SD-WAN FEATURED ARTICLE

Versa Networks Earns Recommended Rating

June 25, 2019

By Arti Loftus, Special Correspondent

Versa Networks, pioneers in developing a secure cloud IP platform has just announced that they have received the ‘Recommended’ rating from NSS Labs, Inc. in their 2019 Software-Defined Wide Area Network (SD-WAN) Group Test. Austin, Texas-based, NSS Labs is known for its global leadership and as a trusted source for independent and confirmable Cybersecurity and SD-WAN intelligence.




As one of only two vendors to have earned this rating, Versa’s security enabled SD-WAN platform underwent rigorous testing on the effectiveness of its inherent safeguards against exploitation. The group test findings by NSS Labs gives further credence to Versa’s noteworthy user experience and lower total cost of ownership (TCO) with security enabled, identified and expressed by their customers.

The Versa Networks Secure Cloud IP solution allows enterprises to set up a secured SD-WAN framework for their branch network while extensively managing WAN costs, making operations more efficient, improving network resilience, and increasing application performance. The solution integrates routing, networking services, SD-WAN, and other integral security operations such as next-generation firewall (NGFW), and unified threat management (UTM) that serve to centralize multiple appliances into a single platform. Versa’s solution brings multi-tenancy, multiple deployment options, Zero Touch Provisioning (ZTP), and multi-cloud flexibility to enable enterprises to seamlessly add in next-generation technology to rapidly transform their WAN set up.

The test was developed by NSS Labs to scrutinize the security readiness of available SD-WAN products and devised to increase the understanding of the interpretation of WAN security. This currently varies by SD-WAN vendors who are looking at diverse associations with encrypted links, anti-threat capabilities, or full-stack solutions.

The SD-WAN test was developed to identify the highest quality of experience for VoIP and video, the lowest cost of ownership, as well as protection against network-delivered vulnerabilities. The results are as follows:

  • Versa’s solution was tested for packet loss, jitter, and latency, producing a very high Mean Opinion Score (MOS) and quality of experience standards for voice and video applications.
  • The solution delivered the lowest TCO per Mbps of secured SD-WAN throughput.
  • Versa Networks’ Security Enabled SD-WAN solution has been developed with security at the forefront as SD-WAN is used frequently by enterprises to improve the user experience and reduce attack vulnerabilities of SaaS (News - Alert) and multi-cloud applications using public internet access. The Versa solution embeds NGFW which can block threats with powerful web security services. In the NSS Labs test, Versa earned 99.2% block rate and 100% in stability and reliability, giving them a Recommended rating in SD-WAN and NGFW tests.

Leveraging equitable data in order to gain valid vendor distinction within such a busy vendor scene for SD-WAN was an important test benchmark for NSS Labs. Bringing in broadband Internet and ZTP provides operational savings, making TCO another major factor to be considered. Critical efficiency metrics, application awareness, and the level of application user experience quality were also tested.  

“Versa’s proven technology is the best technical solution with the best value. We focused on integrating security into our product when we started the company and today are known for having the best SD-WAN solution with built-in security. In this NSS Labs test, while other vendors either chose to test without security or lacked the necessary capabilities to be tested per the NSS Labs SD-WAN 2.0 methodology, Versa’s architecture performed exceedingly well, demonstrating our built from the ground up, embedded security services at a lower cost per bit,” said Kumar Mehta, co-founder and CDO, Versa Networks. “We believe the NSS Labs results strengthen the market leadership position Versa has garnered already with our unique solution and enterprises should feel confident that with Versa they get the best scale, quality, performance and feature/functionality, including enterprise-grade security, with all critical branch services running in a unified, flexible software platform.”


Arti Loftus is an experienced Information Technology specialist with a demonstrated history of working in the research, writing, and editing industry with many published articles under her belt.

Edited by Maurice Nagle

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