Announcing The Forrester Wave™ On Extended Detection And Response Platforms: Platformization, AI, And … AI

2026-06-25 · Source: Featured Blogs - Forrester · Field: Technology & Digital — Cybersecurity & Data Privacy, Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning, Emerging Technologies & Innovation · Depth: Intermediate, quick

Summary

Forrester has released "The Forrester Wave™: Extended Detection And Response Platforms, Q2 2026," the third iteration of its XDR Wave. This year's report, following versions in 2021 and 2024, features significant changes. Only seven vendors were invited—Bitdefender, CrowdStrike, Elastic, Microsoft, Palo Alto Networks, SentinelOne, and TrendAI—down from 11 and 14 in prior years, to focus on market differentiation. New detection surfaces like identity and cloud, along with threat intelligence, were added as crucial criteria. The report also highlights the increased reality of SIEM replacement features, exemplified by Microsoft's unified Defender XDR and Sentinel experience. Furthermore, AI agents and agentic systems now have separate evaluation criteria, emphasizing their role in security operations and the importance of vendor testing strategies.

Key takeaway

For AI Security Engineers evaluating Extended Detection and Response (XDR) platforms, recognize the market's shift towards consolidation and specialized detection. Prioritize solutions that deeply integrate identity and cloud security, offer robust, native threat intelligence, and demonstrate proven AI agent validation strategies. Your selection should account for XDR's increasing role in SIEM replacement, ensuring a unified analyst experience and comprehensive coverage across evolving threat landscapes.

Key insights

The XDR market is maturing, consolidating vendors, expanding detection surfaces, and integrating advanced AI and SIEM replacement capabilities.

Principles

• XDR platforms consolidate diverse security domains.
• Identity and cloud are critical detection surfaces.
• AI agent validation differentiates security tools.

Topics

• Extended Detection and Response
• Threat Intelligence
• AI Agents
• SIEM Replacement
• Cloud Security
• Identity Security

Best for: CTO, VP of Engineering/Data, AI Security Engineer, Consultant, Director of AI/ML

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Editorial summary, takeaway, and curation by AIssential. Original article published by Featured Blogs - Forrester.