Playbook Volume 10 - ChannelVision Magazine

drastically modify customers’ underly- ing network architectures. On-premises deployments aren’t ideal for every company, though. Virtual deployments, for instance, can be better- suited for large enterprises that are tak- ing a software-centric approach. Ecessa, for instance, offers a VMware virtual instance that the company can deploy for customers in this situation. “Virtualization is the wave of the fu- ture, but it’s trending the same way as the cloud in that it’s only really happening in some of the larger, more progressive enterprises,” Siegler added. “It hasn’t spread into the middle market where there are millions of users still buying boxes for things like firewalls.” Some environments, like a coffee shop chain, may be better-served with a cloud-based solution that can be easily deployed and managed. Not all businesses require deep levels of vis- ibility and control over their traffic. Bigleaf co-founder and vice president of sales Jeff Burchett offered some ad- vice for talking to customers about SD- WANs in terms of the end-use purposes and applications. “If there is one thing I can’t stress enough to partners, it’s to make SD- WAN a cloud conversation, not a tele- com conversation,” said Burchett. “If the SD-WAN value is framed around telecom, MPLS and cost, it’s dramati- cally limiting that value for both the customer and the partner. Once the customer sees SD-WAN as critical to the deployment and success of their cloud and SaaS solutions, the table is set for the partner. This is the point when the partner moves from being a trusted telecom advisor, to a trusted cloud advisor.” The real value of the network, he ex- plained, is its ability to reliably transport and support key business applications. Without critical business applications such as UCaaS-based voice and video, in other words, the network is point- less. And UCaaS, for that matter, is now growing at an annualized growth rate of about 29 percent per year. “It’s been that way since I entered this industry and will not change,” Bur- chett said about the network. “What is changing is where those Source: Cato Networks Sur vey 20 THE CHANNEL MANAGER’S PLAYBOOK