Barracuda Networks, a leading provider of cloud-enabled security solutions, highlighted key findings from its commissioned report titled Secure SD-WAN: The LaunchPad into the Cloud. The research surveyed global IT decision-makers to know about their opinions on Software-Defined Wide-Area Network (SD-WAN) adoption, along with data about acquisition preferences, variations by industry, and a variety of related issues.

It revealed that a fully-integrated, secure SD-WAN is the preferred technology solution for 90 per cent of Indian respondents who have either already deployed a software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN) to secure their public cloud or expect to do so within a year.

The survey, conducted by independent market researcher Vanson Bourne, includes responses from 750 executives, individual contributors, and team managers with responsibility for or knowledge of their organization’s cloud infrastructure. They came from organizations of all sizes and across a broad range of sectors, in EMEA, APAC, and the US, company mentioned in the report.

The report specifies that nearly 62 per cent of India’s organizations have experienced an increase in their network flexibility, 51 per cent achieved improved overall connectivity and 57 per cent increased their network security after deploying SD-WAN.

It also indicates that in using hybrid cloud, nearly 50 per cent of India organizations are concerned about its security, 41 per cent are concerned about securing the data in transit and 38% feel that it would be difficult in integrating cloud with legacy technology.

Speaking on the research results, Mr. Murali Urs, Country Manager, India of Barracuda Networks said about the survey: “As more organizations are shifting to the public cloud, they are looking at achieving a smoother and securely-integrated network for cloud deployments. They fear to be subject to any cyberattacks and losing on sensitive and mission-critical data. SD-WAN technology is a critical part of securing these cloud deployments. By deploying an all-in-one, secure SD-WAN solution natively built into the public cloud network, organizations can reap the full benefits of public cloud.”

Organizations around the world, including India are consistent in their desire to acquire an SD-WAN solution from a cloud provider with 58 per cent giving it a nod. In comparison, 18 per cent prefer to get SD-WAN from an independent vendor, while 10 per cent would opt for a telecommunications partner, and 14 per cent would choose a value-added reseller.

Organizations prefer Microsoft Azure the most for their public-cloud platform than Amazon AWS Web Services (AWS) and Google GCP Cloud Platform (GCP). Azure also gets the top scores when it comes to security and being user friendly as security is the biggest blocker for moving to the public cloud.

Overall, the study indicates that while adoption rates for public cloud continue to grow, improved flexibility and security of the network remain key roadblocks considering the volume and variety of threats organizations face today.

SD-WAN solutions are being used to address connectivity and security concerns of their public cloud. IT professionals realize that a cloud provider’s native security solutions may not provide sufficient capabilities and they are looking for third-party providers to help overcome adoption barriers.

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