Equinix customers can consume the VMware SD-WAN solution as a virtual network function (VNF).

VMware will offer its SD-WAN Edge as a virtual network function (VNF) on the Equinix Network Edge platform. Network Edge allows customers to choose and deploy network and security devices with more flexibility and agility. For instance, customers that own a VMware SD-WAN license can fire up the virtual solution “in a minute.”

Bill Long, Equinix senior vice president, product management, said the announcement helps businesses satisfy increasingly cloud-based digital transformation models.

Equinix’s Bill Long

“An entire architectural shift driven by data transformation is happening across the IT landscape today. By expanding our collaboration with VMware to deliver an innovative new solution that empowers remote workforces, reduces disruption and enables business continuity, we can help companies deploy a digital-ready infrastructure at the edge within minutes in order to accelerate their digital transformation efforts anywhere in the world,” Long said.

The companies have been working together since 2013. Now their partnership features Network Edge, which Equinix rolled out last summer as a complement to its software-defined interconnection service Cloud Exchange Fabric.

VMware will also increase its global footprint in Equinix International Business Exchange (IBX) data centers. In addition, the virtualization giant will make “SASE components” available through Equinix Network Edge and Cloud Exchange Fabric.

VMware bought SD-WAN provider VeloCloud in 2017.

VeloCloud’s Sanjay Uppal

“With VMware SD-WAN Edge now available as a virtual network service on Equinix’s Network Edge, enterprises, partners and service providers alike will be able to have unique, globally available network solutions optimized for intrinsically secure access to any public, private or SaaS cloud for remote and branch users,” said Sanjay Uppal, senior vice president and general manger of VMware’s VeloCloud business unit.

Growth Enablement

The partnership helps customers “dynamically scale their IT infrastructure,” according to Brad Casemore, IDC‘s research vice president of datacenter networks. He spoke positively of the SD-WAN industry’s growth potential.

IDC’s Brad Casemore

“Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the long-term growth prospects for the SD-WAN market remain exceptionally robust,” Casemore said. “Driven by the ubiquitous imperative of digital transformation, a growing number of organizations worldwide are looking to scale initial deployments, which often begin with a limited number of sites, to encompass all branch offices supported by their WAN. As they do so, they prize agility, resilience and operational simplicity.”

Equinix earlier this year made Fortinet’s SD-WAN offering available as a virtual network service on the Equinix Network Edge.