Software-Defined Wide Area Network Market Size and Share
Software-Defined Wide Area Network Market Analysis by Mordor Intelligence
The Software-Defined Wide Area Network Market size is estimated at USD 9.33 billion in 2025, and is expected to reach USD 35.83 billion by 2030, at a CAGR of 30.42% during the forecast period (2025-2030).
This outlook reflects the decisive shift from legacy MPLS to cloud-native architectures that sustain distributed workforces, AI-driven workloads, and 5G traffic. Enterprise decision makers are prioritizing direct-to-cloud connectivity, integrated security, and application-aware routing, pushing vendors to embed automation and machine learning across offerings. Partnerships between cloud hyperscalers and telecom carriers accelerate adoption by bundling high-capacity access, network slicing, and managed security under outcome-based service models. Meanwhile, talent shortages and data-plane security concerns temper near-term rollouts, yet the long-run trajectory remains strong as enterprises pursue bandwidth efficiency and operational agility.
Key Report Takeaways
- By deployment mode, cloud models held 48% of the Software-Defined Wide Area Network market share in 2024; hybrid deployment is projected to expand at a 33.2% CAGR to 2030.
- By component, solutions controlled 65% of the Software-Defined Wide Area Network market size in 2024, while services are growing at 32.45% CAGR through 2030.
- By organization size, large enterprises accounted for 57% revenue share of the Software-Defined Wide Area Network market in 2024; small and medium enterprises are advancing at a 31.8% CAGR to 2030.
- By end-user industry, BFSI led with 24% of Software-Defined Wide Area Network market share in 2024; healthcare is the fastest-growing vertical at 30.9% CAGR to 2030.
- By geography, North America commanded 55% of the Software-Defined Wide Area Network market size in 2024, while Asia Pacific is scaling fastest at 32.6% CAGR through 2030.
Global Software-Defined Wide Area Network Market Trends and Insights
Drivers Impact Analysis
Driver | (≈) % Impact on CAGR Forecast | Geographic Relevance | Impact Timeline |
---|---|---|---|
Cloud-centric application explosion | +8.50% | Global, with a concentration in North America & APAC | Medium term (2–4 years) |
Hybrid/remote-work–driven WAN agility | +7.20% | Global, particularly North America & Europe | Short term (≤ 2 years) |
MPLS cost-out and bandwidth optimisation | +6.80% | Global, early adoption in North America | Medium term (2–4 years) |
AI-driven self-healing route optimisation | +4.10% | North America & APAC core, spill-over to Europe | Long term (≥ 4 years) |
Source: Mordor Intelligence
Cloud-centric Application Explosion
Rapid migration to SaaS and cloud-native workloads reshapes WAN design as enterprises target latency-free access to distributed applications. Salesforce increased available bandwidth fivefold after adopting Prisma SD-WAN without raising telecom costs. Enterprises now demand policy engines that identify, classify, and prioritise thousands of cloud services in real time, shifting commercial models from capacity-based to experience-level agreements. Hyperscalers are responding: Google Cloud teamed with Lumen to deliver 400 Gbps fibre to 50,000 locations, embedding Cloud WAN and SD-WAN orchestration for AI workloads[2]Lumen Technologies, “Lumen and Google Cloud Deliver Network for AI Workloads,” lumen.com. Consolidation accelerates as buyers favour single-vendor stacks that bridge compute, storage, and wide-area connectivity across multi-cloud estates. The Software-Defined Wide Area Network market continues to benefit from this alignment of cloud and network strategies.
Hybrid/Remote-work–driven WAN Agility
Permanent hybrid work models require resilient links, zero-touch provisioning, and integrated security that extend corporate fabrics to any endpoint. MPLS provisioning still runs 40-plus weeks in many markets, whereas SD-WAN enables branch turn-ups in days using broadband, 4G, and satellite for active-active path selection. T-Mobile collaborated with Palo Alto Networks to launch a managed SASE offer that marries 5G Advanced access with cloud security, giving enterprises elastic bandwidth and consistent policy from headquarters to home offices[1]T-Mobile, “T-Mobile and Palo Alto Networks Launch SASE for 5G-Powered Enterprises,” t-mobile.com. Demand for such agility keeps the Software-Defined Wide Area Network market on a steep adoption curve, especially among multinational corporations with volatile site counts.
MPLS Cost-out and Bandwidth Optimisation
Escalating data volumes make the economics of MPLS unsustainable. Airtel Business cut transport spend by 40% for a top Indian bank by combining multiple internet circuits under a centralised SD-WAN overlay. Enterprises frequently report three-to-five-fold per-Mbps savings, freeing budgets for security and cloud modernisation. Intelligent path selection across dual active links further improves utilisation, and centralised orchestration trims truck-roll costs. These fiscal benefits underpin a strong business case, ensuring the continuous expansion of the Software-Defined Wide Area Network market.
AI-driven Self-healing Route Optimisation
Machine learning embedded in SD-WAN fabrics predicts congestion, packet loss, and link failure before users notice performance drops. Broadcom’s new VeloRAIN architecture analyses telemetry streams to reroute traffic in milliseconds, sustaining optimal throughput for distributed AI inference workloads. Autonomous operations lower mean-time-to-repair and reduce the burden on scarce network engineers, a decisive differentiator as CIOs face the impending retirement of legacy skill sets. This infusion of automation keeps the Software-Defined Wide Area Network market attractive for businesses seeking outcome-focused networking.
Restraints Impact Analysis
Restraint | (≈) % Impact on CAGR Forecast | Geographic Relevance | Impact Timeline |
---|---|---|---|
Data-plane security and control-plane attack surface | –4.8% | Global, high concern in regulated industries | Short term (≤ 2 years) |
Shortage of SD-WAN architecture talent | –3.9% | Global, acute in North America & Europe | Medium term (2–4 years) |
Source: Mordor Intelligence
Data-plane Security and Control-plane Attack Surface
Direct internet breakouts at branch sites enlarge the threat canvas. IFIC Bank mitigated exposure by combining next-generation firewalls with its SD-WAN edge, lowering monitoring costs by 40% while satisfying strict regulatory audits. Control-plane compromise remains a material risk because a single misconfiguration can propagate network-wide. Vendors are therefore integrating zero-trust posture checks, secure hardware modules, and mutual TLS across orchestration channels. Security diligence slows some rollouts, yet ultimately lifts adoption by increasing confidence in the Software-Defined Wide Area Network market.
Shortage of SD-WAN Architecture Talent
An aging workforce and surging demand for cloud-literate engineers create bottlenecks. Surveys show 84% of ICT leaders struggle to hire SD-WAN skills, and 25% of senior network staff plan to retire within five years. Enterprises offset the shortage by relying on managed service providers: 45% of multinationals already outsource substantial SD-WAN operations to specialist partners. While the labour gap temporarily restrains growth, it simultaneously drives service revenue as part of the broader Software-Defined Wide Area Network market.
Segment Analysis
By Deployment Mode: Cloud Architecture Dominates Enterprise Adoption
Cloud-hosted overlays captured 48% of the Software-Defined Wide Area Network market share in 2024, equal to USD 4.5 billion of the Software-Defined Wide Area Network market size, and are set to expand at 33.2% CAGR to 2030. Enterprises favour consumption-based models that remove capex and provide frictionless links into IaaS and SaaS environments. Premise-based platforms persist in highly regulated sectors but face slower uptake due to hardware refresh cycles and smaller ecosystems. Hybrid designs blend controller instances on-premises with public cloud to satisfy data residency while leveraging global POPs for scale.
Vendor competition increasingly revolves around cloud footprint density and API integration depth. Broadcom’s unification of VMware VeloCloud with Symantec edge nodes exemplifies the pivot to distributed, cloud-first fabrics capable of enforcing security and quality of service at line-rate. Buyers seek solutions that auto-discover cloud apps, adjust policies via Terraform, and integrate with service meshes. These capabilities keep cloud deployment the primary growth engine in the Software-Defined Wide Area Network market.
Note: Segment shares of all individual segments available upon report purchase
By Component: Services Growth Outpaces Solutions Despite Lower Base
Solutions generated 65% of revenue in 2024, equating to USD 6.1 billion of Software-Defined Wide Area Network market size, while services posted the steeper 32.45% CAGR outlook. Early adopters have transitioned from proof-of-concept hardware bundles to full-scale managed SD-WAN estates. Integration, policy design, and 24 × 7 monitoring demand specialist skills that many enterprises lack. Consulting and lifecycle management, therefore, account for a rising share of total contract value.
Providers like Zayo partner with SSE leader Netskope to deliver secure edge plus connectivity as a single SLA, illustrating how services envelop technology to deliver outcomes. The growth trajectory signals that long-term differentiation will hinge on platform openness and service innovation more than on proprietary hardware, reinforcing hybrid value capture in the Software-Defined Wide Area Network market.
By Organization Size: SME Adoption Accelerates Through Cloud Accessibility
Large organisations retained 57% revenue share in 2024, yet SME demand now grows at 31.8% CAGR because cloud marketplaces and simplified licensing lower barriers. Managed SD-WAN delivered “as a click” lets smaller firms access enterprise-grade routing, segmentation, and zero-trust without on-site engineers. Usage-based billing aligns network spend with seasonal revenue cycles, a crucial feature for cash-constrained businesses.
Fortinet demonstrates dual-segment reach: its integrated firewall plus SD-WAN appliance anchors Fortune 500 backbones, while virtual editions populate SME cloud workspaces. Such tiered portfolios articulate how a single vendor can scale down TCO and still secure upsell paths, contributing recurring income across the Software-Defined Wide Area Network market.

Note: Segment shares of all individual segments available upon report purchase
By End-user Industry: Healthcare Emerges as Fastest-Growing Vertical
BFSI led 2024 procurement due to compliance and real-time trading requirements, holding a 24% share. The healthcare sector, however, is poised for a 30.9% CAGR through 2030. Telehealth consultations and remote patient monitoring flood networks with latency-sensitive traffic, obliging hospitals to build resilient overlay fabrics even across rural links. Rady Children’s Hospital connected 20 satellite clinics using Juniper’s cloud-hosted AI-driven SD-WAN for seamless EMR access and medical-grade video[5]Juniper Networks, “Rady Children’s Hospital Improves Care with AI-Driven Network,” juniper.net .
Manufacturing also accelerates adoption to underpin industrial IoT and predictive maintenance, while retail chains deploy SD-WAN to unify e-commerce, PoS, and inventory data in edge locations. These vertical dynamics diversify revenue streams and deepen the addressable Software-Defined Wide Area Network market.
Geography Analysis
North America accounted for 55% of the Software-Defined Wide Area Network market size in 2024, reflecting advanced cloud adoption, robust venture funding, and proactive cyber regulations. Verizon’s USD 5.9 billion MPLS impairment illustrates how software-driven overlays cannibalise legacy transport economics[3]Verizon, “Verizon Reports 2024 Results,” verizon.com. US federal programs that subsidise secure internet gateways further stimulate demand, while Canada and Mexico benefit from cross-border integrations by auto and retail multinationals. The region now pivots to SASE convergence, pushing vendors to bundle firewall-as-a-service and zero-trust authentication into every Software-Defined Wide Area Network market offer.
Asia Pacific represents the fastest expanding theatre, pacing at 32.6% CAGR to 2030. Aggressive 5G rollouts give enterprises clean-sheet options to bond cellular with broadband under programmable overlays. Singtel extended consumer-grade 5G network slicing on top of its enterprise SD-WAN edge in 2024, underscoring how carrier ambition propels regional uptake. China’s smart-manufacturing clusters, India’s IT outsourcing hubs, and ASEAN’s hyper-growth digital economy converge to create multi-billion-dollar incremental demand. Local system integrators partner with global OEMs to tailor compliance and language localisation, broadening the Software-Defined Wide Area Network market footprint.
Europe delivers a sizeable volume despite fragmented regulations. The European Commission’s Digital Decade aims to channel EUR 200 billion into next-gen connectivity by 2030, making SD-WAN a core element for cross-border data flow[4]European Commission, “Europe’s Digital Decade: 2030 Targets,” ec.europa.eu. Skills shortages remain acute; Germany alone expects a gap of 780,000 ICT professionals by 2026. Operators like Vodafone UK respond with advisory practices that fuse carbon reporting and secure edge design. Consequently, Europe’s layered regulatory and sustainability demands play to the strengths of mature vendors, reinforcing steady growth in the Software-Defined Wide Area Network market.

Competitive Landscape
The Software-Defined Wide Area Network market exhibits moderate consolidation. Cisco, Fortinet, and Broadcom collectively exceed 45% revenue share, supported by extensive channels and integrated security capabilities. Their scale advantages curb price erosion and provide R&D headroom for AI features. Meanwhile, cloud-native entrants such as Aryaka and Alkira win greenfield deployments by offering multi-cloud orchestration without hardware friction.
M&A activity remains brisk. Arista Networks is in advanced talks to purchase VeloCloud from Broadcom for USD 1 billion, aiming to fuse campus, data centre, and WAN fabrics under a common EOS control plane. Telecom operators intensify competition by packaging connectivity, edge compute, and managed SASE. T-Mobile, AT&T, and Orange Business each market branded SD-WAN bundles that leverage expansive 5G coverage.
Artificial intelligence is the new competitive frontier. Broadcom’s VeloRAIN orchestrates layer-3-to-layer-7 telemetry with self-healing policies, while Cisco embeds predictive analytics into ThousandEyes for route visualisation. Vendors also headline sustainability KPIs, offering energy dashboards that quantify carbon per-bit savings. Collectively, these strategic moves sustain innovation momentum and raise entry barriers, ensuring progressive value capture across the Software-Defined Wide Area Network market.
Software-Defined Wide Area Network Industry Leaders
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Cisco Systems
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Fortinet
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VMware (Broadcom)
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Palo Alto Networks
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Aryaka Networks
- *Disclaimer: Major Players sorted in no particular order

Recent Industry Developments
- May 2025: Arista Networks began due diligence to acquire VeloCloud from Broadcom for approximately USD 1 billion.
- May 2025: T-Mobile and Palo Alto Networks launched T-Mobile SASE, combining 5G Advanced access with Prisma SASE.
- April 2025: Lumen Technologies partnered with Google Cloud to deliver 400 Gbps fibre integrated with Cloud WAN.
- October 2024: Singtel widened 5G network slicing to the consumer segment after enterprise SD-WAN success.
Global Software-Defined Wide Area Network Market Report Scope
SD-WAN stands for Software-defined Wide-Area Network. It is a term that relates to Software-defined Networking (SDN) that is used by thousands of companies across the country and further afield as they look to connect different parts of their business to a wireless network. This technology enables the direct end user to utilize any form of connectivity to access their corporate data hosted anywhere with high performance, speed, and security.
The SD-WAN market is segmented by Deployment (Premise, Cloud, and Hybrid), Component Type (Solutions and Services), Organization Size (Large Enterprise and Small-Medium Enterprise), End-user Industry (Healthcare, Manufacturing, IT and Telecom, Banking and Financial Services, Government, Retail and Consumers Services, Transport and Logistics, and Other End-user Industries), and Geography. The market, sizes and forecasts are provided in terms of value (USD million) for all the above segments.
By Deployment Mode | Premise | |||
Cloud | ||||
Hybrid | ||||
By Component | Solutions | |||
Services | ||||
By Organization Size | Large Enterprises | |||
Small and Medium Enterprises | ||||
By End-user Industry | Healthcare | |||
BFSI | ||||
Retail and Consumer Services | ||||
Manufacturing | ||||
Transport and Logistics | ||||
IT and Telecom | ||||
Others | ||||
By Geography | North America | United States | ||
Canada | ||||
Mexico | ||||
South America | Brazil | |||
Argentina | ||||
Rest of South America | ||||
Europe | United Kingdom | |||
Germany | ||||
France | ||||
Spain | ||||
Italy | ||||
Rest of Europe | ||||
Asia-Pacific | China | |||
India | ||||
Japan | ||||
South Korea | ||||
Rest of Asia-Pacific | ||||
Middle East and Africa | Middle East | United Arab Emirates | ||
Saudi Arabia | ||||
Turkey | ||||
Rest of Middle East | ||||
Africa | South Africa | |||
Nigeria | ||||
Rest of Africa |
Premise |
Cloud |
Hybrid |
Solutions |
Services |
Large Enterprises |
Small and Medium Enterprises |
Healthcare |
BFSI |
Retail and Consumer Services |
Manufacturing |
Transport and Logistics |
IT and Telecom |
Others |
North America | United States | ||
Canada | |||
Mexico | |||
South America | Brazil | ||
Argentina | |||
Rest of South America | |||
Europe | United Kingdom | ||
Germany | |||
France | |||
Spain | |||
Italy | |||
Rest of Europe | |||
Asia-Pacific | China | ||
India | |||
Japan | |||
South Korea | |||
Rest of Asia-Pacific | |||
Middle East and Africa | Middle East | United Arab Emirates | |
Saudi Arabia | |||
Turkey | |||
Rest of Middle East | |||
Africa | South Africa | ||
Nigeria | |||
Rest of Africa |
Key Questions Answered in the Report
What is driving the rapid growth of the Software-Defined Wide Area Network market?
The shift from MPLS to cloud-centric networking, combined with hybrid work, 5G adoption and AI-powered automation, propels a forecast 30.42% CAGR during 2025-2030.
How large will the Software-Defined Wide Area Network market be in 2030?
The Software-Defined Wide Area Network market size is projected to reach USD 35.83 billion in 2030.
Which deployment model leads current adoption?
Cloud deployment holds 48% of Software-Defined Wide Area Network market share and is growing at 33.2% CAGR to 2030.
Why is healthcare the fastest-growing vertical?
Telemedicine and electronic health records demand secure, low-latency connectivity across dispersed sites, leading to a 30.9% CAGR for healthcare through 2030.
Which region is expanding fastest?
Asia Pacific is the fastest-growing region, registering a 32.6% CAGR due to expansive 5G rollouts and digital-first business models.
What is the main challenge limiting adoption?
A shortage of SD-WAN architecture talent pressures deployment timelines, prompting many enterprises to outsource operations to managed service providers.