Small business▼−6Since September 2026: 10% → 4%, −6 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.
4%from 10% in September 2026
Inside the floor by 5 pointsRank 4 → 5 of 69
Cisco · 2 categories · RankedCisco Catalyst SD-WAN
136Judge labels
31First choices
40Negative labels
14 / 14Models named it
2Categories
October 2026 Edition. Every number here is derived from the raw labels under vendor table v2026-10.8, every buyer segment counted.
Best standing
50% in SD-WAN for enterprise buyers
Rank 3 of 73 in the mid-market standingcriticized challenger
0 of 14 models made it the first choice on the direct prompt; 32% of its 40 labels there were negative.
What the models named instead of Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN →By buyer segmentStrongest at enterprise.
Small business5 of 71
6%31 labels
criticized challenger
Mid-market3 of 73
10%40 labels
criticized challenger
Enterprise1 of 52
50%63 labels
endorsed leader
In sd-wan · each standing computed within its segment · bars are 0 to 100 · the accent bar is the product's own best reading
Standing by category
Every category where a model named Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN for a mid-market B2B company. Share is first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts; rank is within every product named in that category.
| Category | Function | Share | Rank | Negative rate | Labels | Quadrant | Since September 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SD-WAN | Network and edge | 10% | 3 of 73 | 32% | 40 | criticized challenger | =heldSince September 2026: 9% → 9%, ±0 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked. |
| SASE platforms | Network and edge | 0% | 28 of 45 | 0% | 1 | under 10 labels · led by Cato Networks at 35% | goneNot named this edition; 0% in September 2026. |
Movement
Since September 2026, Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN held within the floor in all two categories: no change cleared 11 points.
Best category · SD-WAN · by segment
Mid-market=heldSince September 2026: 9% → 9%, ±0 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.
9%from 9% in September 2026
Inside the floor by 11 pointsRank 3 of 67, unchanged
Enterprise▲+6Since September 2026: 45% → 51%, +6 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.
51%from 45% in September 2026
Inside the floor by 5 pointsRank 1 of 48, unchanged
All categories · Mid-market
| Category | September 2026 | Now | Change | Reading | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SD-WAN | 9% | 9% | =heldSince September 2026: 9% → 9%, ±0 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked. | Within noise | Rank 3 of 73, unchanged |
| SASE | 0% | 0% | =heldSince September 2026: 0% → 0%, ±0 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked. | Within noise | Rank 36 → 28 of 45 |
Shares here are read over the models both editions asked, so they can differ by a point or two from the standing above, which counts every model in this edition.
The floor is 11 points of share, measured: how far the models move a leader on their own when the same questions are asked twice with nothing changed. A larger change is movement; a smaller one is noise, and both are shown. Movement is read over the twelve models both editions asked; GPT-6 Luna, Muse Glimmer 30B joined this edition and are in the standing but not yet in the comparison. How the floor is measured · The editions
By model
How each model treated Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN across every prompt where it was named for a mid-market B2B company. Fourteen models, six prompts per category.ShowHide
By model
How each model treated Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN across every prompt where it was named for a mid-market B2B company. Fourteen models, six prompts per category.
ShowHide| Model | First choice | Alternative | Mention | Negative | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Haiku 4.5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| GPT-5.4 mini | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Gemini 3.5 Flash | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Perplexity Sonar | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 |
| Grok 4.20 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Mistral Small | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 |
| DeepSeek V4 Flash | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| Llama 4 Maverick | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 5 |
| Qwen 3.7 Flash | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Kimi K2 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| GLM 4.7 FlashX | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| MiniMax M2.5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| GPT-6 Luna | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Muse Glimmer 30B | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
By framing
Which of the six questions produced the naming. By model says how often; this says asked what. The first-choice count on the right carries the marks of the models that produced it.
FramingLabels by classFirst choices
Direct22 labels9
Paraphrase25 labels13
Comparative27 labels6not counted in share
Budget-constrained23 labels8
Scale-constrained10 labels1
Negative29 labels2not counted in share
First choiceAlternativeMentionNegative136 labels in all, every segment counted; 31 of the 39 first choices count toward share, since the comparative and negative framings do not. The bar is one segment per label class, to scale within the framing.
What the models said for it
Verbatim evidence the judge attached to positive labels.
“Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN: An enterprise-grade software-defined WAN platform that simplifies wide-area networking across distributed environments.” Llama 4 Maverick · SD-WAN · paraphrase prompt · first choice
“Cisco SD-WAN: A cloud-managed or on-premise solution that offers comprehensive routing, security, and policy control” Llama 4 Maverick · SD-WAN · paraphrase prompt · first choice
“the best SD-WAN choice is often Cisco SD-WAN (Viptela), because it is listed as the lowest-cost option” Perplexity Sonar · SD-WAN · budget prompt · first choice
“| 1 | Cisco Catalyst SD‑WAN (formerly Viptela) | ... proven scalability; extensive automation” GLM 4.7 FlashX · SD-WAN · comparative prompt · first choice
And against it
Verbatim evidence attached to negative labels. A warning on a product with few labels is a warning; on a product with many, it is one voice among them.
“Some network engineers advise avoiding it entirely ("wouldn't recommend Viptela to my worst enemy")” MiniMax M2.5 · SD-WAN · negative prompt · hard negative
“Several industry sources now advise against Viptela, citing declining quality and poor support” Mistral Small · SD-WAN · negative prompt · hard negative
“one Reddit user advises against exploring Viptela” Llama 4 Maverick · SD-WAN · negative prompt · hard negative
“avoid Viptela for mid-market” Gemini 3.5 Flash · SD-WAN · direct prompt · hard negative
Named alongside
The products named in the same answers as Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN, over the 134 answers that named it. Took the first choice instead counts the answers where the other product was the first choice and Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN was named but was not.ShowHide
Named alongside
The products named in the same answers as Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN, over the 134 answers that named it. Took the first choice instead counts the answers where the other product was the first choice and Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN was named but was not.
ShowHideProductSame answerTook the first choice insteadHead to head
A head-to-head page exists where both products are among a category's top eight. The other rows are the same fact without a page behind them, so they link to the product instead.
What carried it into the answer
The sites and pages cited by the answers that named Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN. A fact about retrieval, not a lever on the model.
Citations exist only for the models that return a source list, five of the fourteen in this edition, so these counts come from 129 of the 134 answers that named Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN and are not a share of its labels.
Domains cited
guideflow.com84
cisco.comYour site61
g2.com53
fortinet.com51
gartner.com47
interfacesystems.com42
it-ai-index.com42
peerspot.com42
cio.economictimes.indiatimes.com35
datacipher.com30
426 of the 487 domain citations in answers naming Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN came from somebody else's page.
Pages cited
Pages are listed as the models cited them.
Search and answers
Where Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN stands in Google search beside where it stands in the models' answers.ShowHide
Search and answers
Where Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN stands in Google search beside where it stands in the models' answers.
ShowHideIn search
Google, US estimates- Searches for its name, Google
- 720 a month (“cisco catalyst sd-wan”)
- AI search demand for its name, est.
- 9 a month
- Its own site
- It sits on Cisco's site (cisco.com), so there are no site figures for it alone
In answers
This editionShare of first choices
10%
rank 3 of 73 in SD-WAN
Segment leader
50%
Fortinet Secure SD-WAN
- First choices
- 31 across its categories
- Named in
- 134 answers
- Its own site cited
- in 129 of the answers that named it
Search figures are US estimates from DataForSEO, read September 28, 2026; AI search demand is its modeled, directional estimate, not a count of queries to any assistant. The answers are this edition's. Two measurements side by side: neither is read as the cause of the other.
Names read as Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN
What the judge wrote, as written, with how often. The vendor table decides that these count as Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN; a claim can dispute any of them.
Cisco SD-WAN (Viptela) 5Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN (formerly Viptela) 4Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN (Viptela) 2Cisco SD-WAN 2Cisco Viptela 2Catalyst SD-WAN 1Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN (formerly Viptela) & Cisco Meraki 1Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN (vManage) 1Cisco Catalyst SD‑WAN 1Cisco SD-WAN (formerly Viptela) 1Cisco SD-WAN / Catalyst SD-WAN Manager 1Cisco SD-WAN / Viptela 1Cisco Secure Access + Catalyst SD-WAN 1Cisco Viptela/Catalyst SD-WAN 1Cisco's current Catalyst SD-WAN options 1Viptela 1Viptela (Cisco SD-WAN) 1
Follow Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN
An email the morning each edition publishes: where this product moved, where it held, and by how much against the noise floor. One address, confirmed by a click; a stop link in every email.
Already following? Everything you follow, with a stop for each.
The company
Cisco is the company behind Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN.ShowHide
The company
Cisco is the company behind Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN.
ShowHideOn record
Company records- Also from Cisco
- Cisco ACE, Cisco ACI, Cisco ACI / Tetration, Cisco AI Defense, Cisco ASA/Firepower, Cisco AnyConnect, Cisco AppDynamics, Cisco Application Centric Infrastructure and 68 more
In its own words
Stated by the vendor, not checked- Positioning
- We are urgently seeking a Cisco SD WAN Engineer to lead a mission-critical Viptela to IOS-XE SD WAN migration for a Fortune 500 client.
- For
- Fortune 500 client
- Certifications
- Cisco SD-WAN certifications
- Not stated on the pages read
- Price, starting price, free plan or trial, integrations, hosting, customers
What Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN's own pages state, read September 28, 2026: talentbridge.cisco.com/job/cisco-sd-wan-engineer-56524, talentbridge.cisco.com/job/senior-wired-network-engineer-design-implementation-cisco-sd-wan-56544. A claimed page can correct any of them.
Is this your product?
Claim this page
Claiming is free and changes nothing in the data. A claimed page shows a verified contact who is told when each edition publishes and when Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN's standing changes by more than the noise floor; the right to propose corrections to the vendor table, meaning names the judge wrote that should or should not read as Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN, applied by version and listed in the change log; and a one-line description supplied by the vendor and marked as such.
What a new claim receivesHide what a new claim receives
A new claim receives the current edition's vendor brief for Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN by email, built from the raw record of the edition. It shows:
- where Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN is named, by buyer and by framing, and which cells hold its first choices;
- the claims the models make when they name it, ranked, with the strongest and the weakest quoted;
- its vocabulary against the segment leader's, and the pages the models cited;
- who was chosen in the answers that did not name Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN, and every reason the record gives;
- a battlecard for each top rival: the head-to-head split, why they win, and the reservation quoted against them;
- one page of published figures cleared to show a buyer.
Badges
Wins only: a badge exists where Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN is ranked in a category's top three this edition. Three sizes, one file each, light and dark; the code is under each.ShowHide
Badges
Wins only: a badge exists where Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN is ranked in a category's top three this edition. Three sizes, one file each, light and dark; the code is under each.
ShowHideCisco Catalyst SD-WAN is among the products AI models recommend first in SD-WAN this edition. Each badge says so in the buyer's words, names the edition, and links to the standing. The next edition issues a new badge; this one stays true as a record of October 2026.
Wide · 320 × 104 Website, beside other badges
Square · 240 × 240 LinkedIn, slides
Compact · 200 × 56 Email signature, footer
Badges read on light and dark pages. Alt text carries the claim, the category, the edition and the index, so it stays a citation where the image does not load.