Who invented SD-WAN?
A single individual or company did not invent SD-WAN - the term 'Software Defined Wide Area Network' was referenced by Gartner in 2014. Before SD WAN, the term SDN (Software Defined Networking) was initially discussed in 2007 as a technology to separate the control plane from the data plane. The reason for this separation was to allow software programmers to change how network traffic flowed by writing code. At the time, the Operating Systems of many WAN vendors were complicated and relied on slow incremental upgrades. Where requirements are non-standard, many IT teams and network administrators could not inject code into the vendor's OS - SDN essentially made this possible. With SDN, the theory was that any programmer could write code to affect the network flow.
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The Open Networking Foundation brought together companies, including Microsoft, HP and Google to form an alliance in developing SDN.
The creation of SD-WAN by Gartner was used to create a commercial product category which defines how the Enterprise can purchase SDN services from service providers and vendors.
Robert Sturt is a leading expert in SD-WAN and enterprise network solutions with extensive experience in telecommunications and network infrastructure. As a Forbes Business Council member and contributor to TechTarget, he provides strategic insights on network transformation and digital connectivity solutions. His expertise spans SD-WAN implementation, network security, and enterprise digital transformation initiatives.
Fact-checked by: Harry Yelland - Cybersecurity Writer, Netify