Talari Networks seeks market edge with SD-WAN partnership program

Talari Networks acknowledges it can't be successful in the software-defined WAN market by itself. So, the vendor has launched a technology partnership program it hopes will attract tech companies selling WAN optimization appliances, firewalls and other technologies useful to SD-WAN buyers.

Last week, Talari introduced the Unite Technology Alliance to let third-party developers know the vendor is willing to support products that will make its SD-WAN technology more valuable to enterprises.

Talari Networks said it believes the alliance can drive more sales by making it easier for potential customers to mesh the vendor's product in networks that already use technology from alliance members. In addition, Talari can offer potential customers product bundles in which SD-WAN is the core, but not the only, technology.

Talari launched Unite without announcing vendors that have agreed to join the alliance. Talari said those announcements would start in the next two to three weeks.

Talari is offering three levels of membership: silver, gold and platinum. In general, silver lets developers download Talari's technology for testing, but not for commercial use. Gold provides access to Talari labs and discounts on the company's nonvirtualized appliances. Platinum provides additional incentives to companies that have a global customer base.

Talari Networks needs an alliance program because its reseller network and international distribution channel "is not as mature as other players in the market," said Andrew Lerner, an analyst at Gartner.

"Outside of the United States, carriers and managed service providers are a primary route to the enterprise market, and Talari needs to gain traction there," Lerner said.

Talari Networks is one of more than 20 SD-WAN vendors competing in a market that's growing quickly. By the end of 2019, three in 10 enterprises will have deployed SD-WAN technology in their branches, according to Gartner. That's up from less than 1% today.

Talari rivals include Cisco, Citrix, CloudGenix, Silver Peak, VeloCloud, Riverbed and Viptela, which announced last week it had raised $75 million in financing, bringing total funding to $110 million. Redline Capital led the latest round.

Talari Networks introduced its alliance program about a year after announcing a channel partner program, called SMART. Talari said the latest program is focused on building technology alliances, not just reselling agreements.