Aryaka - Best Software Defined Infrastructure

Company: Aryaka, San Mateo, CA
Entry Submitted By: Harden Partners
Company Description: Aryaka brings agility and a great experience to consuming the WAN-as-a-service for network and security. The company provides an optimized global network and innovative technology stack, delivering the industry’s #1 managed SD-WAN service and setting the gold standard for application performance. Aryaka offers connectivity, application acceleration, security, cloud networking and insights.
Nomination Category: New Product & Service Categories - Business Technology
Nomination Sub Category: Software Defined Infrastructure

Nomination Title: Aryaka SmartServices

SmartServices was initially announced in November 2019 and the company has since announced major service releases since that time that include managed Check Point firewalls (July 2020), MPLS interworking (September 2020), and Private Access for remote workers (December 2020).

Aryaka delivers a global managed networking and security service called SmartServices. It is based on an SD-WAN and Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) architecture that delivers the flexibility, operational simplicity and scalability required by CIOs, networking & security professionals, and cloud architects. It integrates global orchestration, hyper-converged services points of presence (PoPs) for cloud-delivered services, HybridWAN connectivity that leverages the Aryaka private backbone, MPLS, or broadband internet, security, application and network optimization, multi-cloud fabrics for direct Infrastructure-as-a- Service (IaaS), Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), Unified Communications-as-a-Service (UCaaS) connectivity and visibility.

The company’s software disrupts the traditional managed service or do-it-yourself box-based WAN experience through tightly integrated technology, service delivery, and support, spanning implementation and operation, which is an approach that telcos and managed service providers (MSPs) cannot replicate nor can enterprises effectively undertake on their own.

Aryaka does this by delivering networking and SaaS via a fully managed or co-managed offering that spans sites, employees, both local and remote, and the cloud. Targeted from mid-market to large enterprises, SmartServices optimizes global application performance to drive business productivity, cost reduction, and competitiveness, all via the OPEX-based cloud consumption model.

Competitive Differentiators

Unlike SD-WAN box vendors with complex do-it-yourself (DIY) models, Aryaka offers a managed networking and security service for cloud-first (digital) enterprises. Because of its greater architectural flexibility and services integration, Aryaka can show customers 2-4x faster time-to-market, leading customer satisfaction scores, and a more than 30% lower total cost of ownership.

Traditional MSPs/telcos deliver a poor/less integrated experience via stitched up technology that relies on other vendors, while Aryaka offers rapid and easy change management thanks to its converged network and security infrastructure.

Cloud providers typically offer limited reach and create services lock-in, while Aryaka’s solution requires less staffing and training resources and provides customers with end-to-end service level agreements (SLAs).

While there are many telcos and MSPs offering SD-WAN and Security as-a-Service to their customers, Aryaka is the only provider to combine the simplicity that is expected from a managed service with the flexibility of do-it-yourself standalone box manufacturers through technology innovation and a single point of contact.

With regards to market performance, in August, 2020, Aryaka was named to Inc. Magazine’s list of fastest growing private companies. In November, 2020, Aryaka was named to Deloitte’s fastest growing technology companies. Based on certified revenues from fiscal years 2016-2019, Aryaka grew 195%.

In terms of critical reception, Aryaka and its technology has won numerous awards and certifications over the last year including:

-ISO 27001:2013 and SOC2: SSAE-18
-Named a “Strong Performer” in Forrester SD-WAN services report
-Won Channel Vision’s Visionary Spotlight Award for SD-WAN & SD-Branch
-Won Unified Communication’s Product of the year award
-Won Internet Telephony’s Product of the year award
-Won Communications Solutions’ Product of the year award
-Won TMCNet’s teleworking solutions excellence award
-Named by Inc. Magazine as one of the best places to work in 2020
-Recognized by Gartner in their 2021 Peer Insights ‘Voice of the Customer’: WAN Edge Infrastructure report
-Won Internet Telephony’s 2020 SD-WAN Implementation Award
-Company was designated as a Great Place to Work-Certified company for workplace culture

With regards customer satisfaction, in February, 2021, Aryaka (for the second year in a row) was recognized with a “Customers’ Choice award for WAN Edge Infrastructure.”

Here is a link to a number of Aryaka customer reviews: https://www.gartner.com/reviews/market/wan-edge-infrastructure/vendor/aryaka/product/aryaka-smartconnect

Here are a couple of customer quotes:

"Aryaka’s SDWAN solution is excellent at improving application performance access globally, especially for graphic intensive based applications. It was very easy to use to build a tunnel to our specified location in minutes. It's a great solution for low latency remote application access."¹ AGM-IT Systems in the services industry https://www.gartner.com/reviews/market/wan-edge-infrastructure/vendor/aryaka/product/aryaka-smartconnect/review/view/3503805

"Overall, Aryaka has been very responsive to our needs. Their support organization is top notch as well. This allows us to offload our WAN management to them and trust that they will do it at the highest level possible. Since moving to Aryaka, we have not had any unscheduled outages due to their product or company." Lead Infrastructure Engineer industry unspecified https://www.gartner.com/reviews/market/wan-edge-infrastructure/vendor/aryaka/product/aryaka-smartconnect/review/view/3494716

With regards to the attachments included in this award submission:

-The SD-WAN Implementation Press Release is a great example that shows how Aryaka has award-winning technology
-The EMEA Momentum Press Release illustrates the sizable deals Aryaka has been closing around the world
-The Gartner Voice of the Customer Press Release illustrates how customers feel about Aryaka’s products. It includes links to actual product reviews
-The Deloitte Award Press Release talks about how fast the company has been growing year-over-year
-And the Forrester Wave Press Release is an industry analyst perspective that talks about how Aryaka is doing in relation to its competitors.