN solutions which are available on the market, then have a read of our comparison report.

You can download your free copy of the “Comparison Report” from here.

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DIGITAL CARBONHeadquarters
Our head office is located in the tech hub of East London Tech City
OUR LOCATIONSWhere to find us?
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To stay up to date with the latest news and technologies, follow us on our social media channels.

Copyright by Digital Carbon. All rights reserved.

Copyright by Digital Carbon. All rights reserved.