Masergy Unveils Second Managed SD-WAN Service Targeting Businesses On A Budget

Masergy Communications, a hybrid networking and cloud communications service provider, has added another SD-WAN service to its roster, SD-WAN Go.

SD-WAN Go is Masergy's second managed SD-WAN service option for businesses on a budget that partners can sell today, according to the Plano, Texas-based provider.

SD-WAN Go joins Masergy’s existing SD-WAN Pro solution, giving customers and partners two managed SD-WAN options. The two options will help Masergy's large partner base reach more customers that have different connectivity and cost restrictions, said Drew Lydecker, co-founder of master agent Avant Communications, a Masergy Platinum partner.

[Related: Masergy Predicts Growth, More Commitment To Partners As Another Private Equity Firm Digs In]

"From a partner perspective, SD-WAN Go gives us a 'light' option that lets us promote all of the qualities that make Masergy a great partner – like their white-glove management approach – now to a broader audience," Lydecker said.

Perhaps most unique about Masergy's approach to SD-WAN is that most SD-WAN offerings on the market today lock customers into a single vendor, but Masergy's SD-WAN portfolio is "transport-agnostic," Lydecker said.

SD-WAN Go is a "bring-your-own-bandwidth" offering, meaning it can interoperate with third-party vendors' circuits and WANs, or Masergy can provide the connection, according to the company.

Using SD-WAN Go, partners and end customers can use new or existing connections to securely tunnel and route data across the public internet and over Masergy’s software-defined platform. The SD-WAN service is managed by Masergy in an " as-a-service" model.

For customers that are using Masergy's existing WAN offerings, the provider will manage SD-WAN Go on behalf of the end customer. Masergy doesn’t manage third-party circuits, however.

Masergy, which conducts 80 percent of its business through the channel, has taken a different approach from the rest of the market by offering SD-WAN as a managed service. Partners won't have to manage the offering on behalf of their customers either as Masergy will be doing heavy lifting, the company said.

Like SD-WAN Pro, SD-WAN Go takes a hybrid approach and can use any combination of broadband and high-performance, private WAN connections that a business has available at its site, as well as broadband and 4G connections to route traffic over the public internet and over Masergy's platform.

The offering will be a great fit for smaller businesses, or companies with small branch offices that might not need more than a broadband or 4G connection to tie back into the rest of their network, Avant's Lydecker said.

"This solution really gives Masergy reach that, quite honestly, is revolutionary for a premium provider like Masergy."