Here's Who Made Gartner's 2016 Global Network Services Magic Quadrant

Leader: Verizon

Strengths: Telecom heavyweight Verizon's extensive global network and broad portfolio of managed network services solidified its leadership position. Verizon offers hybrid networking with managed SD-WAN and bandwidth on-demand capabilities similar to SDN, and the provider plans to add NFV-based security services to its portfolio this year. Verizon's Secure Cloud Interconnect offering provides MPLS and Ethernet connectivity to a wide range of cloud providers in multiple regions.

Weaknesses: Verizon has to work on improving its service delivery and support, an initiative the provider said it is already pursuing, Rickard said. Customers have also cited price confusion between its Rapid Delivery services and legacy services. Compared with fellow leaders, Verizon's coverage of the Middle East and Africa is not as extensive, the report said.