SASE consolidates security solutions into a single service, decreasing the number of third-party products IT teams must purchase, manage, and monitor. It leads to time savings, integration benefits, and simplified network management.
This model provides identity-based, zero-trust access policies at the edge of your network. This approach inspects users, devices, and applications for security using their IP address, user identity, and request context.
Security
With more business functions now hosted outside the enterprise data center – in IaaS providers, cloud applications, and SaaS solutions – existing networking approaches don’t provide the level of security and access control digital organizations need. This new work model demands immediate, uninterrupted access to enterprise systems and services from remote users and branch offices worldwide.
Traditional network architectures force traffic to go back and forth between data centers, which leads to latency and inefficiency. What is SASE architecture do? The SASE architecture decouples networking and security services from the underlying network, meaning application traffic can be routed directly to its destination without passing through multiple servers, devices, and virtual network functions (VNFs). It simplifies management, reduces overhead, cuts latency, and significantly improves performance.
SASE also supports identity-based and zero-trust networking that grants access based on context and user, not just location and device. It makes it easier for IT to enforce policies at the edge and allows them to scale up or down as business needs change.
The ability to deliver FWaaS as part of SASE makes it easier for IT to set uniform policies and spot anomalies, especially for cloud applications outside the corporate firewall that don’t have the same visibility. It is a crucial reason why Cato Networks has built its SASE platform to include CASB.
Scalability
As the work-from-anywhere movement continues to gain momentum, enterprises need a secure way for employees to connect to applications and data hosted in the cloud. Traditional hub-and-spoke architectures can’t handle the load, nor can they protect remote users and devices. SASE offers a solution by combining network and security functions into a single service delivered over the Internet.
The cloud-delivered model of SASE makes it easier for IT to manage because it shifts up-front capital expenses to monthly subscription fees and reduces the number of physical and virtual branch office appliances and software agents that IT must purchase, configure, and maintain. It also simplifies security because policies are set centrally and enforced at the edge rather than rerouting traffic through the data center.
SASE combines networking and security services in an architecture that uses distributed points of presence (PoPs) to deliver low latency. This approach eliminates the need for rerouting and reduces the cost of networking equipment, bandwidth, and data storage. It also allows SASE to be scalable, so you can increase capacity and performance as your business grows.
To be considered a SASE provider, a vendor must offer a comprehensive suite of integrated networking and security features deployed across multiple PoPs globally to ensure low latency in any location. It should also offer an intuitive, simple-to-use management platform that combines all services into one cohesive offering instead of a collection of point solutions.
Performance
Modern digital businesses require immediate and uninterrupted access to cloud applications, software-as-a-service, branch offices, and remote users. Legacy hub-and-spoke architectures can’t tolerate the increased bandwidth demands. SASE scales with the business to meet these challenges, making work-from-anywhere possible while maintaining enterprise-level security across all networks and devices.
A SASE deployment requires a global network with many points of presence (PoPs) to deliver low latency wherever your users are. A SASE provider should also have extensive peering relationships to ensure consistent performance.
In addition to delivering low latency, SASE provides secure, direct access to your applications by inspecting traffic at the network’s edge instead of in your data center. It reduces the amount of information sent over the network, reducing your exposure to threats and improving performance.
SASE enables you to deploy Zero-Trust Access Networks (ZTNA) to provide network access based on identity and context, not IP address or physical location. It provides protection unavailable with virtual private networks (VPNs) and other security approaches.
A SASE platform should offer a consolidated view of the network and security to help you spot risks that wouldn’t be visible in siloed systems. This centralized approach helps improve efficiency and eliminates turf wars between networking and security teams. It should also allow for more effective use of existing security tools.
Deployment
As a unified service, SASE cuts complexity and costs for enterprises. It requires fewer hardware devices on site, and central access to data allows IT teams to run holistic behavior analytics to spot threats that wouldn’t be possible in siloed systems.
SASE also uses edge processing to boost performance. The network connects users worldwide with the lowest latency and most direct path, resulting in a faster and more stable experience for end-users. It also supports cloud-scale SSL/TLS inspection, vital to combat evolving attacker techniques that use the cloud as a shield.
Lastly, it provides more security capabilities for remote and distributed workforces than traditional point solutions such as VPNs or firewalls. Rather than relying on secure perimeters, SASE shifts security closer to the user by using their identity to determine access. It is known as Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) and delivers granular visibility and control of users and their devices.
In summary, SASE delivers an unmistakable return on investment for enterprises with branch offices, distributed workforces, and cloud-based applications. By combining SD-WAN, CASB, SWG, FWaaS, and ZTNA in a single solution, SASE reduces deployment time and cost while offering more performance, security, and reliability than current point solutions. It’s the future of networking, and it’s here to stay. Invest wisely today to ensure your business is ready for what’s next.
