Orange Business is injecting VMware’s SD-WAN into the carrier’s Evolution Platform, making it easier for Enterprise customers to add a software-defined networking (SDN) component to their operations.

The VMware SD-WAN integration is the first for Orange Business’s Evolution Platform. This platform allows Enterprise customers to “compose” their own services through a self-service console or an Application Programming Interface, which can also be used to service chain those offerings, with those services managed by Orange with service level agreements.

Laurent Perrin, director for overlay connectivity solutions at Orange Business, told SDxCentral in an interview that this network management encompasses Orange’s different connectivity options across fixed and wireless “modalities.”

Perrin explained that the VMware gateway will be deployed and hosted in Orange’s points of presence (PoPs). Those PoPs, which also house Orange’s Evolution Platform, number around 50 today, with plans to expand that to more than 100 over the next year.

“The idea is to be very close to the user on one side ... to optimize the performance of the last mile,” Perrin said. “And on the other side, it’s to be close to the cloud and the destination.”

Perrin added that the service should be appealing to edge-focused operations like manufacturing and retail. “Making the link between SD-WAN and edge applications and bringing what is in our DNA: the capability to deliver performance to the edge,” he said.

Abe Ankumah, VP and GM for VMware’s SD-WAN and SASE business, explained that this deployment simplicity is what makes the partnership unique.

“Traditionally, when people have consumed branch networking or access networking at the edge, being able to do it in this digital fashion has not been possible. The day-zero, the day-one and the day-operations somewhere along the line requires some type of a truck roll, somewhere along the line requires some type of human intervention ... having someone on site,” Ankumah said. “The launch shortens or streamlines a lot of that out of the way. How do you bring the same models that we've all gotten used to when it comes to adopting public cloud? How do you bring some of these capabilities to the edge around connectivity, and then tie it to the Evolution Platform that has a set of additional services that can service chain ... and how do you make this available in a very digital and easy-to-consume fashion.”

Both also talked about the ease in service chaining services together, with a specific focus on security components to form a security services edge (SSE). These applications can be either from VMware or from a different security vendor.

The deal bolsters what is already viewed as an industry leading managed offering from Orange Business.

ISG earlier this year labeled the carrier as a “leader” across the five sectors the research firm tracks: managed SD-WAN, SDN transformation services, Enterprise networks technology and service suppliers, edge technologies and services, and secure access service edge (SASE) solutions and services. AT&T and Verizon Business were also tagged as leaders by ISG.

Vertical Systems Group came to a similar conclusion, ranking Orange, AT&T and Verizon Business as the three top global providers of carrier-managed SD-WAN services. That ranking was based on global market share outside of a provider’s home country.

Orange earlier this year snared Palo Alto Networks to launch a a cloud-native, fully managed SASE service. That deal packaged SD-WAN and SSE from Palo Alto Networks’ Prisma SASE with network and digital integration features from Orange Business and Managed Secure Access service from Orange Cyberdefense.

The VMware integration also adds a powerful ally for Orange Business.

Gartner recently placed the vendor in the “leaders” quadrant of its latest SD-WAN vendor ranking alongside rivals like Fortinet, Cisco, Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE)-Aruba, Versa Networks and Palo Alto Networks. VMware was lauded for having a strong product roadmap, customer experience and market visibility.

IDC came to a similar conclusion.

Despite the accolades, Ankumah added that this deal is significant for the vendor.

“Given the fact that the Evolution Platform and integration and our integration with that platform allows a customer to consume connectivity services, really through a few mouse clicks, is very unique and something that …is the first of its kind in terms of what was done with a partner,” Ankumah said. “When you then tie it into everything that we've seen in the industry in terms of the software-defined edge, it's more than connectivity, it's more than SD-WAN. SD-WAN really acts as an on-ramp to other security and edge services. … When they can be brought online very quickly, when they can be service chained to a platform like the Evolution Platform, it allows the customer to consume newer services. … It leads to improving the delivery of a set of new services ... to meet the business needs as they become more and more digital.”