Tier 1 carrier offering MPLS, DIA, point to point & private lines with a strong security portfolio. Completely global, with support for SD WAN leaders.
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Verizon is a good choice for mid-market multinational enterprises which a large amount of locations worldwide, but can also cater for those with no pre-existing IT resources and companies with a large number of remote workers. The company offers granular SD WAN and SASE managed services with support from Security Operations Centres (SOCs) and options for co-managed deployments as well.
Verizon mostly focus on deployments from Cisco Meraki and Cisco Viptela, but they also offer HPE Aruba. As with many large telecoms companies, the sheer size of Verizon can mean long wait times for support requests, deployments, general queries etc. However, their support services are reportedly very good, despite longer wait times.
About Verizon
Verizon was formed on the 30th of June 2000 from a merger between Bell Atlantic Corp. and GTE Corp. Today, it is one of the largest communications technology companies worldwide.
Now headquartered in New York, Verizon primarily specialise in personal Wi-Fi, LTE connectivity including private 5G networks for businesses (4G and 5G) and smartphone handsets. However, they recently began offering intelligent hybrid SD WAN services, combining public internet access (DIA) with MPLS. Verizon has spent 15 consecutive years as a Global Network Services Leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant. Verizon provides managed networks in 150 countries.
What are the Pros & Cons of Verizon SD WAN & SASE Cybersecurity?
List of the pros and cons associated with Verizon SD WAN and SASE security.
Verizon Pros & Cons
| wdt_ID | wdt_created_by | wdt_created_at | wdt_last_edited_by | wdt_last_edited_at | Pros | Cons |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | hyelland | 04/11/2024 03:54 PM | hyelland | 04/11/2024 03:54 PM | ✓ Vendor Neutral Offering: Allows clients the capability to select the right solution for their business needs. | ❌ Cisco Focus: Verizon have a big focus on Cisco which may mean weaker options across their other SD WAN partnerships. |
| 2 | hyelland | 04/11/2024 03:54 PM | hyelland | 04/11/2024 03:54 PM | ✓ Largest Tier-1 Global Backbone: Supports direct Ethernet connectivity worldwide. | ❌ North American-centric SLAs: The Verizon Jitter and Mean Opinion Score SLAs appear to be very North American-centric. |
| 3 | hyelland | 04/11/2024 03:54 PM | hyelland | 04/11/2024 03:54 PM | ✓ Integrated LTE (5G) with SD WAN: Offers lower latency, faster speeds, and increased data volumes. | ❌ Weaker Coverage in Middle East and Africa: Weaker coverage in the Middle East and Africa compared with competitors. |
| 4 | hyelland | 04/11/2024 03:54 PM | hyelland | 04/11/2024 03:54 PM | ✓ First to Launch Commercial 5G Network: Service availability in 47 cities across the United States. | |
| 5 | hyelland | 04/11/2024 03:54 PM | hyelland | 04/11/2024 03:54 PM | ✓ Global SD-WAN Leadership: Top three place in Vertical Systems Group Mid-2021 Global Provider Carrier Managed SD-WAN Leaderboard. | |
| 6 | hyelland | 04/11/2024 03:54 PM | hyelland | 04/11/2024 03:54 PM | ✓ MEF 3.0 SD WAN Services Certification: Certified for MEF 3.0 SD WAN services. | |
| Pros | Cons |
Comparison: BT vs Verizon SD WAN & security
Consider the points below to compare BT vs Verizon SD WAN and SASE security.
BT vs Verizon Comparison
| wdt_ID | wdt_created_by | wdt_created_at | wdt_last_edited_by | wdt_last_edited_at | BT | Verizon |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | hyelland | 04/11/2024 03:08 PM | hyelland | 04/11/2024 03:08 PM | BT can focus on small/medium enterprises as well as large corporations. | Focuses more on the large enterprise market. |
| 2 | hyelland | 04/11/2024 03:08 PM | hyelland | 04/11/2024 03:08 PM | BT has a higher PoP density across the UK. | Higher PoP density across the Americas. |
| 3 | hyelland | 04/11/2024 03:08 PM | hyelland | 04/11/2024 03:08 PM | Does not offer co-managed SD WAN. | Offers co-managed SD WAN. |
| 4 | hyelland | 04/11/2024 03:08 PM | hyelland | 04/11/2024 03:08 PM | No DIY offering. | No DIY offering. |
| 5 | hyelland | 04/11/2024 03:08 PM | hyelland | 04/11/2024 03:08 PM | Offers a full SASE security solution. | Offers a full SASE solution. |
| BT | Verizon |
What is Verizon's SD-WAN solution?
Verizon leverages their strong integration with Cisco to provide managed and co-managed SD WAN solutions (see, What is the Verizon managed, co-managed and DIY services solution?), using Cisco Meraki and Cisco Viptela. The solution is split into three sections, physical, virtual and cloud. Physical services allow clients to deploy their network from a single universal customer premises equipment (uCPE) device, such as a router (vEdge Series Routers, ISR1000 Series Routers, ISR4000 Series Routers or ASR1000 Series Router). Virtual services are available for Cisco platforms designed for virtualisation, using Verizon uCPE, Verizon Hosted Network Services (HNS) and Cisco ENCS. Finally, cloud-based services allow clients to connect to private and public cloud services to optimize SaaS applications. This includes Verizon Secure Cloud Interconnect, Cloud OnRamp for SaaS (Office 365, Google, SFDC), Cloud OnRamp for public clouds such as AWS, Azure and Google Cloud.
Despite strong connections with Cisco, Verizon also offers SD WAN from VeloCloud (VMware) and Fortinet. Their global IP backbone offers connection via 32 network-based SD WAN gateways in a wide range of locations worldwide.
Clients can choose to deploy their network via a single universal Customer Premises Equipment (uCPE) device, or from a cloud-based virtual Customer Premises Equipment (vCPE) device, or a combination of both. WAN is available with bandwidth on-demand for Ethernet, MPLS, Internet and cloud connectivity.
Verizon SD WAN solutions are designed to combine public and private networks to automate traffic flow and boost bandwidth. The product is available in three different services packages: Essential, which offers basic WAN routing services; Core, which includes all services from Essential but with more granular features; and Complete, combination of all Core services with added WAN routing features to support critical locations and applications. All products are available as managed services and can support Verizon 5G LTE across SD WAN networks. Verizon offer a SaaS delivery model through HPE Aruba’s Unity EdgeConnect platform to integrate WAN optimization and SD WAN in a single solution.
Configuration-Based Key Features:
- QoS: Uses public and private WAN traffic to prioritize specific applications within a WAN circuit.
- uCPE: SD WAN services can be deployed via uCPE, which has routing, security and WAN optimization capabilities.
- vCPE: SD WAN services can also be deployed via a cloud-based vCPE.
- Vendor Neutral: Clients can choose services from different vendors, tailoring their solution to suit their needs.
- Global IP Backbone: Includes 32 network-based gateways worldwide, offering connectivity to a wide number of locations.
Security-Based Key Features:
- Verizon offer a range of managed security services as well as SASE.
Performance-Based Key Features:
- Network Orchestration: Offered as a managed service, Verizon’s network orchestrator is deployed via a uCPE box. Clients can deploy centralizedsecurity services from vendors, through the orchestration manager - this can be done without contacting vendors themselves. Network orchestration is available in three options: Service Automation, which delivers Verizon VNS, adapts services to a clients needs and integrates new network functionality; Service Orchestration, automates deployment and policy management whilst coordinating SD WAN, VNS and session border control; and Service Virtualisation which enables rapid VNF onboarding and testing whilst simplifying infrastructure management.
- WAN Optimization and Application Acceleration: See, Does Verizon offer WAN acceleration and optimization?
What is Verizon's SASE solution?
Verizon offer SASE and managed security via their vendor partners. Their managed security offering has a number of features, but has a great focus on SASE and distributed denial of service (DDoS) Shielding:
- SASE: Verizon’s SASE offering includes cloud-based secure web gateways (SWGs) and zero trust network access (ZTNA). This protects networks from internet threats, enforcement of internet policies, and prevents data loss across all company locations and devices. This is also provided in remote locations and is supported by security operations centers (SOCs) and network operations centers (NOCs).
- DDoS shielding: Designed to prevent DDoS attacks by redirecting inbound traffic to scrubbing centers, where it is analyzed and sent back to the network once it is confirmed to be legitimate. This is cloud-based and leverages Verizon Digital Media Service infrastructure - a group of analysts that help to prevent security attacks, allowing DDoS shielding to work from a large scale. The service is available across North America, including Canda, Europe, United Kingdom and APAC.
- Managed Security: Offers endpoint security which keeps policies aligned whilst preventing malware and ransomeware; web application firewall (WAF) which filters, monitors and blocks suspicious HTTP traffic targeting vulnerabilities in web applications to prevent attacks such as: cross-site scripting (XSS), SQL injection (SGLi) and DDoS. This minimizes downtime and vulnerabilities caused by cyberattacks or web application change events.
- Remote Security: Business Mobile Secure is a bundle package of mobile device security tools, which are used to keep remote devices secure - good for remote workers or locations.
- Domain Name System (DNS) Safeguard: A cloud-based DNS security solution which is good for blocking connections between users and insecure websites, as well as remote workers and branch offices that do not use a VPN to connect directly to the internet.
How does Verizon access cloud vendors?
Verizon is able to access cloud vendors through a secure cloud interconnect and CSR 1000v cloud router. Verizon Cloud allows users to connect to both private and public cloud services and optimization for SaaS applications. Verizon provide a cloud onramp for SaaS applications such as Office 365, Google and SFDC as well as an onramp to public clouds including: AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud, and colocation. As a cloud interconnect service, Verizon utilizes nine major cloud providers located in 27 cities around the world to access their cloud services. Verizon’s Cloud Interconnect is supported by Cisco Cloudlock for cybersecurity and a cloud native cloud access security broker (CASB), these features offer protection for cloud data, users and applications.