Magic Quadrant for Managed Network Services

Managed Network Services Vendor Product Comparisons 2024

Key features and pros and cons of top Managed Network Services products:

Accenture - Leader

Pros:

Solution orientation: Accenture's MNS offering enables customers to establish and strengthen alignment across LAN, WAN and security.
Extensible: Accenture's MNS offerings extend options for private Long Term Evolution (LTE) and 5G network-enabled mobility use cases.
Security differentiation: Accenture's Secure Programmable Network offering expedites the deployment of multiple MNS services by providing automation within the vendor's Cloud Network Operator (CNO) platform.

Cons:

Integration gap: Accenture currently does not perform case management in IT service management (ITSM) systems, so it does not integrate with customer ITSM.
Scope: Accenture has demonstrated diminished interest in narrow-scope MNS opportunities, such as single offer category opportunities with relatively narrow impact to achieving enterprise objectives.
Security portfolio: Accenture's NAC offering is less mature and behind some others in this research.

ATSG - Leader

Pros:

Integrations: ATSG continues to expand its wholly owned service delivery platform (SDP) capabilities with integrations to third-party AI platforms.
End-user experience: ATSG's end-user experience monitoring for enterprise on-premises and cloud-based applications performance is in the top quartile, compared with others in this research.
Security roadmap: With an emphasis on security orchestration, automation and response (SOAR), xSOAR and AI, ATSG has strong future plans for MNS security improvements.

Cons:

Platform: The vendor offers a co-management option for enterprises that may create conflicts with its core MNS platform development priorities.
Security portfolio: ATSG's threat detection and response capabilities are not as developed as the majority of its other service offerings.
Brand awareness: Enterprise awareness of ATSG's brand is limited compared to other Leaders and has been further diminished by other similarly named entities.

AT&T - Niche Player

Pros:

SD-WAN: AT&T supports leading SD-WAN vendors within its MNS for WAN services.
Customer ITSM integration: AT&T's MNS platform is integrated with a large number of end-user customers for case management exchange.
Enhanced security: AT&T has demonstrated improvement in the areas of threat correlation and community collaboration, and introduced a no-code custom app builder within its open extended detection and response (XDR) platform USM Anywhere.

Cons:

Operations and support: Some clients report that AT&T subcontracts the delivery of services contracted to other third-party MNS providers. Clients should confirm who is supporting and delivering the managed network services.
Customer experience: AT&T's MNS portal capabilities lag behind most others in this research.
Security maturation: Reporting and SLAs on data integrity and availability within AT&T's managed security services are underdeveloped.

Comcast Business - Niche Player

Pros:

Change management: Compared with other vendors in this research, Comcast Business delivers top-quartile cycle time performance for completing simple and complex move, add, change or delete (MACD) service requests.
Pricing: Comcast Business's MNS pricing is within the top quartile of attractiveness, when compared with others in this research.
Security capabilities improvement: The vendor offers several options for applications and vendor integrations for its NAC solution.

Cons:

Automation: Comcast Business's incident automation performance lags most others in this research.
SLA: Comcast Business's SLA metrics for MNS are incomplete, compared with most others in this research.
Security roadmap: Comcast does not plan to add security capabilities to its SD-WAN during the next 12 to 18 months.

HCLTech - Leader

Pros:

MNS: Customers report that HCLTech's overall MNS capabilities are high-performing, compared with others in this research.
LAN: The vendor has completed its planned microsegmentation support as a part of its focus on OT security use cases.
MNS for security: HCLTech demonstrates strong key capabilities for MNS for security, including performance optimization, resilience and redundancy.

Cons:

SD-WAN/SASE: HCLTech's progress on achieving a multivendor unified policy model lags behind some leaders in this research.
Pricing: HCLTech's MNS pricing is higher than some leaders in this research.
SWG strategy: HCLTech's vision for enhancing secure web gateway (SWG) is minimal compared with competitors.

Hughes - Leader

Pros:

API: Hughes has added API integrations that incorporate business application visibility and alert fidelity to its customers' help desk operations.
Incident cycle time: Hughes deploys an active power distribution unit (PDU) that enables reduction of specific incident-detection cycle times to one minute.
Security integration: Hughes' managed NAC can integrate with an extensive number of vendors and applications.

Cons:

SD-WAN: Hughes' portfolio of market-leading SD-WAN OEMs is smaller than most other vendors in this research.
Case management integrations: Most customers are not two-way integrated for case management from their internal ITSM tool with Hughes' SDP.
Security OS: Hughes lacks a programmatic approach for security OS management and maintenance.

Kyndryl - Niche Player

Pros:

LAN: Kyndryl's MNS for LAN endpoint coverage is more extensive than most others in this research.
Portal: Kyndryl's improved end-user portal provides customers with a uniform experience and ease of navigation.
Security portfolio: Kyndryl is focused on improving capabilities for responding to new regulations and audits, while preparing customers for the next generation of threats.

Cons:

Support and operations: Some clients report that Kyndryl often subcontracts the delivery of managed network services contracted to other third-party MNS providers. Clients should confirm who is supporting and delivering the managed services.
Pricing: Kyndryl's firewall pricing is among the highest of the vendors evaluated in this research.
SD-WAN security: Kyndryl MNS offer for SD-WAN security is less complete than most others in this research.

Lumen - Niche Player

Pros:

Committed investments: Lumen's MNS investments remain its focus, including services packaging, automation and customer experience (CX).
SD-WAN: In the past year, Lumen added hosted gateway support for Versa and Fortinet.
Digital transformation: Digital purchasing and provisioning is a plus for many down-market customers, and the integration of Rapid Threat Defense differentiates Lumen from some of its competitors.

Cons:

MNS pricing: Lumen's MNS pricing is higher than most other vendors evaluated in this research.
Market understanding: Lumen lacks market-focused execution of its MNS platform capabilities by offering fragmented levels of support options across its MNS offers.
Lack of NAC: Lumen does not provide NAC, focusing instead on zero-trust network access (ZTNA), which may not be suitable for all use cases.

MetTel - Leader

Pros:

Customer-centric SASE/SSE: MetTel provides a strong approach to rightsizing appropriate SSE or SASE implementations.
Improved cycle time: MetTel added an automated PDU that reduces incident detection cycle time for LAN and WAN endpoints.
Managed POTS transformation: MetTel has a large-scale digital transformation solution for managing and automating analog infrastructure life cycle extensibility.

Cons:

Pricing: MetTel's MNS pricing is higher than most other vendors evaluated in this research.
Business application mapping: MetTel's portal visibility scope does not include application-to-infrastructure service mapping.
SD-WAN security operations: MetTel's secure SD-WAN OEM vendors' support options lag behind some others in this research.

Microland - Leader

Pros:

Manufacturing: Microland is a leading performer in this research for factory MNS, including IT/OT/IIoT integration, microsegmentation and policy-based segmentation.
Complete offers: Nearly all Microland customers procure all three of the vendor's MNS offerings.
Firewall capabilities: Microland added significant capabilities to its firewall offering, including AI, automated compliance and a reduction in provisioning time due to adopting a NetDevOps approach.

Cons:

Market awareness: Microland's brand awareness for MNS is relatively low among global enterprise buyers.
Pricing: Microland's MNS pricing overall is average, as compared with others in this research.
Security processes: Microland's maintenance of the security OS processes are lacking discipline with change management.

NTT DATA - Leader

Pros:

Pricing: NTT DATA customers report high satisfaction with the vendor's pricing for MNS.
Upgraded SDP: NTT DATA has delivered improved customer outcomes across cycle time performance and portal visibility during the past 12 to 18 months.
Security: NTT DATA rapid detection, response and remediation via threat- and incident-specific playbooks.

Cons:

Responsiveness: NTT DATA's incident response cycle time is longer than most others in this research.
Customized to standardized MNS migrations: Enterprises that are aligning their services to NTT DATA's standardization of MNS delivery should govern closely to ensure that quality is maintained.
NAC integration: NTT DATA has minimal application integrations available for NAC.

Presidio - Niche Player

Pros:

Portal: To deliver a unified experience, Presidio is improving its portal features, navigation and reporting for customers.
Life cycle provider: Customers value Presidio for its ability to partner with them across their enterprise networking and security life cycles.
Security controls: NAC and ZTNA operations for mixed environments are a key differentiator.

Cons:

Integrations: Presidio's customer integrations to its ITSM platform for case management and configuration management database (CMDB) continue to lag behind other vendors evaluated in this research.
Pricing: Presidio's MNS pricing is among the highest, compared with others in this research.
Security approach: Presidio's overall security approach is less comprehensive in both vision and execution and, therefore, is lacking compared with competitors.

Sify Technologies - Niche Player

Pros:

OEM expansion: Sify Technologies is enabling unified management for Cisco SD-WAN and SD Access support capabilities.
Portal: Sify Technologies is investing in a more integrated and navigable view of service status, performance reports and service request management.
Security offerings: Sify Technologies provides consistent performance across security categories, with availability management and data integrity management specifically cited as better than most others in this research.

Cons:

Automation: Sify Technologies' performance with first contact resolution (FCR)-automated incident resolution lags behind other vendors evaluated in this research.
Pricing: Sify Technologies' market prices for MNS do not align with downward trends in the market, especially for firewall management.
NAC integrations: Sify Technologies does not enable integrations of security tools into its NAC environment.

Systal - Niche Player

Pros:

Portal: Systal's MNS end-user portal provides a simple ease of navigation experience for its customers.
Integrations: The number of SDP integrations with customers' ITSM that Systal provides is among the highest of vendors evaluated in this research.
Security: Systal's managed secure SD-WAN capabilities exceed most others in this research.

Cons:

Limited geographic focus: Systal's customer base is primarily in Europe and most purchase MNS for LAN.
Automation: Systal's zero-touch incident management network automation FCR performance lags compared to others evaluated in this research.
Availability management: The vendor's availability management execution lags behind in its vision because it relies primarily on integration with ITSM reporting.

TCS - Challenger

Pros:

Pricing: TCS' pricing for enterprise buyers is lower than most providers in this research.
Predictive analytics: TCS' MNS for LAN predictive analytics increases the vendor's proactive operations performance and capacity-tuning insights, resulting in higher preincident remediation.
SD-WAN security: TCS provides strong SD-WAN security execution overall.

Cons:

SD-WAN: TCS' capabilities across managed SD-WAN assurance-focused service elements lags some others in this research.
Incident classification: TCS' "before" and "after" incident classification lacks granular specificity, which hinders continual service improvement automations.
MNS for security: SD-WAN security execution progress in MNS for security is lagging behind many others in this research.

Telefónica - Niche Player

Pros:

Pricing: Telefónica customers' satisfaction with pricing ranks among the highest of the vendors evaluated in this research.
Service mapping: Telefónica provides an integrated network and security portal experience that includes application service mapping to infrastructure elements.
SD-WAN security: Telefónica's SD-WAN embedded security includes SD-WAN segmentation over a single overlay.

Cons:

Automation: Telefónica's incident resolution performance is lower than most others in this research.
SD-WAN support: Telefónica's quantity of leading OEM support for SD-WAN is lagging most other vendors in this research.
Security operations: Security OS management and maintenance lacks comprehensiveness, because it focuses primarily on server patching.

Wipro - Leader

Pros:

Continual service improvement: Wipro engages directly with customers through a customer collaboration portal to increase the speed of capability delivery.
Incident response: Wipro's FCR performance ranks favorably among other Leaders in this research.
NAC: Wipro offers a complete NAC offering with advanced integration capabilities.

Cons:

Automation progress: Wipro's year-over-year automation performance improvements continue to lag behind the other Leaders in this research.
Onboarding: Wipro customer reports of slow onboarding cycle times after contract execution persist. This can challenge commitments to business stakeholders.
Firewall security: Wipro's added firewall capabilities are minimal and focused on services, rather than firewall capabilities.

FAQs

Q: Which vendors are Leaders in 2024?

A: Accenture, ATSG, HCLTech, Hughes, MetTel, Microland, NTT DATA, Wipro

Q: What does "Leader" mean in MQ terms?

A: A provider in the Leaders quadrant demonstrates the ability to fulfill a broad variety of customer requirements through the breadth of its MNS offerings. Leaders have the ability to shape the market and provide complete and differentiating services, as well as global service and support. Leaders maintain strong relationships with their channels and customers, and have no obvious gaps in their portfolios.

Q: How do I interpret a Gartner Magic Quadrant?

A: https://www.gartner.com/en/research/methodologies/magic-quadrants-research

Report:

Top Vendor Products for Managed Network Services in 2024

Managed Network Services Vendor Product Comparisons 2024

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FAQs

Q: Which vendors are Leaders in 2024?

Q: What does "Leader" mean in MQ terms?

Q: How do I interpret a Gartner Magic Quadrant?

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