Secure SD-WAN at Accelerate 2025 | Accelerate25

### Overview Recorded live from the tech expo at Fortinet Accelerate 2025, this discussion explores the enduring relevance of SD-WAN amidst the industry shift toward SASE (Secure Access Service Edge). The speaker explains how Fortinet approaches SD-WAN not as a standalone, decoupled networking technology or an obsolete predecessor, but as an essential, core access foundation of SASE and secure networking.

### Key Topics - **SD-WAN vs. SASE:** Addressing whether SD-WAN is at risk of becoming obsolete, the speaker clarifies that SD-WAN is more critical than ever because it provides the core access component connecting remote users and customer sites into a SASE architecture. - **Secure SD-WAN vs. Standard SD-WAN:** Fortinet treats networking and security as inseparable. Rather than decoupling them, security is treated as a foundational baseline across all connectivity, whether site-to-site or site-to-SASE. - **Market Validation:** Fortinet highlights being recognized as a Gartner Leader in the space for four consecutive years.

### Technical Details Fortinet's SD-WAN architecture is characterized by key design principles: - **Decentralization and Autonomous Operation:** Unlike solutions requiring continuous dependence on a remote centralized controller thousands of miles away, each SD-WAN device can function fully autonomously. - **Flexible Security Consumption:** Customers can choose how they consume security—either locally on-box or cloud-delivered via FortiSASE. - **Packaging and Management:** Secure SD-WAN functionality is fully included without licensing costs across all FortiGate appliances. In addition, centralized management via FortiManager includes the overlay orchestrator built-in at no extra charge.

### Takeaways - SD-WAN remains a core access foundation for broader SASE architectures rather than a competing or obsolete technology. - Secure SD-WAN provides autonomous edge survivability without continuous external controller dependencies. - Fortinet includes full SD-WAN capabilities and overlay orchestration natively in FortiGate and FortiManager without separate licensing fees.